With many staff, clergy and other leaders taking the week off after a wonderful Advent and beautiful Christmas, plenty of churches use guest speakers during these slow and snowy Sundays at the end of December. In keeping with that practice, I offer you the following reflection. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Matt Kuzma, Director of Communications
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My high school English teacher told the joke this way:
A man was convicted and was sent to prison. He sat down for lunch on his first day inside and was startled when another man put down his sandwich, stood up and yelled out, "45!" No explanation, just the number. The other inmates laughed, then went back to their meal.
The second day, the man sat down at the same table, and a few minutes into lunch, a different inmate stood up and shouted, "63!" This time, the audience in the cafeteria laughed for quite a while, then went back to their meal.
The third day, it happened again: a giant man with a shaved head stood up and screamed, "28!" The prisoners started rolling on the floor with laughter, nearly crying in hysterics. A good ten minutes later, the inmates finally settled down enough to continue lunch.
The new prisoner, obviously surprised at this whole situation, asked the man net to him, "Hey, I'm new here, what's with the numbers?"
The second man replied, "We have been in prison so long and have told the same jokes so many times that now we just say the numbers to save time. It's a very good system."
The new prisoner decided to try it out himself. The next day, when everyone had been seated for lunch, he stood up, slammed down his lunch tray and shouted, "57! 57!"
Silence. Blank stares. The other inmates glared at him, turned away, and went back to their conversations.
Bewildered and embarrassed, the new prisoner asked his neighbor, "What went wrong? Did I pick a bad joke or something?"
"No, no," the second inmate said, "Number 57 is hilarious. But it's all in the delivery."
When a new person visits your church, what words or phrases might they be hearing for the very first time? Could they be left out of your "inside jokes?" Can you think of any language in your music, liturgy or sermons that would seem unusual and confusing to a visitor?
When you say the following words in your worship service or church business, does everyone know what they mean?
Connection
Ordination
Mainline Protestant
Lay, Elder, Deacon
Staff-Parish Relations Committee
Apportionments
Ad Council
Quadrennium
Book of Discipline
Take a look at your bulletin, brochures, website, and advertisements. Do you see any words that might not make sense to a person who hasn't spent decades in the United Methodist Church? If you find any, think about how you might make your communications more accessible to unchurched people, or even to your own members and participants.
One of the core values of our
Harvest 2020 movement is that we develop "outward-facing" communities. Using less technical language or church jargon is a good way to do that. And if you ever need a model for this, you can't go wrong with Jesus, who mostly told jokes about sheep, goats, farming and fishing.
Grace and Peace in the New Year,
Matt Kuzma
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