Day 14 - Surface noise

A fabulous creation is writer David Hepworth’s book – more of a love letter really – to the LP record. As someone who spent his teenage years saving all his pocket and Saturday-job money to buy records, I share that love. Great though music streaming services are, nobody will ever persuade me that streaming the Sgt Pepper or Dark side of the moon albums carries the same emotional thrill as lifting the LP out of its sleeve, carefully placing it on the turntable, lowering the stylus onto the vinyl and then sitting back and listening to the music while looking at the artwork and reading the lyrics sheet. Or maybe it’s just my age.

Of course, LP records were a relatively short-lived phenomenon, to be superseded by the CD, downloads and now streaming services. And critics of the LP are quick to point out the format’s shortcomings. The first of these, they tell us, are the snaps and crackles that can often be heard in the background. Ah yes: “surface noise” - something which was all but eliminated on digital recordings.

The legendary broadcaster and DJ John Peel had a famous retort to this criticism. He said:

“Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise. I said, 'Listen, mate, life has surface noise.’”

And John was right. Life is indeed full of surface noise. We often hope that our lives will run smoothly and without major interruptions, and that our plans will all fall neatly into place. But they rarely do. Distractions, diversions, commitments, opportunities and tragedies are pebbles or boulders thrown into the once-tranquil pools of our lives, causing ripples, waves or tsunamis. We know we must live with them, but rarely do we embrace them.

I think Jesus would also have agreed with John Peel.

If we look at Jesus’ ministry, we see a clear purpose, mission and objective. He was here to show us the way to God, and through his death and resurrection to fulfil God's plan of redemption, offering eternal life to all who believe in him. Such a mission, surely, required single-mindedness, demanding complete attention and focus. And yet, if we look at how Jesus fulfilled his mission, we see “surface noise” at every turn; people interrupting his teaching with challenging questions or requests for advice, others asking for healing, others needing feeding. The list goes on. Rather than resisting the surface noise, Jesus embraced it, weaving it into the fabric of everything he did and was. Every distraction became another opportunity for him to share God’s love and fulfil His purpose.

The writer Marcia Lebhar has written:

“Jesus gave Himself almost entirely to what we would consider interruptions. He trusted that what the Father allowed to cross his path was ... from the Father. Jesus always seemed willing for things to get messy.”

Maybe we need to learn to recognise and love the surface noise in our lives. Maybe we need to trust that this surface noise is part of our discipleship journey; not an interruption or a distraction, but a gift from God.

Through my love of the LP record, I have learnt to embrace surface noise – to an extent! Maybe I need to learn to embrace it in my life.

Philip Clarke