I completed my first practice speech on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism at yesterday's toastmasters. I researched it for a while and finally was able to write the speech. I practiced it over the weekend, and I knew what I had to do, to make it convincing. In the end, how did my speech go? I definitely improved in many areas - I varied my tone of voice. I didn't use my notes verbatim. I made eye contact with the audience and I even walked the floor. I used body language. These are things I had to do!! In the end, when it came to judgement, my speech did not win any prize. Not even "most improved." The person who who won both first place and most improved, dressed up as Charlie Chaplin and had a big smile on his face.
This is to say, that my speech was not worse. I believed I had more content. My subject was about God. Who likes the subject? Not the majority of my audience apparently. Did he do a better job with delivery? His speech was about using visual aids, which he did great. However 4 of those 7 minutes was spent showing his work on YouTube as Charlie Chaplin. Everyone loved his gear. Furthermore, he couldn't get his laptop to work. But he had a smile on his face..AND the topic was not about God.
We were both unprepared? Absolutely. He spent 15-20 min fixing a problem to get his laptop to work. I did not memorize my speech and actually apologized at the beginning by trying to use the word "acumen" to help add count to the word of the day. I was very nervous, my mouth was dry and so I missed many points I wanted to tell the audience because I wasn't fully prepared. In the end though, I think I delivered what I felt God wanted me to deliver. Maybe my writing was just a guideline.
Point of being -- I myself grew up as one of the MTD - Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. I went to church, I did the motions, but I did not have a relationship with the Lord. I thought He was someone in heaven watching me from above. I didn't see God in other people. I went to a church in Belgium..one of those that look like Notre Dame. The walls echoed. The readers and the priest did not articulate well to me. I felt like I wasn't being fed. Then I left the Catholic church. Fast forward some ten years later, after joining other Christians, diving deeper into the bible and fellowship, I've come to learn of God as the trinity. He lives in all of us. Our brethren has the spirit of God in him. Jesus says, "whatever you do to the least... you do it for me." In the Catholic Church, I felt judged. And I judged. One time I visited a church outside my home as a little girl. The priest (I believe) maybe he was a Eucharistic minister was giving me communion. He looked at me strangely like someone he never saw before. It is one look I will never forget.
I was in my own church and I did not feel authenticity from the people among me. It made me question, who are these "spiritual" people? They look no different than the people at the gym or outside the church.
Lessons learned: Everyone's spiritual level will always be different. I became a better Christian through relationship with His people, His followers by deeply delving into the bible. Sure, the Eucharist is among the most important thing of the Catholic Church. But so is the word and living the gospel daily, not just going to church weekly. Its simply not enough. And I hope that the future of our faith will not turn into a water-down version of Christianity as Damon Link says author of "Theology has its Consequences." We need to act now. It's a difficult subject, but an important one.
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