Typically, during the kids' messages at First Congo, it's only Muley (there has been a visit by Missy Mule and Roy Duck), and I planned to NEVER use a non-MuleyVerse characters
But, with Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary falling on the same day as Muley's Kids' Message, something special had to be done. So, we had a visit from a special fan-made guest star...
The theme was "Diversity," a celebration of which has been a theme of Muley the Mule and Friends since I was a kid, hence a mule, dog, duck, donkey, cow, and horse are all friends even with their differences. Having seen that Sesame was also a big leap forward in celebrating diversity, I wanted to combine the kids message with a celebration of Sesame's 50th.
The beginning of the Sesame Street Theme introduced Muley's entrance, and he said:
But, with Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary falling on the same day as Muley's Kids' Message, something special had to be done. So, we had a visit from a special fan-made guest star...
The theme was "Diversity," a celebration of which has been a theme of Muley the Mule and Friends since I was a kid, hence a mule, dog, duck, donkey, cow, and horse are all friends even with their differences. Having seen that Sesame was also a big leap forward in celebrating diversity, I wanted to combine the kids message with a celebration of Sesame's 50th.
The beginning of the Sesame Street Theme introduced Muley's entrance, and he said:
Well,
can you guess what show is celebrating 50 years? That’s
right: Woodstock! But, from the music you can tell that today, Sesame Street is
50 years old! That means it started in 1969, back when Moses
split the red sea so Noah cold get his ark across…or…something.
And
today’s kid’s message is brought to you by the letter D. D. Do we all know the sound the letter D makes? Duh. Duh. Duh. That’s
right. It makes the sound: DUH. Duh
starts with the letter D. Also, dog. My buddy Buford is a d-d-d-dog. It also starts the word dessert, and you know
how I love my cookies! D stands for
d-d-d-different! And you can’t get more different than First
Congo! See, one of the things I love about Sesame
Street is that we can learn words. Also,
because they have puppets, and some of my best friends are puppets!
But,
what’s a cool place like Sesame Street have to do with a cool place like First
Congo? Or even church for that matter? Well,
because it also teaches us about another “D” word: D-d-d-diversity! Say it with me: diversity. I didn’t know what that word meant, so I looked
it up in my d-d-d-dictionary, you know: Google? Anyway, it
means: “the understanding that each individual is
unique, and recognizing our individual differences in the dimensions of race,
ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical
abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.” Yeah, I still don’t know what that means… Probably a long-winded definition to just
simply say, “Diverse means different.”
Anyway,
Sesame Street has always had diversity. See, in
1969, it was the first kids’ show that included Caucasian people, African
Americans, and Latino people all living on the same street, and even in the
same building! They had Gordon and Susan, Bob and Linda, Luis
and Maria, a big bird and a grouch, a monster and a kid, a frog and a
Snuffleupagus, they even had an Ernie and a Bert – and no matter how diverse,
or how different, they were: everyone could be friends. Everyone
is welcome on Sesame Street!
And
isn’t that just like First Congo? Everyone is
welcome here no matter how different. Look around
you at the diversity. Everyone is different than
everyone else, and isn’t that beautiful? It’s just
like in my circle of friends, we celebrate our differences because that’s what
makes us interesting and special: there’s me, dogs, ducks, a cow, a horse, a
donkey, and a Missy Mule! Yeah, I put her in her own
category because..well…Missy!
To
recap, I want to read our reading today because reading puts the fun in
FUNdamental. I add the “mental” part to that word. The reading today says, “you are all
children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been
united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus.” You know what that means? No matter how diverse, or how different, you
are, you are all one and the same to Jesus, and you are all worthy of his love
and blessings!
And
Sesame Street is like that: you’re all welcome, you’re all our friends, you’re
all special, and we celebrate the differences. Also
we…wait, did you hear that? I think someone’s at my stage door, I’ll be right
back. Hold on…
ENTER
COOKIE – (Humming) Oooh! Where dis at? Oh, me KNEW
me took wrong turn at Albur-COOKIE! *gasp*
COOKIE!? Yeah, yeah, yeah! Hmm, Should
me eat dis cookie now or save it til later? Yeah, me
gonna eat dis cookie now! COWABUNGA! NOM! Oh, can you tell me how to get, how to get to
Sesame Street? Dat OK, me think it back here somewhere. OK. Bye bye…
 |
| Photo by Julia Hicks |
ENTER
MULEY – Well, nobody was there. *sniff* Hey, anyone smell cookies?
Or *sniff* copyright infringement? Anyway,
remember this word: Diversity. Remember
that Sesame Street teaches us, a lot like the Bible and a lot like First Congo,
that being different is beautiful, and loving people who are different than us
is exactly the way that God loves you, Jesus loves you, and your pal Muley
loves you, and I’ll see you real soon! Have a sunny
day!
 |
| Linley Schmidt visits Muley and Kevin, photo by Julia Hicks. |
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