Hospitality, Emotion, and Evangelization
"Heart" evangelization is fundamental to our human need to know and be known, love and be loved.
The other night in conversation after supper my son, who is in technical sales, made a passing comment: “You can’t sell anything without an emotional connection.”
He went on to explain that no matter how perfectly his firm solved a potential client’s very technical, not-people problems, no matter how excellent his firm’s reviews, no matter how timely and under-budget the proposal was . . . the sale always, every time, required making an emotional connection as well. Without that, no sale.
Evangelism is not sales. We aren’t hawking a product. We are humbly doing our small part to assist someone in growing closer to Jesus Christ in the Catholic faith. Some of that involves “technical” things, in the sense that they are questions of true-or-false objective facts (Is God real? Is the Catholic faith true? ) or practical matters (Where’s the nearest Mass? How do I become Catholic or return to the practice of my faith?).
Very wisely, Saturday afternoon the leader of the catechetical group I’m getting to help with this fall laid out his strategy for the school year ahead: “We need head people and heart people, and I want to pair up one of each as we take turns co-leading our weekly sessions.”
All of us volunteers understood the importance of both, and we all strive for that balance . . . but in the process of developing plans it became very obvious who leaned which direction — and all of that is good! Nothing wrong with being more of a theology-type or more of a relationships-type.
You need both.
I think that’s obvious, and the book looks at both issues.
But I belabor this right now because the “heart” side of things, that emotional connection, is what hospitality is.
Hospitality is not just a handful of practices like greeters and name tags and ice breakers and parish social events. Hospitality is the gateway for most new, returning, or struggling Catholics. There has to be that emotional connection. Very, very few will enter the faith on a strictly theological or intellectual “head” quest, with no regard for how they are received and treated when they come to the local parish.
It’s just not human. Human emotions reflect our fundamental need to know and be known, to love and be loved. Without experiencing that sense that people in my local parish want to know me and love me?
It’s desolate.
It is extremely difficult for anyone to become or remain Catholic in the face of desolation.
I believe, furthermore, that we to whom the faith is given will answer on Judgement Day for the extent to which we callously left others in the darkness of desolation when we could have, instead, extended that invitation to know and be known, love and be loved.
Meanwhile, here’s an article from Get Religion on the spiritual journey of a prickly kinda guy who has recently been in the news: “An anguished 'nothing in particular' believer shakes up country music establishment”
Money quote:
It would appear, said Watson, that this hillbilly songwriter is – to use a popular research term – a "nothing in particular" believer, one without ties to organized religion. This is precisely the kind of American that many church leaders are struggling to understand.
"There's a strong spiritual yearning in this music and in his story," said Watson. "While many of our churches today claim that they're trying to be 'seeker friendly,' I'm not sure they're ready to welcome this kind of seeker."
It’s a diverse readership here, and some of you would find it easier and some would find it harder to relate to and welcome this musician into your parish and into your personal life. My point is more general: If not this guy, there are types of people out there you would find it very difficult to be hospitable to.
Take a moment to visualize those people. No, not that type who is supposedly such a hard case but actually you have a soft spot for. Keep searching. Look for the type that you really can’t stand. The type you feel really needs to make some serious changes before you would welcome him or her into your world.
That one. Jesus is asking you to be hospitable — to extend the invitation to know and be known, love and be loved — even to that one.
Oof. Lord have mercy. But nothing is impossible with God.
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Scheduled for delivery next week (subscription info here, it’s free), if I succeed with the automated scheduling feature: A story of the emotional hurdles that had to be overcome in order to get an otherwise-perfect candidate into sacramental prep. Even the “easy” cases can be hard!