New Stories: The First 40 Days

As part of Lent, I told a faith story to my church congregation and choir. These people are the closest group to me outside of my family. I love them so much.

For those who would like the audio version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2505277/Jonathan%20Lin%20Faith%20Story.2017-03-12.m4a

Good morning Eastminster. My name is Jonathan and I am a bass in the choir, and a part of the sound operator team here. Thank you John for today, and if anyone is interested in helping us out or finding out more, come find me afterwards. we’re always looking for new people.

Today I’m here to share with you what I talk to God about. Sometimes I pray for my family, my brother and sister, my mom, sometimes my dad, but most often, for the past year, the only big topic has been music and sound. Whether, and how, to continue with the music ministry here, and how to grow as a hard of hearing musician.

For the past few years, my hearing has declined. At first, I wasn’t aware of it. It was reflex to say “what?” when people talk to me. I started noticing that I couldn’t hear instructions on the train, in groups, at restaurants, in social situations and at work. Clearly something was happening but I didn’t know what it was. Those were some of my darkest days. I had to go see the doctor and audiologist, and I found I had severe to moderately severe hearing loss. I felt deflated. What am I going to do? Am I going deaf?

Well, my sharing today is about God’s answer to me about these two questions. First, I got hearing aids and they seem to work! and I had so much help from the Eastminster community, the choir, Scott and Hilary both are so encouraging, my fiddle teacher (it was hard to hide from her) and from my friends and family, at work. It took so many people telling me the same thing for me to finally hear it - I’m going to be a musician! A hard of hearing musician! It’s not unheard of but I think it’ll be the challenge of my life. I’m happy to announce that in April I’ll be heading down to Carnegie Hall again with Scott’s Soundcrowd, an acapella choir, and I’m super excited to hear the hall again.

And the answer to the second question: even if I am going deaf, there’s no shame in that. I've started building a support group of differently abled artists and performers, in particular the deaf Soprano Janine Roebuck and circus performer and acrobat Erin Ball, who lost her legs and almost her life in trauma. In swapping stories and tips about our experiences, they've helped me immensely in my worldview, showing me that while people come from all walks of life with all differing abilities, we are still people. We still have dreams and hopes, strengths and weaknesses. It’s up to us to show the world our true colors, and with the help of our friends and some faith, every body innately has something to give to the world.

I’d like to finish this sharing with my first 40 days. After I got my hearing aids, I kept a journal, here are some entries:

new sounds:

footsteps

chewing

water is super loud.

air conditioning is annoying

the fridge scared me.

I love waking up to birds outside my window

headaches

is it ok to bike with these?

what kinds of batteries do I need?

I am a robot.