SOMEONE TO SAY 'COME!' | KAIROS GLOBAL | SEPTEMBER 2022

Author: Dr Edward Edezhath

I was in a teens’ camp. It was time for the Holy Mass and all had gathered in the chapel. But as it often happens, the front seats were empty with everyone sitting far away from the altar. ‘This looks quite shabby,’ I thought. ‘But how to tell these youth to fill up all the front seats?’ After a few seconds, Anita, one of the main volunteers of the camp, came in. With a gentle smile, she quickly went around the hall gesturing to the group to move forward. Lo and behold! In a few seconds all the front seats were filled up. Now the whole place looked well arranged. Not only that, that day the participation in that Mass was quite active, maybe because everyone knew that there was someone actively in command. 

As I sat there, I continued to reflect. What Anita did was what Christian leadership ought to be, someone raising the voice to say ‘come’.

The tragedy of good people with no initiative

There is that very disturbing scene in the Lord’s story of the Good Samaritan. A poor man attacked by robbers is lying on the roadside. A priest and a Levite, representatives of good and prayerful people, pass by ‘on the other side’, not doing anything about it. We don’t know what their thoughts were. Most probably they thought, ‘I am already leading a good life, involving a lot in church matters, and this is none of my concern.’ But in the picture that Jesus painted they were on the wrong side.

In most schools that I know the ideal kids are the ones who sit silently and never question or argue. As they grow up, they are often encouraged to follow the crowd, doing nothing out of place. When we look at life in a parish, good Christians are called ‘sheep’, the meek ones. There the faithful are expected to ‘pray, pay and obey’ and never speak out. ‘Officially’ no dissenting voice is encouraged, and the best behaviour for a Christian is doing what all others do, and that is ‘obedience’. 

The result of all this is the good ones are hopelessly passive, and the wrong ones are active in world leadership. We seem to tell our youth, ‘You only need to pray, don’t do anything else’, while in the world youth are encouraged to take leadership and ‘do something’ wherever they are.  I like these words of the famous British statesman Edmund Burke, ‘ALL that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’

Waiting for a sign of leadership

In a time of confusion someone needs to speak up, and then all would listen. That is how leadership emerges. I have seen this happening in Jesus Youth numerous times. For example, in 2018 there was the Kerala floods, and all were shocked and confused. Raiju quickly made calls to Berly, Manoj, Binu and many others. In a few hours, a big initiative called ‘Nalla Ayalkaran’ (Good Neighbour) was born, offering help to thousands of devastated and helpless people. In another example, seeing the rampant drug abuse among the teens in the city, Suresh, Shalini and a few others gathered to discuss a suitable response. That was the starting of a series of big steps to help youth to ‘say no to drugs’. 

A loud voice saying ‘come’ gathers people lost in confusion and prompts them to take steps. If really inspired by the Spirit, it becomes a prophetic voice of big change. If Jesus Youth is vibrant in colleges or parishes, it is because in some confusion or hopelessness someone made a call and soon people came together. What St Paul says in his letter to Romans is indeed very true, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (8:19).

The persons who say ‘come’

After a short campus ministry meeting, Latha eagerly approached me, ‘Please tell me how to begin a group in my college?’ Most youth are scared and think of all the problems in inviting others. But what they need is an inner push of the Holy Spirit. Then they will take some simple steps and tell others to 'come’. Latha took a step, in faith, inviting many to a Jesus Youth gathering. She thus started a good group in her college. 

Latha, who came from a Hindu background got to know Jesus from a JY conference. She experienced the love of God and was eager to do something beautiful for Jesus. She knew that the best way was to invite others to form a community where they would meet and grow in the Lord. Latha’s simplicity and joy made her a welcoming person, most suitable to say ‘come’ to her friends.

As we already found, saying ‘come’ is a sign of good Christian leadership and three important qualities such persons need are, love for the Lord, love for the neighbour and an enthusiastic disposition.

We also need places to invite people to

Linsey was a non-Catholic Christian, but through Jesus Youth she became an active Catholic. Mathew invited her once to the weekly JY gathering, where she met a very joyful bunch of young people. After a few weeks of attending the small group, she decided to learn more about the Church and her life has never been the same. 

We need enthusiastic Christians to invite, but the question is, to invite to what or where? Of course, in a limited sense we may invite youth to some conferences or training, but eventually we say ‘come’ to join a community. ‘The beauty of our group is that we have a number of ways to integrate people, like a tea-and-snack group, outreach to the poor, a praise group, intercession group, Bible study, games evening, media day, and so on.’ People should be invited to come and belong to a family. That is what everyone wants and that is the beautiful plan of God.

The Bible ends with a call to ‘come’ – The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ (Revelations 22:17). And this is an invitation that the Lord and the Church extend to everyone eager to have the abundance of life. And the role of a Christian leader is to be a spokesperson for the Lord and say ‘come’ to those around, as Anita did in her little way during that teens’ camp.