Until someone cares, no one cares. But when someone cares, other stop and ask why.
I saw this happen twice this summer.
I jumped in on some outreaches with the Boston Operations Summer Project 2010 . One of them was created by the outreach team on the project. It consisted of pasting almost all the pictures from Soularium™ on a cardboard slab then using the slab to invite people to talk about spiritual things.
We set out in the Boston Common and five in our group put the slab on a park bench and asked passersby to look at the cards and give us their thoughts. For over thirty minutes, no one stopped. People were friendly but no one cared to take the time to really look at the images.
Until… three girls stopped to look at the images and take the survey. Then it was as if we were giving away money. Almost everyone who walked by from then on took a good look at what “everyone” found so interesting. We spent the next hour talking to about 25 different people from all over the world and of all different ages.
This was an insightful moment for me. As soon as anyone took an interest in what we were doing, it seemed that everyone took an interest. The interest of the first group seemed to “prove” to passersby that what we had was interesting.
I began by saying I saw this twice. The other time was in the movie Taking Chance . The movie depicts the true story of a Marine Colonel who escorts a fallen US soldier across the US to his hometown funeral. All along the way the Colonel silently, and at first solely, stands at attention and salutes the coffin of the soldier in transport. As the journey proceeds, more and more people join his salute, and therefore attract even more to do the same. His “interest” makes others aware of the significance of that which he salutes and there participation increases that awareness exponentially. In the movie, the Colonel is called “a witness.”
As the semester begins and many of us begin spiritual “interest” surveys on campus, let’s not forget that our mere attention to spiritual things, and to Jesus himself, is a catalytic opportunity to create and spread that interest to those around us. As we ask people to take a look at Jesus, we are “a witness” giving a salute to one who has fallen, and rose again. As others take note of our interest in Jesus, they may see also that he is the center of all things and spark a movement of those who have to stop, learn and follow him .
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