"Preached"!

Today I was invited to give a speech to a South Asian Community Group. They organized a community outreach conference on the needs of people living with disabilities and invited me to be the closing speaker. I was humbled by the invitation and was thankful that the speech was well received. The audience was gracious and I appreciated all the kind words afterwards. But it wasn't until I was on my way home that I had a chance to reflect on the experience.

I mentally replayed my speech in my head and I was surprised to see that while I made no "biblical references", the "biblical influence" behind the speech was obvious: I spoke of the inherent sacred dignity of each and every individual without mentioning the doctrine of the image of God. I talked about the reality that all of us live lives that are broken in someways and need help from others without using the word "sin". Again, without mentioning the biblical reference, I closed the speech on the truth behind the words, "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

When I thought about the experience some more, what surprised me was how much the crowd "embraced" the speech. The vast majority (99%) of them do not have a Christian background, and yet person after person came up to speak to me afterwards, some with tears in their eyes, affirming what they had heard. What started as a routine speaking engagement for me ended up being a major learning experience. I came away with a new found amazement of the universal appeal of the Bible, and I am convinced, more than ever before that the Bible is not a "religious book" that was written simply to "propagate" the Christian religion.

Who knows? Perhaps my "previous life" as a Christian minister or a "preacher" was meant to prepare me to become a "messenger". One who is sent to serve, and bring hope and encouragement to those who are outside the walls of the religious community?