We know that all Christians have an obligation to spread the Good News. Yet few of us feel comfortable urging people to learn more about Jesus, much less join his church. Perhaps the recent election offers some tips for evangelization. Our friends, colleagues and neighbors know whether we’re Democrats or Republicans. Surely we can find a way to tell them we’re Christians — and why.
Every political campaign reveals the importance of volunteers. Paid operatives don’t pass out flyers or man the phones. Those are volunteer jobs. We happily ring doorbells and ask permission to put up signs for our favorite candidate. Couldn’t we show a similar enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel? Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have that drive. Perhaps Catholics could do something low-key like giving the Christmas Mass schedule to every family on our street.
We Catholics tend to leave evangelization to our priests and religious. The Bible, though, says we are all commanded to go out and pass on the Good News. Most often, this means serving others in small acts of kindness throughout our day. However, the command to share Christ’s love also requires that we be ready and willing to talk about him when we get the chance. Campaign workers study the candidate’s positions on key issues so that they can effectively speak on his or her behalf. Likewise, we Christians need to know the basics of our faith, and we really need to know Jesus.
The speeches of a candidate’s supporters have a distinctive style. They insert the candidate’s name into almost every sentence, like so: “Keone Taketa loves Hawaii. Keone Taketa knows Washington. Keone Taketa can make Hawaii’s voice heard there.” Too often when we Catholics talk to other people about our faith, we only talk about the church. However, the church is a divine institution staffed by human beings. Those human beings sometimes make huge mistakes, such as our past handling of sexual abuse cases.
These sad errors make it easy for non-believers to dismiss the church. They find it a lot harder to dismiss Jesus. Even after 2,000 years, his goodness still shines. He should be the theme of our evangelization efforts, not the church. Jesus is the means of salvation for the world, not Pope Francis, St. Damien or even the Virgin Mary. Read St. Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2:14-36. He doesn’t talk about liturgy, divorce or social justice. He talks about Jesus.
St. Paul follows the same pattern when preaching in Athens (Acts 17:16-34). He focuses on Jesus and what our Lord has done for humanity. On the other hand, Paul’s epistles are written to people who have already chosen to follow Christ. These letters explain to new Christians how believing in Jesus affects every aspect of our lives from where we buy our meat to how we settle legal disputes.
Campaign workers are enthusiastic. They honestly believe that their candidate can improve life in our community, state, nation or world. You seldom hear Catholics speak of Jesus that way. We’ve bought into the heresy that Christianity is a private, personal matter. We’ve retreated from the social activism of the 60s and 70s. When today’s politicians shape their campaign strategy, they only worry about the Catholic voter when discussing abortion. And even there, most candidates get away with, “I’m personally opposed to abortion, but …”
However, our faith should affect our words and actions on numerous social issues from homelessness to Afghanistan. We’re so sure a flawed, human politician can solve the world’s problems. Isn’t Jesus the ultimate, fundamental solution to all injustice and suffering? Shouldn’t we be telling people that?
Kathleen welcomes comments. Send them to Kathleen Choi, 1706 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo, HI 96720, or e-mail: kathchoi@hawaii.rr.com.
