The Elevator Speech

August 31, 2008 by RevLurch.

The Elevator Speech

From Bill Cosby sketch about Noah

Narrator:  I just wondering, what would be the effect of an Ark on the average neighbor?

Now, here’s a guy going to work, 7 o’clock in the morning Noah’s next door neighbor and he sees the Ark.

Neighbor:  Hey! You up there!

Noah:  What you want?

Neighbor:  What is this?

Noah:  It’s an Ark

Neighbor:  Aha.  You wanna get it outta my driveway?  I gotta get to work.  Listen, what this thing for anyway?

Noah:  I can’t tell you.  Hahahahaha!

Neighbor:  Well, I mean can’t you give me a little hint?

Noah:  You wanna a hint?

Neighbor:  Yes, please

Noah:  How long can you tread water?  Hahahah!

 
It loses something in print but the idea comes through I think.  Noah has a call from God that’s got to look really strange to those who are not privy to Noah’s conversation with God.  He’s building this big old boat in the middle of a driveway with no water to be found.  I imagine he got a lot of questions and probably had enough of them.  Bill Cosby portrays Noah as sarcastic with his comment, “How long can you tread water?” 

Fast forward to the 21^st century and a call from God still looks pretty strange.  None of us are building Arks in our driveways but we are asking strange things of people like getting up early on Sunday morning instead of sleeping in and studying centuries old writings and claiming they have importance for today.  We are celebrating a sacrament that makes the claim that we are eating and drinking the body and blood of our God.  We claim that somehow water and Word makes a difference in our life, even if that event happened before we can remember.  We are a strange people.

It’s tempting to get a little sarcastic like Noah and just blow people off.  A colleague suggested asking the question to folks outside the faith, “How’s that [life] working for you?”  I’ll bet the answer most times is “Just fine, thank you.”  Just like I can imagine Noah’s neighbor answering, “I can tread water just fine and for long enough.”  Those answers come because the folks answering don’t realize what they are missing.

They don’t know what their missing because we haven’t shared it with them.  Oh, we may have shared the annoying stuff that happens at church:  the sermons that go too long because the pastor missed one, the council meetings that are boring, the new hymn that I just didn’t like.  We forget to share the challenge of living a life of faith, the leadership of those who have shown us the way and the support from the community when life spirals out of control.

Kiwanis members are encouraged to work on an “elevator speech.”  This is a quick synopsis of what your club does in the community and why you are in Kiwanis that can be shared in an elevator when someone asks.  Do you have an elevator speech about your faith?  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  It does have to be short and to the point.  When people ask, they are not looking for the whole story, they just want the highlights.  Here’s my elevator speech:

I became a Christian because my parents and my community led me to faith through their words and deeds.  I remain a Christian because over and over God proves himself to be faithful.  When I am lost, he leads me to where I need to be.  When I am found, God leads me to bigger and better then I could ever be on my own.  In the community of faith I find evidence of God’s power and wisdom that sustains me and challenges me to things that are greater than me.

What’s your elevator speech?

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