More than once, Jesus pointed to children as examples. Even in a culture where children were considered a liability and of little worth, Jesus would pull a nearby child into the circle of his disciples, and say, have faith like a child, or come to me like a child. He told us that we were children of God (1 John 3:1).

So it seems that we who get to observe children should consider the possibility that they might have something to teach us. My daughter, 16, leads a group of 3-year-olds. She is their teacher, but she is also their student. She says lately she's been learning about worship by watching those kids.

In our church, kids' worship music is typically exuberant, and 3-year-olds love it. Most know the simple lyrics and sing them out with abandon: "Jesus is the best, the best, the very, very best!!" They jump up and down through whole songs, flinging their arms up in unselfconscious joy. Even if they do not know the words, they loudly sing "aahhh" (the beginning sound of alleluia) as ...