It seems like everywhere I turn these days I hear about the importance of an "elevator speech." The idea of an "elevator speech" is to have in one's mind a brief message to convey in the time it would take to chat in an elevator-- 30 seconds or so.
Typically the "elevator speech" is a self-promotional piece. At my law firm there is a partners' retreat coming up this weekend and we were all told to prepare our "elevator speech" so we could explain to partners from other offices, who we probably don't know very well, what we do and why they should entrust the business of their important clients to us. When we interview graduating law students who would like to come here to work we hear their "elevator speeches" all the time-- who they are, what they've done, why they think they'd like to work with us and why we should hire them--- all crammed into 30 seconds.
A great "elevator speech" is actually something that takes a ton of work, crafting the right words, rehearsing out loud, getting comfortable so that it can be delivered effortlessly. It conveys who you are in an enthusiastic, positive way and describes what you have to offer that is special or unique and how you do it. It calls for a response, whether it is as important as a job offer or as basic as trading business cards.
It makes me wonder what our Christian "elevator speech" would look like. If we were to spend the time to craft a really-good "elevator speech" about ourselves as Christians, one that would make those who hear it want to get to know us and our faith better, what would that look like?
Our speeches would all be different, of course. But I'll bet we wouldn't start off by bad mouthing the Church or apologizing for all the things we've done wrong throughout history. Like any good "elevator speech," we'd start off from the positive-- from the perspective of how happy we are to be members of a positive faith community centered on loving God and loving each other.
I think we'd also stress the times God has made a difference in our lives, and how being members of a church like St. Richard's has helped make that possible. We'd probably also reach out to the person with whom we're speaking to make a personal connection and help them appreciate that we are interested in them as individuals and sons and daughters of God.
We'd end with a call to action-- maybe as simple as asking whether the listener would like to talk further, or maybe as important as seeing if they want a ride to Mass.
Just spending the time to prepare your Christian "elevator speech" is time well-spent. It is harder than you'd think to encapsulate our walk with Christ so briefly. But if you think about it, I'll bet you find some insights you hadn't previously had.