We’re all familiar with Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus multiplies the five loaves and two fishes. The large crowd “all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.”
That last phrase—“not counting women and children”—has
always stuck in my craw. Granted, this was oral history; granted,
the size of the crowd was probably exaggerated; even so,
why weren’t the women and children counted? They were
there, weren’t they? They were fed, weren’t they? Were
they just taken for granted?
They didn’t count. They weren’t important enough.
That’s the bottom line.
Years ago I was talking to the principal of a high school I was
considering for my son. Among other questions, I asked,
“What’s your teacher turnover percentage?” He
thought for a minute and responded, “Well, we
have x number of teachers. Two are pregnant and will be on
maternity leave; one is moving out of town. Two are retiring.”
He continued like this until he finally did the math in his head and
said, “So that’s about 15 percent.” What impressed
me was that he thought first in terms of individuals. The numbers,
the percentages, came after considering all the
individuals—because without them, there was nothing to count.
Whom do we take for granted in our choirs? Every single one of them
brings something different to the mix. Women, children,
men—they count. No matter how large the group, or how many
choirs we have, when we start taking any of them for
granted, we dishonor their ministry.