A Time To Speak

It was mid-December, 1949. I had joined a significant number of my college colleagues in the on-campus women’s dorm lounge. In fact, the place was packed. We were jammed into every square foot of sofas, chairs, floor space. The place was aglow, not only from the warmth of the fireplace, but also from the ad hoc harmony of Christmas carols. It was our pre-holiday all-school Christmas party and everything felt just right. The snow was glistening. Home for Christmas was just days away. Engagement rings were anticipated by some and homemade Christmas cookies, candies, eggnog by many others.

We had moved through “Jingle Bells” to “Let It Snow” to “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Then it was my turn to speak. I was the president of the student body and so was invited to give the devotion/homily/speech, whatever one wants to call it.

So I spoke on “Let us go to Bethlehem.” We were going home and that was great. We were going to be among those who loved us and that was wonderful. I suggested that all of this was part of going to Bethlehem, to the crèche, to the place where we meet anew the infant Jesus, to the place where angels assure us that this is where acceptance, hope and love abound.

The speech worked. Since all in that room were preparing for public ministry with the Lutheran church, most were touched at a deep spiritual level of the meaning of their life.

It was a great time to speak.

Since then I have spoken to a hundred (maybe more than a thousand) different audiences in settings as varied as convention centers in New York City to the tiny chapel of the Baptistery of Lydia in Greece. Every once in a while it all worked.

The crowded low-ceilinged meeting room was in a Colorado Springs hotel. It was the 60’s and Lutheran schools shared in the upheaval. Young and old were questioning institutions, even schooling itself. I spoke to some 300 teachers in the schools of the “4-corners” area. My theme was “The Church That meets in Your Classroom.” I reminded those teachers that their classroom met all the criteria of church: the Gospel was shared, faith united the community, and the demons of ignorance, racism, and sexism were being exorcised. Miracles like learning to read and write were happening every day. And each teacher was the minister in that classroom that God used to make it all possible. The addressed worked. It was a time to speak.

Every once in a while the magic occurred. Speaker and audience reacted in unison. Thoughts were stimulated. Emotions were evoked. Hope and promise seemed real.

Of course, sometimes it just didn’t work. (See “A Time To Keep Silent). Sometimes it was just another speech. But when it all came together it reassured me that even in the age of multi-media there are still occasions when the best communication occurs because “It is the time to speak