I’ve written before that we need to passionate about spreading the word of God and growing each church in this parish. The natural question then, is what do I mean by “passionate”? What would that passion look like?
Well, for one thing, passion cannot be phony or fake. If we do not feel passionate about something, we cannot pretend that we are, at least not for very long. We can try, for a while, but we won’t succeed. If we don’t truly feel passion, people are eventually going to figure that out.
Passion is defined as a powerful or compelling emotion or feeling. What that means is that true passion is a matter of the heart, not of the mind. Just as we cannot fake passion when we don’t have it, we cannot conceal it if we do. Again, we can try, for a while, but we won’t succeed. When we feel passionate about something, eventually people are going to see that.
What I’m saying, then, is that passion either exists or it doesn’t. We cannot, by force of will, make ourselves feel passionate about something when we don’t. We also cannot make ourselves stop feeling passionate about something when we do. Again, passion is a matter of the heart, not of the mind.
Where the mind comes into the picture, though, is in channeling that passion into something that can serve God. Le me explain what I mean by that.
Start by thinking of something that you are passionate about, something that you love to do and are going to try to find a way to do anyway. It could be anything. It could be fishing. It could be quilting. It could be working on cars. It could be cooking. It could be going to sports events. It could be poetry. Our passions are as different and varied as we are. I’m sure I haven’t even come close to hitting the passions of all the people of our parish have.
Now that you’ve thought of that, think of other people you know who are also passionate about that same thing. The chances are you already know them, because we tend to attract and be attracted by people who are passionate about the same things we are.
Next, think of a way you can turn the thing you’re passionate about into a group event. Again, the chances are you already do this to a certain extent, although maybe not in any systematic or organized way. Think of a group that could go fishing together. Think of a group that could work on quilts or cars together. Think of a group that could cook together, or go to sports events together, or read poetry together. I’m not saying you have to do this every week, or even on a regular basis, although you could do it that way if you chose. I’m just talking about getting together with a group of people of who have the same passion you do.
Now, think of a way your group could do something to serve God by doing the thing that you’re all passionate about. Maybe you take the fish you catch and donate them to the food pantry. Maybe you make quilts to be given to needy families. Maybe you work on the car of someone who doesn’t have the money to get their car fixed. Maybe you make meals for people who are sick or hurting. Maybe you take a group of kids to the ball game. Maybe you make poetry books to give to shut-ins. These are just a few examples of what could be done. The things these groups could do are only limited by our imaginations.
Do you see how this works? It doesn’t take special skills or talents to reach out to people. It doesn’t take huge amounts of money. What it takes is a desire to use the skills and talents God has already given to each one of us in God’s service.
You may be thinking, okay, I can see how these would be good things to do, but how do they grow the church? In a few ways. For one thing, when we, as a church, go out of our way to help people, they sometimes do start coming to church. We don’t help people for that reason, but it does sometimes happen. For another thing, when we, as a church, go out of our way to help people, that gets noticed in the community, and it’s attractive to people. People who have been thinking about coming to church will chose our church, because they can see the things our church is doing.
There’s a more important way that things like this grow the church, though. When we go out of our way to help people, we are showing God’s love to them. When we go out of our way to show God’s love to people, God will bless that. The blessing may not come immediately, and it may not come the way we thought it would, but the blessing will surely come. When a church receives God’s blessings, there is nothing it cannot do.
There is no reason each of the churches of this parish cannot have several of these groups. There’s no need for the pastor to be involved in all of them. These are things each person in this parish, from the oldest to the youngest, can do. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. When we take the passions God gave us and use them in God’s service, there is nothing we cannot do.
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