Finding Reality In A Noisy World

Our world is so noisy.

The refrigerator humming, a fan squeaking, steam radiators knocking, and the distant sound of sirens. Even when it feels quiet, there’s always a background buzz. It’s even louder in the city. In Boston, the average ambient noise is around 70 decibels. For context, that’s roughly the sound of a vacuum cleaner running all the time. And most of it goes completely unnoticed… until the power goes out.

But when the power goes out, everything stops. You realize just how loud the world really is. No more humming, buzzing, or squeaking. Just a defining silence. You can almost hear your own blood pumping. And it’s more than sound. There’s no Wi-Fi. No Netflix. If the outage lasts long enough, your phone goes too. No Spotify, no podcasts, and no TikTok. Just silence.

Those moments can feel off-putting at first. But if we let them, they can become an opportunity to detox from the distractions and come back to reality. In other words, to touch grass.

Tomorrow we’re starting a new sermon series called Touch Grass, where we’ll explore how to find reality in a world that often feels insincere and overstimulated.

We all know the familiar spiritual disciplines of reading the Bible, prayer, and church attendance, but in our new series, we’re going to explore some lesser-known disciplines. Lesser-known doesn’t mean less valuable. In fact, they may be the most important disciplines of all because they’re foundational for everything else. I’m talking about practices like consistency, acceptance, focus, and repentance.

If you need to get back to reality after a long and exhausting 2025, join us on this first Sunday of 2026. Sing with us, hear from God’s Word, and come to the table for communion. I can’t wait to worship with you tomorrow!