Robert Sherman died this past week. He and his brother, Richard, wrote many songs for Disney and won awards, too. In honor of him, I’ve decided to do an exploration of a park ride that’s music was composed by the Sherman brothers, “It’s a Small World”.
Can a theme park ride share the Gospel of Christ? Well, this one does. When you ride it with your kids, take the time to point this out to them. As you ride through the ride, all the characters are all singing the song in their own language. We see the beautiful aspects of their cultures showcased. Earth really is a small world, full of wonderful people, beautiful cultures and traditions. The instruments also change with each culture, adding their own flavor to the mix.
Like a song, the Gospel comes in to each culture and redeems it. Every culture and ethnicity is invited to join in the song of the Gospel and glorify God. Each culture may sing it differently, in their own language, style and with different instruments (or none), but the heart is the same, to share the Good News of Jesus and to shower our Lord with praise and thanksgiving.
In the last section of the ride, something is very different… all of the cultures are together in one place, singing the song with one voice. They are all dressed in white versions of their traditional gowns. I have no idea if this was meant to represent Heaven, but it does a great job of that. When we get to Eternity, there wont be sections for different cultures to hang out in and keep doing their thing, we’ll all be together and together we’ll sing a new song that couldn’t be sung on Earth, and it will last forever.
I took the above video while on the ride with my wife back in 2008. You can see the ride from start to finish.
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever thought how people from different countries praise Jesus? We don’t always do it by the same means, but no matter how or where, we all must do it in Spirit and Truth. (Romans 14:5-7, John 4:21-24)
- Jesus did not only come to save people who are like us, who look like us or talk like us, but He came to save people from every “tribe and tongue”. (Revelation 5:9)
- Did you know that Jesus will not return before all nations have been reached with His Gospel message? (Matthew 24:14)
- When we get to Eternity, we will sing a New Song with everyone who is saved, from every different culture and language. It will probably be a lot like the end of the ride, where the many are dressed in white, all singing together. (Revelation 5:9)