Last sound
An orchestra and a choir rehearse in an empty concert hall.
The Last Sound is a beautiful podcast episode exploring sound and nature. It is worth listening to for so many levels and I hope you would take time to listen.
One of the segments in the story speaks of how is it possible for so many different animals and insects to communicate in nature. Over time, life has discovered a sort of frequency or range that different animals and insects us in order to communicate. This allows for crickets to be able to be heard even as bears roar loudly over them. Or for birds to hear one another through the symphony of other bird songs. Every animal communicates in a bound range so they can be heard and they can hear others.
Every animal respects the boundaries of the frequencies except one. Human beings.
Humans run amok over the sound board that is nature. We know that noise pollution is something we speak about, however we seem to make little efforts to address this pollution (other than complain that it is too loud). We complain about all the noise on the news or internet. We try to discern the signals from the noise but we all assume that noise is part of life. We tolerate noise that runs over all the frequencies of communication and in some cases we believe that overcoming all the noise makes you a good communicator.
If you are able to speak the loudest or with the most incendiary comments, if you are getting clicks and likes and ratings, then you must be a good communicator. When really you could be a communication pollutant.
There is a little line in Romans 12 where Paul writes, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”
It is common to learn that communication is about controlling the narrative or dominating the airwaves. It is about getting your message to “cut through” and “penetrate the market.” It is about being louder. It is about being bold and definitive. It is not about harmony. It is not about respecting the frequency range of another person, but about speaking over them. Be it “mansplaning” or “cancel culture” we have taken the gift of communication and turned it into a megaphone that overtakes the chorus of voices.
I do not know much about music, but I know harmony means that you do not always sing the melody. There are other notes that are sung, but your voice is still heard. The melody and harmonies complement one another and make the other richer and fuller.
Christians are called to live in harmony (not unison). We do not demand others to join in the song we are singing and expect them to sing the way we sing. We are the ones asked to moderate our voices to harmonize with those around us.
When life is too noisy people flee and go on vacation or step away from a place as a way to find that peace we long for. Could it be that many people are leaving Christianity (and organized religion on the whole) because it is too noisy, loud and not teaching harmony?
Valendy Thumb
Rev. Jason Valendy
The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw United Methodist Church in Saginaw, Texas. This post is republished with permission from his blog, JasonValendy.net.