The LEArning Curve
Make a Joyful Noise … In a Mario Voice
This year’s theme for Lutheran schools is ‘Make a Joyful Noise.’ Consider the following from the Psalms.
Psalm 96:10-12
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 Let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 Before the Lord, for he comes,
for He comes to judge the earth.
My niece Carrah is unique. Life on the autism spectrum is sometimes easy, sometimes hard, but always interesting. She spends a lot of time in the extremes, which I know all of you have experienced with students in your own classrooms. She is very happy, or very silly, or very frustrated, or very over-stimulated. She is also very sensitive to sound, so she avoids group singing or speaking. This has been a challenge for my family to learn. We are a singing-together-out-loud and praying-together-out-loud family and always have been. We have had to change how and when we sing and pray, and accept that she will usually leave the room rather than participate.
So how does a girl like this join in the joyful noise-making that the Psalms proclaim? Sometimes, it’s in a Mario voice. She loves Super Mario Brothers and will often ask for things using a squeaky fake Italian accent, and wants you to answer in the same voice. If I tell her I love her, she will say, “But what would it sound like in a Mario voice?” Then she will wait for me to say it again in my best attempt at Mario.
Her joyful noise is also more subtle and visual. She has every inch of the church she goes to memorized. All the icons, crosses, and symbols are etched in her brain and in her heart. If you listen, she will talk about them and about how Jesus died on the cross. She also draws her joyful noise. She draws Jesus on the cross surrounded by angels and her family. Sometimes this includes pictures of her flying in an airplane to visit Jesus and her grandmas and grandpa in heaven.
There are many traditional ways to make a joyful noise. Hymns and prayers are common. But not all of our students are comfortable making that type of joyful noise. It isn’t always how we would do it. Sometimes we have to look hard at our students to find out how they are able to make a joyful noise. It seems hidden from our view and makes us doubt that it is there. But God’s word is powerful. He has established this world and His children. All of His children can make a joyful noise to Him in the unique way he created for them. Let’s spend the day looking for ways to help our students express their joyful noises the way God made them to do it, even if it’s in a Mario voice.
