Finding Christ in Christmas, Part 2

Spirituality Column #213
December 7, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Finding Christ in Christmas, Part 2
By Bob Walters

You’ve seen the word “Dolby” on audio equipment or at the movies, right?

Named for inventor Ray Dolby in the 1960s, “Dolby Noise Reduction” electronically masked the omnipresent “hiss” (background noise) of audio tape recordings and movie film. “DNR” enabled the massive stereo cassette tape industry of the 1970s and 1980s. “Dolby Surround Sound,” introduced in 1975, redefined cinema sound tracks and theater audio systems.

My brother-in-law Bill, an electrical engineer (Master’s degree from Purdue), explained Dolby Noise Reduction to me once. He fashioned a graph that mimicked musical staff paper.

Recording-tape friction and recording-machine vibrations, he explained, created unavoidable hiss and rumbles – noise – at predictable frequencies when tape is recorded and when it is played back. Dolby electronically compressed nuisance noise frequencies and expanded the desirable music frequencies.

Anyone old enough to have hit the “Dolby” button on a tape player likely remembers the magic – just music, no noise! Modern Dolby digital cinema surround sound quality is even more astonishing in its life, clarity and depth.

Do you ever wish, like I wish, that we could hit a Dolby button to remove the secular junk noise from the Christmas season?

How wonderful to be surrounded by only the magic, wonder, depth and astonishment of Christmas; to know simply and clearly that God arrived on Earth as Jesus Christ the Son of Man to remove our sins, to intercede unceasingly with God on our behalf, to offer us the gift of adoption into the Kingdom of God, to give us eternal life, love and peace with Him at the right hand of God in Heaven.

Yet Satan hisses at us like a snake, and the earth rumbles with mistrust of man’s misguided faithlessness. Happy Winter Holiday! Alas …

How soothing to remove the hiss, rumble and noise of a greedy world busily promoting holiday commerce while it sneeringly conspires to stifle the spirit, silence the truth and disrupt the simple harmony of saying “Merry Christmas.”

Blessedly, God provides us with many Christmas “Dolby buttons.” We can pray, read the Bible, go to church, talk to a priest or pastor or a trusted Christian friend.

We can do for others and give of ourselves.

Yes, we can find Christ in Christmas. We can pray. We can beseech the Holy Spirit to silence the noise in our hearts, and surround us with the love, life, clarity and depth of Christ.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) appreciates the clarity of digital, but likes the realism of analogue. God, however, is not a recording.