How Then Shall We Hear? (Part 1)

I have come to realize that I hear differently, often far differently, from others.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” (Matthew 11:15).

So, what is hearing?

It is auditory sensation.

It is listening.

It is understanding.

It can involve response and obedience.

But it can be painful.

This is my problem. Hearing can be painful, isolating, and confusing. Of course, hearing can be lovely, soothing, encouraging, exciting, and delightful. Moreover, hearing can be faith-building. “Faith comes from hearing…the word of Christ/God” (the “rhema” or spoken word of “Theos”; Romans 10:17). Is your faith weak? Hear more Word. Is hearing like eating? Nourishing?

It seems that Christians “digest” what they hear differently. Here is where hearing becomes confusing. Let me explain my current “hearing” dilemma.

Over twenty years ago I was diagnosed with four hearing disorders. I’d have to look back in my records to retrieve the names of these disorders, but they all fall under hyperacusis (hyper sensitivity to sound) combined with mid-range (vocal range) hearing loss. So, I lack hearing in a certain range, and then when I do hear, because I lack a natural gradation, there’s sudden sound which startles me. That is part of it. (Note hyperacusis and cranial neuralgia or nerve damage.). Along the way, tinnitus decided to join the team.

I’ve seen specialists. I’ve had expensive hearing aides made for me. My audiologist sent me to Emory University in Georgia to work with a world renowned hearing specialist who found my case intriguing. In the end, I found no improvement (though in their efforts the clinic took what seemed like plenty of money).

I believe the hearing disorders stem from years of recurring ear infections, strep throat, spinal injury, and from the side effects of some of the prescriptions I was on for my fibromyalgia. Sound is vibration. Vibrations that run through a hurting body exacerbate the chronic pain. Hyperacusis coupled with fibromyalgia makes a challenging pair. Over the years I have made some gains, but in the last two years, in spite of some reprieves, I’ve been losing ground on both fronts. However my problems have developed, I have to face the reality in which I live.

I have avoided loud places these twenty plus years. For the first however many years, I avoided restaurants. The clatter of dishes and the sound of latte machines and such caused me great and confusing distress. I could not understand how people put up with all the noise. Of course, I have also avoided concerts, theaters, and loud street vendors. Between my hearing disorders and my fibromyalgia and related issues, my world grew smaller and smaller. Sigh. That is why I turned more and more to studying and writing, which by nature and by education, I love and have been prepared providentially.

However, I also love a balance. I love people. I love working in a team. I love teaching. I love tea parties. I love walking among the Redwoods where my Honey grew up in northern California, and shuffling along the beach and among the rocks along the ocean near the home where he was raised. The sound of the rolling and crashing waves are a natural sound, not overwhelming, which I can both tolerate and enjoy. If I’m strong enough, the ocean’s divine music calms me, nourishes me, and pleasantly strengthens me. At least, this is my memory of it. Unfortunately, it has been some years since we’ve been back there.

Among the Redwoods in Crescent City, California. Look who we met?

Calm along the rocky coast this day.

Not so with the beating sounds of percussion instruments, especially in interior spaces. They thump. They crash. They are amplified. They distress and disturb me. They cause me to want to get far away.

So, that is where I am again. Getting away from the thump and the crash of drums. Where? At my current church. Over the years, we’ve avoided churches with drums, but we are in an assembly that has normalized the usage of drums and percussion. I appreciate that this church does not call the music leader a “worship leader” and the team a “worship team.” This is misleading; the entire service is worship. I appreciate that the music selections have biblically sound lyrics. I love to drink in the excellent teaching. There are good things here. Nonetheless, because of the auditory issues, I am having to bow out of this assembly.

I’ve been looking at other Bible-believing and teaching churches and find that music (describable in various ways), has an overwhelming presence in the main assemblies called worship services.

When Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” I don’t think He was talking about hearing highly instrumentalized and volumized music in order to carry His teaching. Not that you can’t, but it was not His aim. His purpose was that we hear and obey God. The Apostle Paul instructed us to “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  It’s the vocalizing of biblical teaching by believers in order to encourage, equip, and unite each other that is the intent of Colossians 3:16-17 and Ephesians 5:18-21, along with the giving of thanks and worship to God in the assembly.

To mix my metaphors, the frame can become the painting, and the painting can become the frame, when the message (the painting) is overwhelmed or distracted by the instrumentation (which should only be an appropriate frame holding up the painting).

Because I hear differently, I have to find an assembly of believers that holds to a more vocal-centric aim of music. This leaves out most, but not all, evangelical churches. Beautiful vocal-centric music is found in most liturgical churches: Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and many Presbyterian churches.

Recently, I attended a Lutheran worship service (Missouri Synod, the conservative branch) and a Presbyterian service (PCA) . “Liturgy” means public work, service, or order.  If you pay attention to the movement, their liturgies  profile the gospel. This is soul soothing and nourishing for the believer. This is the evangelistic call to the unbeliever.

There are pluses and minuses to be observed as my husband, Paul, and I weigh our decisions. We are seeking God’s direction. Paul has been getting more involved in the church that I must leave. This is the first time that we’ve let ourselves be put in this situation. I don’t know what we’ll do. Shall we each attend separate churches? Can we find something we both can appreciate and to which we can belong?

It could be that God is preparing us to move to Florida, where we spend our winters and have a good, growing church in which we each have lots of opportunities and enjoy the fellowship and outreach. Or, we might move closer to our married daughter and grandchildren. Our daughter is showing interest in having us closer, which is a new development.

We need to hear from the Lord.

While you, dear readers, have different dilemmas and challenges, I hope you can take something from my/our dilemma and consider how the Lord has walked you through your challenges.

Do you have ears to hear what the Lord is saying to you? How do you hear?

This is the first in a new series: “How Then Shall We Hear?” I want to walk through some Scripture on the theme, introduce you to a fascinating book on the auditory nature of God’s Word, and continue to share with you my/our own application as Paul and I navigate the path on which God is leading us.

PS:

I’ll also update you about my book in future posts. I’m getting some video recordings made and placed on YouTube and my website, http://www.KarenThomasOlsen.com. You may find more videos on YouTube than on my website, because it is taking some time to get them transferred to the site. Subscribe and like on YT, and they should pop up for you.

My podcast (raw as the recordings are for now) is entitled Trail Mix with Karen Thomas Olsen. In my current episodes, I am walking with you through the chapters of my book, A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy.

“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” says Colossians 2:6, but the sentence continues through verse seven. Check it out, and note the irony (or, to me, the  humor) of the Apostle Paul’s mixing of three metaphors to make his teaching point.