Saturday, June 14, 2008
It was beautiful.
Here in my little Michigan town, we've continued to have major storms for the last few days. I don't mind the rain, thunder or lightening. I just like to switch it up every once in awhile, so I can appreciate whatever the weather isn't doing. Today it was B-E-A-U-TIFUL! It was about 80 degrees, not very humid, and clear blue skies for most of the day. We spent our Saturday visiting Family and lounging around our apartment.
I figured today I'd share my passion with you all today. I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog. I don't recall. I have an excitement for most things Sign Language. Our church holds an annual Deaf revival. This was the first year we were allowed to hold it in our newly remodeled sanctuary. It is so cool to see the deaf worshiping God, singing, and talking in Tongues. The local faithful deaf suddenly become more animated than ever. The entire service is signed (with voicing for the hearing folks) from start to finish. There are signing choirs and our favorite deaf preachers. The video below is a very small taste of what we do. These are some of my hearing friends in the community. I would've recorded longer but I suddenly realized my group was next.
A couple important things to know about Deaf culture to keep in mind. Its considered just fine to call the "hearing impaired" deaf or hard of hearing. Sign Language is rather blunt. Sign Language is NOT the same from city to city or even country. It's just like any spoken language. It has different accents from place to place and is signed completely different country to country. The deaf community doesn't see being deaf a disability. They say if a hearing person walked into a room they would have the disability. The thing I've learned that keeps me involved with the community is that most deaf children who are born into hearing families aren't able to communicate with them. The hearing parents view themselves as failures for producing deaf children, so most of the time they never learn Sign Language or teach their brilliant deaf child(ren). I can only imagine how painful that could be to want to share with the people I love most that I love them or I'm hungry and not having a way to tell my family. I think I'll stop talking on that note. I could talk for hours on the things I've learned since I've been signing. Just remember: You could be their salt and light......
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail!
I figured today I'd share my passion with you all today. I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog. I don't recall. I have an excitement for most things Sign Language. Our church holds an annual Deaf revival. This was the first year we were allowed to hold it in our newly remodeled sanctuary. It is so cool to see the deaf worshiping God, singing, and talking in Tongues. The local faithful deaf suddenly become more animated than ever. The entire service is signed (with voicing for the hearing folks) from start to finish. There are signing choirs and our favorite deaf preachers. The video below is a very small taste of what we do. These are some of my hearing friends in the community. I would've recorded longer but I suddenly realized my group was next.
A couple important things to know about Deaf culture to keep in mind. Its considered just fine to call the "hearing impaired" deaf or hard of hearing. Sign Language is rather blunt. Sign Language is NOT the same from city to city or even country. It's just like any spoken language. It has different accents from place to place and is signed completely different country to country. The deaf community doesn't see being deaf a disability. They say if a hearing person walked into a room they would have the disability. The thing I've learned that keeps me involved with the community is that most deaf children who are born into hearing families aren't able to communicate with them. The hearing parents view themselves as failures for producing deaf children, so most of the time they never learn Sign Language or teach their brilliant deaf child(ren). I can only imagine how painful that could be to want to share with the people I love most that I love them or I'm hungry and not having a way to tell my family. I think I'll stop talking on that note. I could talk for hours on the things I've learned since I've been signing. Just remember: You could be their salt and light......
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail!
Labels: Deaf Revival and Music., Sign Language
# posted by 99 Blogger @ 10:56 PM 
