Public Speaking as Proclamation of the Word of God

Early in my career, I hesitated to speak in public—lots of excuses—I didn’t like the residue of my Southern accent, others could do it better than me. This was true whether I was asked to be a presenter at a conference or to be a lector at church, reading the scriptures. Over the years, my outlook on speaking in front of people, has revolutionized based on a few epiphanic moments. I discovered that when I gave a presentation and thought of it, and indeed, did “know” that I was proclaiming the word of God, I was fine and even enjoyed it. How did I come to this?

I started this movement to proclamation while studying at seminary. The few times I had to “preside” or give a homily were killers, though I realized the more I believed in my homily, the better the experience for me. But my first real breakthrough was when my husband’s dear aunt died—she had been very supportive of my study at seminary and wanted me to plan and preside at several rites of burial that are found in the Catholic rituals for the dead. It was hard to lead the family in the prayers for the Vigil Rite of Gathering in the Presence of the Body; all Mike’s cousins and family were there and it was my duty to bring them the comfort of the gospel. But the next morning when I presided at the Vigil Rite of The Transfer of the Body to the Church, I thought I might die. I looked out at the congregation gathered at the funeral home, ready to go to the church for the Funeral Mass and realized there were folks who were not Catholic, indeed, not even Christian, and I was there to proclaim the good news that Aunt Rosemary had believed in her long life. Not that I intended to proselytize at all, no, just to witness to what she believed in the core of her being. Though I wanted to cry at several points, I kept reminding myself that I need to be a strong voice for proclamation of her beliefs. After that, I did agree to be a lector occasionally and it was easy to apply the same principle.

Soon after that, I returned to academic librarianship and began teaching undergraduate students how to use the resources my institution offered and to do appropriate research. That was something I believed in wholeheartedly and this kind of speaking was entirely natural to me. Over the years, I developed research interests that I knew I wanted to speak about. It was a blessing for me when this coincided with my move to CTU. One reason I expressed for my desire to be the librarian at CTU was because I felt it gave me a platform that came with respect for me to pursue these ideas.

My first opportunity was a wonderful invitation to speak to the Fellowship of Christian Librarians and Information Scientists (FOCLIS) at the American Library Association annual conference. I was speaking about being a theological librarian and how I felt God had called me to a vocation to this profession. Now I believe this firmly, but I was still worried I would be nervous, but to my surprise I started and felt very comfortable—after so many years, another major breakthrough or epiphany. The firm belief in what I had to say gave me the grace to do this. (A version adapted for print can be found in Theological Librarianship 3, no. 1 (2010).

However, the really big breakthrough came quickly after that—my research on scholarly sustainability had become very important to me and I submitted a proposal to present a paper on this topic at the annual conference of the American Theological Library Association. Another epiphanic moment—speaking about scholarly sustainability was actually proclaiming the word of God! I finally got it that anything I talked about that I believed would help bring about the reign of God was a proclamation of the word of God. All my work as a librarian has been meant to help others (and myself) become the Imago Dei—no matter how esoteric, then, my speaking on it is a proclamation of the gospel.

In my FOCLIS presentation, I quoted my colleague, Dianne Bergant, who says in a Scripture Reflection from CTU, July 2009 (these do not seem to be currently available on the new CTU website or I would link to it.):

Today’s readings insist that God has indeed called all of us to prophesy to his people. This might startle us. Us, prophets? After all, we are just simple people, engaged in ordinary occupations.

She goes on to say,

Christians today are mechanics and clerks, teachers and engineers, doctors and housekeepers, politicians and train conductors. Few of them are asked to leave their ordinary trades or professions, for it is precisely within those trades or professions that they fulfill their calling. It is there that they touch minds and hearts and souls with the tenderness of God; and it is there that they heal the people whom they touch. It is there that they instruct and comfort people in need.

I feel sure she means to tie the two together: that in our work we are called to prophecy and proclaim the good news. If you find that you are called to be an accountant or a plumber, then when you talk about your work, you should be proclaiming the good news! If you believe that you image God in your creative pursuits—needlework, music, photography—then your work and your discussion of it is a proclamation of the gospel and you should claim your authority to proclaim the good news!