All church members have gifts as Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 12 including those with physical challenges. Those who are challenged should not be forgotten because they also can contribute to a church’s ministry as it glorifies God and enjoys him forever.

For a time, I worshipped with a small Presbyterian Church in America congregation in a suburb just inside the beltway of a major city. Attendance varied from a low in the upper teens to forty plus on a well attended Lord’s Day. Joining the pastor in ministry were two deacons and three ruling elders. About a half-dozen members, all women, were shut-ins, and another six were widows who attended as faithfully as the maladies of age allowed. There were two young families with a total of five children. The congregation had a tendency for formality as exemplified by the use of Mrs., Miss, and Mr. instead of using given names. One elder was known to all as Mr. Hudson.

Mr. Hudson’s profession was tuning pianos and he was employed by the county school system to keep students singing to the music in their classes. People have been tuning pianos since the instrument was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Italy in 1700, however, what was remarkable about Mr. Hudson is he was blind. When just a preschooler he was abandoned to an orphanage then later went to a school for the blind. He learned the tools of his profession in Chicago. Skillfully, he adjusted the pins of pianos that control the more than 200 strings spanning the frame so that each one would provide the proper notes. Mr. Hudson was driven from school to school in a van supplied by the school system. I thought it was gracious of the county to give him a job and provide transportation to boot. Among the school children he was known fondly as “The Piano Man.”

Especially important for a tuner is a keen ear that discerns when each string is playing the correct note. The Harvard Medical School referencing a clinical study notes there are connectivity changes in the brains of the blind such that there are “connections that appear to be unique in those with profound blindness” suggesting that “the brain rewires itself in the absence of visual information to boost other senses” (see Notes). This study provides evidence confirming what observers of the blind have suspected for years. Mr. Hudson’s hearing was excellent and when I asked him how he identified his brethren in the church without sight, it was by their voices and smells. He said that many people have distinctive smells, not only perfume for a woman or after shave for a man but also the bacon and eggs they consistently had for breakfast or animal smells from their pets. The Hudsons lived in a pleasant little brick house that he had paid for with his wages. Mr. Hudson worked for twenty-seven years for the school system. Whether day or night, the house was always dark inside because they did not need lighting.

Read More