"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound."
John Newton
I spent a good deal of time in the marching band when I was in high school. We would gather before and after school to practice. We marched during halftime at football games and down main streets for parades. My hometown hosted a tri-state band festival each year. Schools drove to our town from all directions to compete for the title of “best band.” The Marine Drum and Bugle Corps even came for the event: a living example of what a marching band could be.
I remember wearing the hot black polyester uniforms and tall black hats that made you feel like you were in training for the King’s guard at Buckingham Palace. But most of all, I remember the cadence played by the drum section. It was always the same beat—bum, bum, bum, bum…
You have a cadence that guides your steps. You may not even be aware of it. There is something in the background that is pushing you forward. There is something that is guiding you as you go through your day. It could be a news feed, the voice of a friend or a critic, or an affiliation with a particular group and its ideals. It could be the voice of worry or fear or one of desire. What is the driving force behind what you do, say, and think?
There was a moment, many years ago now, when our children were young when I realized something. I had gotten into the habit of almost always having background noise. I got in the car and turned on the radio. That was before streaming services; there are even more things to distract you now. I had a small stereo in the kitchen playing in the background as I prepared meals and cleaned up. I always seemed to have noise in the background.
There is nothing wrong with listening to music, but I decided to get more acquainted with silence. I also wanted our kids to be comfortable with the sound of silence. I wanted to be more aware of what I was hearing.
Interestingly, researchers at Johns Hopkins recently proved that we can hear silence.* Silence is not just the absence of sound; you can listen to it. The sound of silence may lead you in a new way.
In my marching band days, the sound of our cadence was pleasing, and the repetition was surprisingly reassuring. It was more than just a sound. When we heard the drum beat, we knew what to do. But even more than that, hearing that cadence changed us over time. We not only looked different in our uniforms. We moved differently. The cadence beat began to determine our pace and prompt our feet to walk in a new way. We rolled our steps forward, and over time, we became more than individual woodwind, brass, or percussion players. We became unified, marching in sync even when facing the dreaded corner.
One of the crucial things you learn in a marching band is that you can only be successful when each person is mindful of the other and unified with the beat of the cadence. You have to be in step with the person next to you and down the row from you, in front and behind you.
Over and over, the Bible talks about the importance of hearing. People of faith are those who have open ears.** In a letter to a church in Colossae, Paul says he is thankful for what he has heard about them.*** The Colossians were changed when they opened their ears to God’s grace. The good news of grace, known in the gospel, which is Jesus himself, was bearing fruit and growing among them. They were living their lives in service to one another as guided by God’s grace made known to them in Jesus. It is like the hymn: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” The sound of grace can make all the difference.
While we may not always think about hearing grace, it can be a cadence, a pattern of being, and a power that beats throughout the day. Grace is a gift. It comes when you fumble and fail. It comes when things work out, and you realize something is even more than you could have hoped for.
We need grace. We need a pleasing, reassuring sound to guide us. For many, things feel out of tune in the world right now. There is dissonance and discord among people socially and politically. We all wonder who will lead us and how things will work out. We need the power of grace to grow in us and among us. Grace remains even if….even when…
Grace is beyond what you know, what you can do, and what you can imagine. If you listen, grace can guide you along the way. We are not alone. The gentle yet strong rhythm of grace is found in Jesus himself. If we keep our ears open, we can hear him saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
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*Roberto Molar Candanosa, “The Sound of Silence? Researchers Prove We Can Hear It.” Hub, John Hopkins
**Ps 40:6
***Col 1:1-6
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