So how do we become the kind of Christian who truly hears? Let me tell you another story…
When you have a full orchestra, a full choir, and a full congregation worshiping and playing and singing all together – well, things can get confusing. In all the churches I’ve been a member of which have an orchestra, the orchestra and the choir usually rehearse separately. For Easter or Christmas specials, we will have a few joint rehearsals, but most of the time, it is more efficient to practice separately. But when Sunday comes, we all play and sing together. And hope that we practiced the pieces the same way, with the same arrangements. And in the same key.
One Sunday, we were all in the same key, thankfully, but the music minister started the choir and congregation singing a measure before the orchestra expected. And most of the orchestra members didn’t realize it. The orchestra director did, and while he almost said something to the director, it was really too late for him to do much about it. So he began to try desperately to get the brass players’ attention, as they were the main ones playing during that verse. He would try to hold up his fingers to indicate which measure we were on, but we were going too fast, and he ran out of fingers. He would point, as if telling them to skip forward a measure, but how were we to know what he meant? He would shake his head and swipe his hands side to side, but the players were just puzzled, if they even looked up at him.
Finally, we reached a key change, and it became obvious that the singers and orchestra were not together. The brass players almost all raised their eyebrows in surprise, in unison, and quickly jumped ahead to the proper place, and by the end of the piece, we all ended together.
You might say that this near catastrophe could have been averted if the players had listened more carefully to what else was going on. They might have heard that something was off, and been quicker to understand what the orchestra director was trying to say. But most of the time, an instrumentalist only gets a sheet of music with their own part on it. There are no words, no indications of when the singers come in. And their part is often not the melody, and it can be difficult to hear how it fits in with everyone else.
Still, listening helps. If we’ve practiced enough, we might be able to hear better how our part is supposed to fit in with everyone else, and I’m not just talking about music. If we have a solid enough foundation, we might be able to know when something is wrong. If we pay attention, well, we might notice more quickly when the director is visibly concerned about something!
The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.
Proverbs 12:15