Creativity comes from God. It is a marvellous gift as all His gifts are. I was listening to a talk on how Jeremiah the Prophet used creative means to bring forth the message of God. He did it in various ways, catching the attention of the people in His time. What about us now? We can still learn from Jeremiah, the weeping Prophet, the Prophet who could not stop preaching because he was so in love, so taken up by God’s awesome love.
Fancy preaching with actions. It is possible to bring a message across powerfully. St Francis says: use words if necessary but more than that, use your life. Use actions.
Jeremiah took a clay jar and then went on a walk. The people saw and followed him. Where was he going and what was he going to do with the clay jar? He went to a dumping ground for garbage and at that site, he hurled the clay jar, obviously breaking the vessel into bits and pieces. Can one mend a broken jar?
His message? Unless you repent, you are going to end up like that clay vessel. You will have to face the consequences of your actions. God’s judgement will be upon you.
It is true even today. We who are called to evangelise, to teach what we have learnt, to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth . . . . we cannot shirk from what people are not going to enjoy listening to because it is too hard for their ears. This is an important point to note, and unless we take courage and preach the truth, we too will be held accountable, won’t we?
So, like Jeremiah, may the Lord grant us the grace to be creative, to be persuasive and to never try and avoid what is not easy on the ears. Think of a meteorologist. What if he were to avoid warning people of a possible occurence of a tsunami? Will he be doing his duty? Would he not be accused of negligence if he did not say anything? What about the lighthouse keeper? Can he fail to send out warnings? So the list goes on . . . the watchmen must sound the warning too.
May the Holy Spirit empower us to proclaim loudly and clearly His message to the ends of the earth. Come Holy Spirit!
