Hear the word of the LORD.
(Isaiah 66.5)

   My New Year’s resolution is to be a better listener, a task that involves spiritual, physical and attitudinal aspects. Spiritually, I am trying to be more like Mary than Martha. Mary was the sister who sat at Jesus’ feet listening while her sister Martha struggled alone to get dinner on the table (Luke 10: 38-42). There is an interesting question here of fair division of labor, but I suspect that Martha’s frustration is similar to that of a parent joylessly struggling to do “necessary” chores and then finding there is not enough time left to sit and listen to family members.
 
   What does it mean to listen or hear well? The dictionary definitions of “to hear” include to perceive sound (usually with the ear), to pay active attention, to obey, to attend (a concert, etc.), to learn, and to listen with favor. Recently, I heard a choral concert of Biblically inspired works in German, Hebrew and Latin. I cannot say I could understand the words, but I heard the joy. I witnessed the interplay of often-smiling musicians intently and exuberantly following each other and I participated in a sense of a well-connected community. What a blessing.
 
   Practically speaking, as I age, I am aware of a significant loss of my hearing acuity. As I approach the age of 65, I know the percentage of my peers who are also hard of hearing will reach 25% and continue to increase as we age further. Does it matter if we hear well? Definitely! Among the young who are hard of hearing, only 25% who begin college actually complete a degree and less than 20% of the hard of hearing population are employed compared to about 65% of the hearing population. The negative impacts of hearing loss can be minimized when one acknowledges the issue and then takes advantage of assistive devices.
 
    Therefore, this month, I have acquired an attitude that allows me to correct some of my physical limitations. I have joined the Hearing Loss Association of America, installed an inexpensive CapTel phone which provides realtime transcriptions of phone calls, gotten into the habit of requesting wonderful assistive devices at McCarter and other theaters, and written a letter in support of an amendment to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) which will require theaters to show captioned movies more frequently.

I hope my efforts will make me a better listener.

Contributed by Susan
Sunday January 23, 2012
Liturgical Year A: Week 9
Liturgical Color: White
Sunday Gospel reading:
Third Sunday after the Epiphany