Christmas: Children's Sermons
The Perfect Hallelujah Sound  

(Before the sermon begins, seven young people, each with an instrument, inconspicuously take their places in the sanctuary.)

Some people say that the corners of heaven are filled with the sounds of the hallelujahs. These same people have never been to heaven to hear these hallelujahs in the far corners of heaven, but they are quite sure that at times they have heard the sounds of the hallelujahs. 

Now, the sounds of the high hallelujahs go down like this (organist plays “Hallelujah, Hallelujah” from Handel’s Messiah, and then runs down the keys from high notes to low notes.) And the low hallelujahs go up like this (organist repeats the same pattern, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah” and then runs up the keys from the low notes to the high notes.) And the middle hallelujahs go both up and down at the same time. (organist plays “Hallelujah, Hallelujah” simultaneously at high range and low range and then simultaneously runs fingers both up and down the keys of the organ).

Now this is a story about those hallelujah sounds on the annual Hallelujah Day.

It could have happened down here on earth. Or it could have happened up there in heaven. Or it could have happened where ever God is. Or it could have happened where ever angels are.

Now, the Christmas story for tonight is about angels and musical instruments and a baby crying and hallelujahs and God and Theodore and Hallelujah Day. You probably don’t know much about Hallelujah Day, so I will tell you.

Once a year up in heaven, there is annual Hallelujah Day. Hallelujah Day is a fun day in heaven with all kinds of festivities and parties. On Hallelujah Day, all the angels try to find the perfect hallelujah sound. It is a game the angels love to play and they play that game all day long on Hallelujah Day.  All day long the angels go searching for the perfect hallelujah sound.

And where do the angels go to find that perfect hallelujah sound? Down to earth. That’s where. The angels travel to earth at angelic speed which is ten times faster than the speed of light. When the angels get to earth, the angels go searching all over the earth for the perfect hallelujah sound. When a particular angel has found the perfect hallelujah sound, he or she brings that sound back up to heaven to God who is the biggest and best judge of all. God listens to all the earthly hallelujah sounds and God then gives the winning prize to the angel who has found the best earthly hallelujah sound.

Well, it just so happened that it was the annual Hallelujah Day in heaven. All the angels come down to earth to find their perfect hallelujah sounds. There were big angels and little angels, tall angels and short angels, fat angels and skinny angels. All the angels from heaven went down to earth and there were no angels left in heaven except for Theodore. Yes, Theodore. Theodore was always late. For one reason or another, Theodore was always late for everything. This time Theodore was always thinking waaaaayyyy too much about the hallelujah sound. It was almost as if Theodore was in a trance as he thought, “I wonder if this time I can find the perfect hallelujah sound down on earth. And then I can win, win, win the prize.” Theodore was so absorbed in thinking about the perfect hallelujah sound, he forgot to go with all the other angels to earth.

Suddenly, Theodore came out from his trance and realized that he was all alone in heaven and that all the angels had left for earth. Theodore had to hurry up and go mighty fast to catch up. Theodore flew at angel speed, which is ten times faster than the speed of light, and he was only a fraction of an angel second late when he arrived on earth.

Theodore noticed that all the angels were already busy on earth, searching and looking for that perfect hallelujah sound. Theodore saw angels peeking in all the schools, peaking in houses, peaking in basements, in churches, in barns, in hospitals, in gas stations, and even looking in kitchen cupboards. And always listening with ears cocked.

Ah, one angel thought he or she had found the perfect hallelujah sound. It was the sound of a student playing the trumpet and it sounded like this. (From one corner of the sanctuary, a trumpet player crisply plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) The angel knew that was a great hallelujah sound and he took that hallelujah sound straight up to heaven so that God could hear it.

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of a French horn.   (From one corner of the sanctuary, a French horn player plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “This is a good one. I think I will win the prize.”

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of a trombone.   (From one corner of the sanctuary, a trombone player plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “This is superb. I think God will really like this one.

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of a clarinet.   (From one corner of the sanctuary, a clarinet player plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “This is a great one. God will chose this one to win.

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of a flute.   (From one side of the sanctuary, a flute player plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “This is the best one yet. God will love the purity of that sound.”

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of a saxaphone.   (From one side of the sanctuary, a saxaphone player plays the notes from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “This sound is very different. God will love the uniqueness of that sound.”

Ah, there was another angel who thought that he or she heard the perfect sound. It was the sound of the drums.   (From the rear of the sanctuary, a drummer plays the rhythm from Handel’s Messiah, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”) That angel exclaimed, “God loves the beat. God will chose the rhythms of the drums to get the prize.”

What music. What sounds. What glory. And suddenly during the night, there were ten trumpets, then twenty flutes, then thirty trombones, then forty fluteaphones, then fifty triangles, then sixty clarinets, then seventy tubas, then eighty violins, then ninety drums, then one hundred cymbals. All the angels had found their perfect hallelujah sounds and brought those sounds up to heaven for the contest.

Every angel brought an hallelujah sound back up to heaven…except…Theodore. Always late, Theodore was late again. Theodore had thought so long and so deeply about this hallelujah sound. Theodore listened to every sound here on earth, and he couldn’t decide the best sound until… until… until….shhhhhhh. Quiet. Don’t breath. He heard it. Theodore heard the perfect hallelujah sound. Shhhhh. It was perfect.

Theodore went to get that special sound but he discovered that he could not take that special sound off the face of the earth. Hmmmm. Not for a minute. Not for a moment. Not for a nano-second. What a problem. Theodore really wanted to win the prize for the annual Hallelujah Day. Theodore thought to himself, “I will go up to heaven and try to get God to come down to earth. God had never done that before. God had never come down to earth to hear the perfect hallelujah sound.” So Theodore flashed up to heaven as fast as he could go to bring God back down to earth.

When Theodore got up to heaven, he once again was late. Theodore was the last angel back up to heaven. All the other angels were showing off their hallelujah sounds before the throne of God. They were playing their songs one by one. The contest was on and God heard all the hallelujah sounds:

Trumpet. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

French horn. Hallelujah. Hallelujah

Trombone. Hallelujah. Hallelujah

Clarinet. Hallelujah. Hallelujah

Flute  Hallelujah. Hallelujah

Saxaphone Hallelujah. Hallelujah

Drums. Hallelujah. Hallelujah

God heard them all. They all sounded like the perfect hallelujah sound. It was so hard for God to decide. The angels waited and waited for God’s decision.

Then God called out, “Where are you, Theodore?” Theodore had been hiding in the mouth of the tuba and he carefully crawled out of the tuba horn. God said, “Why were you in the tuba, Theodore?” Theodore said, “I like the sound of the tuba. God, can I come up to your throne and tell you a little secret?” “Yes,” said the Lord. So Theodore climbed up on the lap of God and whispered into God’s ear, so that nobody else could hear.

Theodore whispered, (pastor uses a strong whisper voice) “God, I found the perfect hallelujah sound on earth, but you have to come down to earth and hear it for yourself. This is the perfect hallelujah sound. It is __________.”

The other angels could not hear what Theodore was saying, but God did and said, “Hmmmm. That does sound like the perfect hallelujah sound. I will go down to earth to hear and experience that glorious sound myself.”

By now, all the other angels understood that this year was different than all the other years. This year, God was going down to be on earth and that had never happened before.

And so God and Theodore and all the other angels raced at angel speed, ten times the speed of light, towards earth. Suddenly, when at earth, Theodore stopped. Then all the other angels stopped. And God stopped.

Just below them, there were shepherds in their fields. And there was a little town that Theodore knew was Bethlehem. And there was a bright, bright, bright star above them in the sky.

And the perfect hallelujah sound was right below. Right down there. This was the perfect hallelujah sound that Theodore had found. Shhhhhh. Shhhhh. Listen. The perfect hallelujah sound.

(A microphone is held near the mouth and sounds of a newborn baby whimpering and cooing. The perfect hallelujah sound is the sound of a newborn infant. Then Mary Mother hums two lines from Silent Night, interspersed with the cooing sounds of an infant.)

God listened to the baby Jesus cooing. God listened to his mother Mary humming.

As God listened to the baby and his mother Mary, God said, “This is my child. These are the first sounds from my new born Son. It is the perfect hallelujah sound.”

Theodore had found the baby Jesus and his mother, Mary.

And all the angels burst into song.

And all the instruments burst into their song. (All seven instruments simultaneously play, “Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”)

And the whole world burst into song.

And there has never been another Hallelujah Day like this since that day, the day when Christ was born. Amen.

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