lenten thoughts on hearing
Lent is a season when followers of Jesus intentionally try to move closer to God, so this year, we will try to move closer by considering the countless ways we encounter God through our senses.
This week, we are focusing on hearing and sound. Our reflections are from Joanna Guldin and Alicia Anderson. Joanna and Alicia each share some thoughts on the prompt:
“What sounds help you feel the love of God?”
moments
In college, my sister and I attended the Soweto Gospel Choir’s concert in Eisenhower Auditorium. The packed auditorium was dark. Without fanfare, the choir began singing. Tight, perfect a cappella harmonies filled the theater. When the lights poured onto the stage, my sister and I looked at each other in shock, tears streaming down our cheeks. We hadn’t expected something so beautiful or so deeply moving. I remember thinking that it was, perhaps, as close to hearing a heavenly choir as I could on earth.
As a musician with a band director dad and a church organist mom, music has defined my life. The older I get, the more I recognize that so many moments in my life are marked by God’s gracious and abundant gift of sound.
Every time I attend a football game and the Blue Band turns, hitting the North End Zone with pregame’s “Hail to the Lion,” I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the friends and memories I made as a band member.
When I wake at 3 AM because my twins are throwing a rager from their cribs and laughing riotously together, I am speechless with thanks for the miracle of their lives and the giggles that will, over time, turn them into friends.
Every St. Patrick’s Day, Facebook reminds me of a memory— a video I took of “Galway Girl” (one of my favorite songs) being played by a musician in a pub in Dublin while my sister and husband chat together on the other side of the table. I’m so grateful for that day and the many others I’ve spent traveling and enjoying life with the dearest people in my life.
When I step outside with my dog and hear his soft panting and the wind rustling the stalks of corn planted in the field that borders our lawn, I’m thankful for nature and peace.
May all you hear today be a reminder of God’s overflowing goodness and love.
–– Joanna Guldin, Penn State and LCM Alum and Board Member
drums and dance
The distinctive sounds of Native American drums and dance fill the room at the Penn State Powwow. The relentless beating on hand-made drums is almost a heartbeat for the gathering where people come to dance, alongside relatives from many nations and tribes. The sound of high singing in languages of ancestors floats above the lower drumbeats. Rhythmic sounds of bells, rattles, metal cones, and other dance regalia give voice to all the movement. These sounds fill the room and tie people together: Native and non-native, dancers and drummers, families and friends, and even people like me who have come to be immersed in the beauty of sounds and movement and community.
“The contemporary powwow is a social event, like a big family reunion where everyone comes to renew acquaintances and to dance. It is a time for people to come together in song and dance, a time to put aside tribal differences and help bridge the gap between the American Indian and the non-Indian worlds. However, powwows are not simply secular opportunities for fun; they are a prayer to the Creator, a celebration of spirituality, and a connection with Indianness of past, present and future.”
–Penn State Powwow Website – bellisario.psu.edu/powwow/about
Though it is neither my tradition nor my culture, I find the sounds of the Powwow stirring, moving and powerful. I think about drums and voices carrying across prairies and through forests generations ago. I remember our country’s sad and bitter history of broken treaties, stolen land, and genocide. I hear lament and protest as well as celebration and joy in the sounds of the powwow. These sounds are deeply spiritual. Though the American Indian understanding of Creator is not exactly my understanding of God, the songs fill me with hope that the one who creates, who brings life and light to the world, also brings healing, reconciliation and wholeness.
— Alicia Anderson, Campus Minister for Lutheran Campus Ministry at Penn State
You’ll find a bit of the Powwow song at this link to photographer Pat Little’s Facebook Post
Lent 2025: Sensing God
O God,
You are in the sounds that fill my days.
You insipire the music I love, its harmonies, its words, its meanings.
I am moved by rich tunes and splendid choruses.
You are in rattling winds, calling birds, distant traffic, gentle humming.
I remeber that you are moving in the world all around me.
I hear your voice in communities gathered where love and life is shared.
Your love is in the sounds when people are together.
Amen.
God created our bodies and gave us marvelous senses through which we engage with the world around us. Every day, whether we think about it or not, we encounter God’s presence through sensory experiences that are holy or silly or powerful or unremarkable. This Lent we will move closer to God by noticing and reflecting on these sense-driven experiences.
We invite you to share your own thoughts and observations on what touch helps you feel God’s love on this link to our Instagram thread this week.
You can share an image or a thought or just a word or two.
Blessings to you this Lent. May we all sense God’s loving presence.
Peace,
Alicia
Lutheran Student Community is a community of faith for students while at Penn State.
You are welcome to bring doubts and questions, to explore what it means to be a person of faith as you grow and discover who you are and what you are going to do with your life.
We gather around worship, discussion/study, service opportunities, and community that are designed with students in mind. Student leaders help to guide our plans and our gatherings – and everyone is welcome. Come as you are. Really.