I’m the Drummer Boy

Many decades ago, when I was almost 4 years old, I played the role of the Little Drummer Boy in the Singing Christmas Tree at Central Pentecostal Tabernacle in the early 1980s. I don’t remember all of the details. I do remember that it was fun. My job was very simple. As the orchestra and choir performed the song, I walked around the stage, pretending to play a small drum. When I reached the manger scene, I sat down beside Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. As the song concluded, I would get up, wave to the family, and exit on the right side of the stage.

The only photo I’ve been able to find of me playing this role.

To this day, I still love the song and continue to appreciate its message. There’s a camouflaged munificence in the Drummer Boy's offering. The heart of the story is this: to be humble and loved by a humble king is the hope and truth of Christmas. This spirit of humility should define how we live and express our faith today.

We’re living in a point in time where some Christians are seizing the opportunity to turn our faith into a flex by boldly demanding the world conform to Christianity. This is not new; as long as I’ve been alive, parts of conservative Christianity have called us to demand rights and defeat perceived enemies of the faith. Unfortunately, many have a well-earned opinion of Christians as people who butt in line during the Christmas season in the insistence of their own perceived exceptionalism among other faiths and traditions.

If faith is a flex, it’s a faith that exists outside of the manager scene and finds a home in the great fortresses of Rome. It’s the kind of faith that exhorts Christians to rise up; rather than to kneel, serve, and simply be good neighbours among humanity. Today, many pastors and Christian leaders are calling their followers to arms regarding Bill C-9. To me, this looks like an alternate universe Christmas story where the shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus organise a convoy of horses and march towards Rome, demanding surrender. In this alternate version, they sing, “Truly, he taught us to march on one another.” That road is wide, and many Christians choose to march it on Christmas.

I try not to, I’m the Drummer Boy.

Pressure reveals the substance of our faith. The drum has been used to organise armies in a militaristic display of power. In the song of the Little Drummer Boy, the drum leads us gently to a scene that welcomed lowly shepherds, astrologers from the East, and a little baby whose army would one day wave palm branches and not swords.

The spirit of this song should prompt us to consider what would make the baby in the manger smile. The song reminds me that it is better to sit with the Saviour than to march to battle. This outlook does not deny the existence of real-life challenges, but it shapes how we choose to respond. As hard as it is, I try as best as I can in my own imperfect way to bring relationship, generosity, and grace to my neighbors around me, no matter their background or beliefs. It’s the beat of the drum I try to walk to.

“rum pum pum pum, me and my drum…”

God bless

Notes: My favorite version of the song is Stevie Wonder’s,