The Floydian Slip

The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Island (UCJCI) has a tradition of sharing a story with the children during regular Sunday morning services. When I became a member of the Boscobel United Church as a 20-21 year old I found it intriguing; and Reverend Henroy Samuels and his wife Nurse Beverly Samuels must have seen my interest as I was soon ushered into the role of ministering to the young ones. Initially, I would welcome the youngsters to make their way to the front to hear what I was sharing, a few would come but some would be hesitant, while others would shun the invitation because they thought they were too “big” to be there. Those I would specifically invite by saying that if they are younger than me, they should make their way to the front!
I soon took this on as my ministry or area of expertise.

I moved to Kingston to attend the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and started attending the Hope United Church where I joined the Hope United Church (HUC) Young Adults Action Movement (YAAM).
The HUC YAAM was responsible for leading Sunday Worship service one particular Sunday and I reluctantly volunteered to do the children ministry time.
My reluctance had to do with the fact that the theme for that particular service was Communion’ and I had a difficult time finding a story to fit the theme.
I asked around, and Tia, one of my classmates from UTech gave me a wonderful story.

The story was about M&M’s being compared with Christians, and that version of the story mentioned:
1. M&Ms are marked with an M
     Christians are marked with the Holy Spirit
2. M&Ms comes in an assortment of colors
    Christians have a variety of gifts. We are all different.
3. M&Ms are filled with chocolate
    Christians are filled with God’s love. 

I shared the story and the young and young at heart listened intently.

When I finished sharing the story I returned to my seat and was reflecting on what I shared. I was soon in a private moment of panic because I had inadvertently said, “just like M & M’s that have different colors on the outside and chocolate on the inside we too have different colors on the outside and chocolate on the inside.” No-one approached me about the Floydian slip so I assumed they either didn’t hear or that they agreed with the statement.

To this day, each time I see M&Ms I burst out laughing!

M&M’s can be likened to the human race, where we are all different on the outside, but we all bleed the same, and most importantly as outlined in Genesis 1:27, we are all made in God’s image and likeness.