Do You Hear What I Hear?

by Rob Hall, Cove Worship Pastor and Elvis super fan  

Sound is a very powerful thing and conjures the whole spectrum of emotion. It’s funny how the brain interprets sound even in our subconscious. My wife Lynnae can be in a deep sleep and yet discern the quiet footsteps of one of the children who comes into our bedroom in the middle of the night. Although I never hear those quiet footsteps in the dark, I have on occasion leapt out of bed with a shout in total defense mode as the wind has blown bushes up against the window pane.

Sound can alert us, inform us, excite us, calm us or make us feel as if we have just been transported back decades in time. That’s what happens to me every time I hear or sing a Christmas carol. One verse of “We Three Kings” and I’m suddenly back in the children’s choir in Brantley, Alabama, where I first remember Christmas. My dad pastored a small church in that sleepy little Mayberry-like town, and it’s where I first became acquainted with Jesus and the story of His birth. I was a wise man, a shepherd, an angel and Joseph, depending on what year I’m remembering. But the carols were all the same. “We Three Kings,” “Away in a Manger,” “O Little Town Of Bethlehem,” and of course “Silent Night” were the sounds of Christmas and may have contributed as much as Elvis to my becoming a musician.

There is nothing that speaks to me louder than music. It gets into the deepest recesses of my soul and has a way of filling in the chinks and gaps that life has created, even if only for the duration of two verses and three choruses. God speaks to me about his son through carols, and his son speaks to me through the songs that we sing in worship each week. It’s all a part of the same amazing story. God, the creator of the universe and everything in it, became small enough that we could see him, touch him and hear him. As the Father said “This is my son with whom I am well pleased. Hear him”. As we celebrate the miracle of God coming to earth this season, let’s all take a moment and “hear him”. 

Rob Hall has been the worship pastor at Cove Church for over ten years. He and his wife Lynnae live in Hampton Cove with their three sons, Hampton, Houston, and Mason.