Spirit-Filled Communications
The season of Easter ends with the great feast of Pentecost—the birthday of the Church. On the first Pentecost Sunday the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to carry out the mission given them by Jesus: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) That same Spirit empowers and inspires us for mission today.
One part of the account of the first Pentecost that intrigues me is the fact that when those in the upper room who received the Holy Spirit began to proclaim the message to the crowd outside, the people from “every nation under heaven… heard them speaking in his own language.” Act 2:1-11
The first proclamation of the Good News is a model for all disciples in that we are called to deliver the Gospel message in a language understood by the audience, but it is not always that easy to achieve especially with each of the many means of communication available to us. We have to be intentional to make it happen.
Online Communications
When we consider our online ministries, we know that an evangelizing message is meant for more than the inner circle of a community—it is meant for visitors, strangers, and those marginally involved in the life and mission of the community. We choose words and images that speak to them—all of them. The way we provide information recognizes that what we think “everybody knows” may not be what our visitors know. We provide clear details and directions, contact information and whatever else makes the message complete. And we provide that information with love and care.
The work of the Spirit in all our communications, print and digital, is infused with the fruits of the Spirit which Saint Paul wrote about in his letter to the Galatians: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) The more evidence of these virtues the greater our chance to connect with our many different audiences.
A Caring Outreach
Earlier this month (May 2021), the Diocese of Cleveland produced a short video that delivered a message of hope to the people of the diocese after more than a year of living in pandemic mode. The video was made available to parishes to post on their websites and social media accounts. I was struck with the kindness, gentleness and compassion in the video. See what you think.
Obviously, we all don’t have access to the production resources of a diocese, but we can share a video like this when it is made available to us. At the same time, we can find ways to communicate kindness and compassion with the resources we have.
Some communicators are doing it already. If you have examples, please share them them with us in the comments below. If you have a link, share that. If not a description is fine. They can be in any format, for websites or social media and do not have to relate to the pandemic. Also, please feel free to share comments about the video from the Diocese of Cleveland. Thank you!
