Challenging convention?

In the school where I share chaplaincy with a colleague, today was the Prinmary 7 Leavers' Assembly for the School.   They will do the same assembly again on Wednesday afternoon for their mums and dads.

As always the assembly was very good, with the odd moment where someone needed to speak up, or there was an in-joke no-one else would get, or people forgot their lines or their actions.   It is however always a good way to spend a Friday morning as we head towards the holidays.

A Leavers' Assembly often includes important memories of school life for the Primary 7, and this year's was no exception.   With the help of a regenerating Dr. Who and Tardis we travelled backwards and forward through their memories of school.   We joined them in Primary 1 with their teacher and their "buddies"; were whisked to Benmore for their experiences of a night-time walk; cheered on sports day and wondered at "potted" sports.   We were even taken 15 years into the future to see who the Primary 7 were in 2025 - it looked like a lot of artists, footballers and teachers.   But we also had architects, doctors, vets and racing drivers.

There was one memory that intrigued me though.  

I've been here 8 years now and my colleague, 9.   When this group of children started at the school, we were the chaplains.   In Primary 3, the children look at different celebrations and one of those is a wedding.   For a number of years now my colleague has led them through a mock wedding, while I work the sound system.   The children recognised that this was an important memory for them, and included it in their show.

That all seems fantastic, a sign that we are touching the lives of young people.   So what intrigued me?   You'll love this!   My colleague and I are both women, and yet the part of the minister in their wedding was played by a boy.   I suspect that for many of these children we are their only experience of ministers, and I'm not sure whether wonderfully or not, they recognise that ministry is a task that continues to be performed by men and women.

I found it funny, and I'm not sure how I'm going to tell my colleague that her character was played by a boy.