“When E.F. Hutton Speaks…..”

I’ve given a few talks over the years. At times I could sense that the audience was “with me”…laughing at the right spots, weeping at that special moment, poised for the coup de grâce. You could sense Churchill looking on, teary eyed, a look of envy. At the same time, there have been a few “duds”.  

It’s a terrible feeling as a speaker to look out and see people nodding, eyes glazing over, bodies falling on the floor. It’s even worse when you ignore the signs and plod ahead  ….. “as you can see from power point slide number  75”.  

Believe it or not, I’ve actually been to a talk/homily and felt myself counting the ceiling tiles as the speaker plodded to a dynamic conclusion. Hmmmm, this BLOG is starting to sound like one of those presentations…. Where was I?????? 

Effectively transmitting God’s message requires God’s anointing. Sometimes we can talk and talk and talk, even using God’s words, yet there doesn’t seem to be any anointing, no power, no conviction.

I found that the late Vietnamese Cardinal Nguyên Vann Thuân († 2002) had God’s anointing; when he wrote, there was power. Perhaps it was due to the message having being distilled thru his 13 years of imprisonment, his message sharpened thru his suffering. When I read a message from Cardinal Vann Thuân, I perk up. Listen to the following excerpts from “Keeping Christ At The Center, No Matter What”. 

“Love leads to communion, and communion allows everyone to move forward in harmony. Communion is not a happiness passively enjoyed, but it struggles to maintain a fraternal spirit and to open the doors of this fraternity to all people.…I must engrave this maxim within myself: “Communion is the struggle of every moment… a moment’s neglect can destroy it….. a single thought without charity, an obstinately maintained prejudice, a harmful attachment, a personal ambition or interest, an action done for myself and not for the Lord,returning to a bad habit already abandoned, the desire for personal satisfaction that overrides what is pleasing to the Lord”. He goes on to say, “Help me, Lord, to examine myself in this way: Who is the center of my life: you or me? If you are the center, then everyone will be gathered into unity. But if, instead, I see that people around me lose interest and disperse, that will be a sign that I have put myself at the center.” (“Keeping Christ at the Center, No Matter the Cost” by Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyên Văn Thuân, † 2002) 

What a powerful line……”When I see that people around me lose interest and disperse, that is a sign that I have put myself at the center.” When that happens do I simply put my head down and trod on, or do I bow my head and ask the Lord to help me. There was a very effective commercial from years ago that announced, “when E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen”. While I’m not very sure of that, I do know that when the Holy Spirit speaks there is power and people do listen and their lives are changed. And that is very good news.