Dear St. Paul’s Family,
If you watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics two weeks ago, you may have seen Evelyn Glennie , the deaf drummer who played music simply by feeling the beat and hum of the music. But you may not have heard of Austin Chapman, whose incredible personal story went viral online last week.
Austin was born almost totally deaf, and for his whole life he could not understand why people were so moved by music. When people cried during a particular song, or when they felt led to smile, laugh, or dance, Austin was totally mystified. His hearing aids would never let him experience music as anything more than garbled cacophony.
And then, his whole world changed. Six days ago, he posted his story on the social networking site reddit.com:
I've never understood it.
My whole life I've seen hearing people make a fool of themselves singing their favorite song or gyrating on the dance floor. I've also seen hearing people moved to tears by a single song. That was the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around. I was born profoundly deaf and all music sounded like trash through my hearing aids.
That is until a couple days ago when I put on a new pair of hearing aids for the first time in years.
The first thing I heard was my shoe scraping across the carpet; it startled me. I have never heard that before and out of ignorance, I assumed it was too quiet for anyone to hear. I sat in the doctor's office frozen as a cacophony of sounds attacked me. The whir of the computer, the hum of the AC, the clacking of the keyboard, and when my best friend walked in I couldn't believe that he had a slight rasp to his voice. He joked that it was time to cut back on the cigarettes.
That night, a group of close friends jump-started my musical education by playing Mozart, Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Elvis, and several other popular legends of music.
Being able to hear the music for the first time ever was unreal.
I realized that my old hearing aids were giving me a distorted version of music. they were not capable of distributing higher frequencies with clarity, instead it was just garbled gibberish.
When Mozart's Lacrimosa came on, I was blown away by the beauty of it. At one point of the song, it sounded like angels singing and I suddenly realized that this was the first time I was able to appreciate music. Tears rolled down my face and I tried to hide it. But when I looked over I saw that there wasn't a dry eye in the car.
I finally understood the power of music.
Can you imagine what it had to be like to be Austin Chapman in that moment? Instantly, a whole new world opened up for him, a world that had always been there but he could never grasp and appreciate fully. More importantly, Austin had a brand new life. He was able to live the life he was created to live, but could never attain.
“I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT”
When I first read Austin’s story, I instinctively wanted to make a connection to this Sunday’s sermon. As we move through our current series on the Apostles’ Creed, our attention turns to the phrase “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Frankly, I can’t think of a better metaphor for how the Holy Spirit works in the life of a believer and in the community of faith than the story of Austin Chapman.
Prior to becoming a Christian, we engage the world with a distorted image of God within us, a result of the sinful nature that plagues all of creation. As if wearing a deficient hearing aid, we experience life in garbled distortion, twisted with greedy selfishness, addictions to violence, and a reluctance to forgive. It is a far cry from the melodies of peace, joy, and love that God intends for the world.
But God’s grace is always at work. It moves in our lives from the moment we are born, even before we recognize it, and governed by the Holy Spirit, who functions just like a snazzy, brand new pair of hearing aids. At the very moment we realize and accept God’s love for ourselves, we can hear the vibrant, joyful sounds of the “abundant life” Jesus promised for us in John 10:10. The Spirit amplifies the pulse and hum of God’s grace, enabling us to sense the beautiful melodies of God’s love at work in and through the world.
In his sermon “The Witness of the Holy Spirit,” John Wesley describes the way that the Spirit’s brings us a stunning new realization of who we are in God: The testimony of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, and given himself for me; and that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God.
In case we ever forget the critical importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need only look at the Apostles’ Creed for a reminder. Though the Spirit receives just one line of description, it heads the final, grand paragraph of the Creed, reminding us of all the gifts that are possible because of the Holy Spirit.
Quiet your heart for a moment, and listen. Listen to this final paragraph of the Apostles’ Creed, and hear the glorious music of the faith:
I believe in the Holy Spirit. (Therefore, I can hear the grand, symphonic sounds of) the holy, catholic church, (I can hear the choral companionship of) the communion of saints, (I am moved to tears by the) the forgiveness of sins, (I can sing Hallelujah with those who have claimed) the resurrection of the body, (And I can join in the joyful chorus with those who have attained) the life everlasting.
Amen!
THE SPIRIT IN COMMUNITY
Shortly after his stunning discovery, Austin Chapman asked fellow social networkers to recommend selections of music that he needed to listen to. Within days, 14,000 people offered their suggestions, amassing a list much longer than Austin could have imagined.
One person, pseudonymously named “GiraffeKiller,” responded with this advice: "This is like introducing an Alien to the music of Earth. I wouldn't know where to start. Once you're through your kick on Classical, I might start with music from the 50's and progress through each decade. You can really see the growth of modern music like that."
Austin responded: I think it's a wonderful idea, and will be blogging about my journey into the world of music. As many of you have pointed out; music didn't start in the 50's, so I'm going to start with the earliest written form of music… I'm going to start with Guillaume de Machaut's Agnus Dei. (Composed sometime between 1313 and 1365)
That’s the way the journey of Christian discipleship should work. Slowly, steadily, the Spirit exposes us to the artistry of the Christian faith, from the grand traditions of centuries ago to the modern expressions of God’s love today. We never travel this journey alone. Instead, we are surrounded by companions who guide us, advise us, comfort us, and strengthen us, and introduce us to beautiful music we never knew existed.
That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
To read Austin Chapman’s site for yourself, visit http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xufi3/i_can_hear_music_for_the_first_time_ever_what
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