He [Jesus] spoke to them another parable.
“The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that
a woman took and mixed with three measures
of wheat flouruntil the whole batch was leavened.” (Mt 13:33)
Just a single verse from the Gospel of Matthew—the Parable of the Yeast. This past year, as an assistant in a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium filled with preschool and kindergarten aged children, I was the adult responsible for guiding any child who wished through this parable. Again. And again. And again.
Within a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium, children freely choose which “works” (such as reading and recreating a Scripture) to do. For the Parable of the Yeast, an individual child would watch me light a candle, listen as I read the parable aloud, and then recreate the parable on his or her own, scooping small measures of flour into a cup, adding yeast and water, mixing the dough, and then placing the cup aside to allow time for leavening.
This parable was a hit (and even that might be an understatement). Week, after week, after week a continuous flow of children waited to “do it again,” to hear the parable and mix the dough—even though each had done it once (or many!) times before. And even though the draw for most of the kids (I’m assuming) was the chance to make and mix the dough, each one also heard the Parable of the Yeast over and over again, and I bet, most of them could tell you about that parable, even months later.
In his first words on the New Evangelization, John Paul II explained that the “New Evangelization is “new” in its ardor, methods and expression” (“The Task of the Latin American Bishops,” Mar 12, 1983). As I consider the many things this means, I’m drawn to the stickiness today’s Gospel parable had for the kids in my class. Sticky is a newer marketing term that refers to content that draws people in and then sticks with them enough that they remember it, and want to share it with others.
And I think this is one lens for seeing what means of sharing Scripture, of communicating the Gospel are right for the New Evangelization. For every audience, we’re looking for sticky methods and expression. Something that draws people in and makes a lasting, memorable impression. Sometimes this can mean simple. It can mean just relying on one verse of Scripture, and not overwhelming someone with the fullness and vastness of our faith all at once (tempting as that always is!). It can mean providing a truly memorable experience that a person wants to engage with again and again, until he or she is ready for something more.
This is considered common sense when it comes to children. But when it comes to adults, we often want to jump ahead and communicate as much of the faith as possible, as fast as possible. We might even feel as if we’re not being orthodox (aka sharing the right stuff) if we only are able to communicate and nourish growth in a single, central teaching before moving on.
Yet that’s simply not the case. Jesus declared the Kingdom of God using his own unique methods and expressions. Many of them were relatively short. Many of them were strikingly simple. But, they were all distinctly sticky–and that’s what we’re all called to consider in the New Evangelization, how can we declare the Gospel with new ardor, method, and expression in a way that truly sticks with those we seek to reach.
Copyright 2014, Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Vermeulen
Colleen Reiss Vermeulen, M.Div., M.N.A., blogs, ministers in parish life and lay/deacon formation, and serves as a U.S. Army Reserve officer. She and her husband, Luke, have been married since 2011 and live in Ypsilanti, MI with their two young sons.
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