"Jesus loves me"

Mine is not a religion blog. Oh, no, colleague Diane Haag does a masterful job with "Everyday Faith" that I read almost as soon as I open my computer every morning.

However, I feel moved to share a special story about a whimisical happening during the Sunday service at First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport.

As she closed the children’s sermon, the Rev. Pattie Kitchen said that during a visit in the United States, the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth, a prolific writer, was asked about words that had meant the most to him. It was a word question.

He thought a minute and answered that they were from a song his mother sang to him when he was a child.

The work: "Jesus Loves Me." ("...this I know for the Bible tells me so.")

Then Kitchen asked the children to sing the song and invited entire congregation to join in.

There we were: Young and older, black and white, rich and poor — and in between — and a group, I am sure, very liberal or conservative — and in between — on social and theological issues.

We were: Doctors, lawyers, accountants, soccer moms, real estate agents, scientists, retired salesmen, educators, farmers, grandmothers artists, bankers.

We were united and equal in singing those words by memory and from our hearts.
"Jesus Loves Me."

As we sang, I would guess that most of were taken back to our childhoods, remembering the words we learned when we were very young.

Not just a catchy child’s melody.

A simple statement. An eternal truth. An ageless concept.