Story by Joe Pisani
Every semester at the start of my public speaking class, I assign a two-minute speech to help college students overcome their absolute terror of getting in front of their classmates and opening their mouths. Public speaking is a requirement they’d prefer not to take.
It’s odd, but talking can be difficult for a generation that would rather text-message than call someone on the phone. To compound their anxiety, surveys show public speaking is dreaded by 75 percent of people … while dying ranks second.
Their first assignment is to write a speech on the topic “If you could take anyone, living or dead, to dinner, who would it be and why?”
There are the usual choices, such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Barack Obama, Lionel Messi and assorted celebrities and sports figures. However, many of them dig deeper and get a little more personal. They’d prefer to invite an estranged father who left the family long ago. Or a deceased mother, whom they want to tell how much they love and miss.
Quite a few would take a grandmother or a grandfather, who raised them when they first came to the United States and helped them navigate the challenges of starting a new life in a strange country. Grandparents always rank high on the list of prospective guests.
My four daughters would certainly choose their grandmother. In fact, they still remember all the years she had them participate in the May crowning of the Blessed Virgin at her parish. It was always a command performance that we marked on the refrigerator calendar in red ink weeks ahead of time, just to ensure there were no conflicting events.
Every semester, I’m also pleasantly surprised to discover there are students who want to take Jesus to dinner, especially when you consider we live in a culture where many Christians are reluctant to say his name in public for fear of recrimination or criticism. Militant atheism and anti-religious sentiment have crept into every area of secular society, which means to say being a follower of Christ comes with its challenges, so I’m always inspired to meet students who aren’t afraid to profess their faith.
Jesus was pretty explicit about this sort of thing. He could have been speaking about our age when he said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father. (Matthew 10:32-33”)
This past semester, one young woman proudly proclaimed she wanted to invite Jesus to dinner and told the class: “If I could have a sit-down dinner with anyone, and I mean ANYONE in history, I would choose my dear friend Jesus Christ. My personal connection with him is the reason why I would love to be able to sit in his presence in a one-on-one physical setting.”
She loved Jesus and she wasn’t afraid to let people know, and I’m convinced her witness was an inspiration to other students who might have been sheepish about expressing their faith.
She had a few reasons for selecting Jesus, but one was particularly compelling.
“Being able to have dinner with Jesus would allow me to learn from him,” she said. “We are often told in the Christian community to be Christ-like, so I would be able to ask him exactly what that means … and if I am doing a good job so far. It would be a great boost of confidence in my walk with him.”
Wouldn’t we all love to sit down with Jesus over a meal and get a spiritual progress report? How encouraging would it be to hear him say, “Keep up the good work. I need you to help bring others to me.”
This world would be a different place if we who profess to be followers of Christ were as passionate as this student and if we had no hesitation about proclaiming our faith in public and telling the world just how much we love Jesus … so they can learn to love him too.
I should add that the student didn’t want to keep Jesus all to herself. She ended her speech with an open invitation: “I can set an extra place if any of you want to join us.”