CJ the Angel and the Heavenly Choir
by
Paul Alan Gunneman
This story is based on the Holy Bible.
Gospel of Luke (Chapter 2: Verses 1 – 10)
This story is dedicated to my loving wife, Hazel.
Copyright 2010
Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Heaven, there lived an angel named Cornealphius Johassaphatitus.
But everyone up there just called him CJ for short.
Now CJ loved to sing.
He would sing while making something good to eat.
He would sing while walking down the golden streets.
He would practice singing for the heavenly choir.
He would even sing in the shower.
And everywhere he sang he would
sing out as loud and as strong as he could.
All of this would be well and good if it were not for one thing. CJ’s singing was terrible. He could not carry a tune even if he could have put it in a bucket, and this fact was quite well known to everyone in Heaven, of course, except CJ, which made the heavenly choir sound - well, let’s just say - different. Even when the choir director would put him all the way in the back row, the sound of his voice would still come through.
One day God called the choir director to His throne. God told him that something awesome was about to happen and He wanted the heavenly choir to be a part of it. God said to him that He was going to send His only Son down to Earth to be the Savior of all people.
Excitedly, the choir director flew back to get the choir together and practice their best songs. They had to be worthy to be sung for such a grand event.
However it did not take long to figure out that the music that the choir sang had its share of sour notes and they were all coming out of CJ’s mouth. The harder the choir director tried to blend him in, the more CJ’s singing stood out.
Finally, after a lot of bad rehearsals, the poor choir director went back to God and as nicely as he could, tried to explain the problem of CJ.
God calmly said to the choir director that since it was an all-volunteer choir no one could be booted out, Not even CJ. (This was known as the “joyful noise” rule.) God said He wanted all the heavenly choir to be there for the blessed event and that meant every member of the choir. He then told the choir director to have them keep practicing and that everything would work out fine.
The heavenly choir rehearsals went on, but time was soon running out. They went over their songs again and again, but each time they did, CJ’s singing sounded even worse.
The choir director was becoming more and more nervous as he tried to have the choir reach perfection. Surely that was not going to be happening any time soon.
CJ was now catching on to what the others were thinking about him. Even though no one had spoken a word against him, the winces and disapproving looks from his fellow choir members and the director was enough to tell him that he was at fault.
So while the rest of the choir members left and took their break, CJ sadly thought that it would be best for the choir if he would just quit. He humbly walked over to the choir director and told him about his choice.
Even though the director was very much relieved, he could not help but feel sorry for CJ.
The choir director then came up with an idea. He told CJ that he could still be part of the choir as long as he stood silently in the back row and just listened to the music. He would be put in charge of the choir’s sound quality.
After the choir came back from their break, the choir director told them about CJ and his new job. All The choir members nodded in agreement and a few of them even went over to congratulate him.
Even though CJ was okay with his new job as the quality sound controller, he did not like it all that much. The tough part about it was being silent and he missed being able to sing, “but for the good of the choir,” he thought, “I’ll just keep quiet and do my job.”
One day, at the beginning of a rehearsal, CJ found a shiny gold horn that was leaning against a wall in the choir room. Tied to it was a small note that read, “Play me, CJ”.
During the next song, CJ slowly picked up the horn. He put it to his lips and began to play it softly at first so that no one else could hear it. But as the song went on, more joy filled his heart. And as more joy filled his heart, the louder and better he played. It was as if he was born to play!
Now the somewhat boring songs had a romping, jazzy, rhythm and blues sound. When the song was over, everyone was happy and cheering. The music was now on its way to being perfect, thanks to CJ’s horn.
The choir director was so happy that he went over
to CJ and with a hearty pat on the back, said, “That sounded great!” After that he made a few changes on all the songs to bring out CJ’s new horn.
The more the choir practiced, the better they sounded, and soon they were indeed perfect. The songs were great, the music was heavenly, and the choir was now ready.
Finally the time had arrived. God called the entire heavenly choir to come over to the golden gates. He
told them that He had already sent His messenger angel down to Earth to tell the good news to the shepherds that a Savior is being born in the city of Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord. Now it was their turn to go sing their songs of praise about the good news.
The heavenly choir and their director eagerly flew past the golden gates and made their way down to Earth. CJ was the very last angel to leave. As he waited, he looked down at the shiny gold horn and he thought about all the things that had just happened. He then quietly and quickly flew his way over to God.
“Thank you very much for the shiny horn,” CJ said. God smiled, cocked an eyebrow, and asked, “How did you know it was Me?”
CJ smiled back and shrugged his shoulders. “I just knew,” he said.
God laughed. “Just like I knew that everything was going to be fine. Well, CJ, you’re right and you are welcome. Now go back out there, catch up with the others, and play!”
The northern lights shown along with all its splender against the starry night sky, and in the middle of it the heavenly choir joyfully sang their songs of praise, with CJ playing along on his horn for the newborn King.
The music rang out loud and clear with all the glory and honor going to God, with peace on earth and goodness to those He loves.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:
make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Psalm 98: 4