We often think that we have to be sitting in church to get a lesson about our faith but last Sunday, while watching TV, I saw something that was truly a lesson in faith. I guess that everything, even something as “unspiritual” as watching TV, can be spiritual! I hope that watching this 3-minute CBS TV’s Sunday Morning Show video does for you what it did for me.
Sunday Morning’s vignette started out looking like one of those heartwarming stories that end the evening news programs, but then 2.5 minutes into this video I watched as John Keller spoke about how his being asked to join a team of volunteers was for him a graced moment.
Click here to watch the 3-minute video
John Keller’s conversion experience is something like that of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul considered himself to be a good person, a good Jew, even though he was persecuting Christians and had to be knocked to the ground to see that he wasn’t. John wasn’t persecuting Christians but, as his inner feelings showed him, something wasn’t right with his thinking that he was a good person, a good Christian. As he reflected on his somewhat dishonest response, like Paul, he let himself be open to seeing himself in a less favorable light. This brought him to an interior place where he could either try to hide that flaw or acknowledge it and ask for the grace to change. John chose the latter which led him to become, as I see in the video, a better, more joyous and peace-filled person.
Let us strive to be equally as sincere and honest with ourselves. May we look for “spiritual” moments, even in those activities we tend to think of as “unspiritual.” And, when we have these “spiritual” moments, may we share them and how we grow through them with others. By doing so, we are evangelizing!
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Note: I found CNN and Washington Post accounts of Kathy, Keith and the other volunteers’ story, each account with its own twist. Neither the CNN Wire Service nor the Washington Post articles have the John Keller segment that the CBS video contains. Kudos for CBS! But CBS identifies Keith the “neighbor next door” while the CNN and Washington Post pieces identify him as the leader of a men’s group at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kudos to them for that. Why did CBS omit this?
This shows all the more reason why we need to see faith elements, even when faith or church is not mentioned. (Notice the statues on Kathy’s fireplace mantel.) The world of today seems to be omitting God and the place of faith in our minds, hearts and actions. We, people who say we are good Christian persons, need to talk about what we see using our eyes of faith – especially in our conversations with our children whose minds are not as mature as ours and perhaps need us to help them see the connections between their faith, their lives and what they see and hear in the media.
Click here to read the CNN Wire Service article – carried by many local Fox channels.
Click here to read the Washington Post article.
Sister Loretta
