Talent Show

For weeks, our dinnertime conversation was dominated by my eldest’s monologues about her upcoming high school talent show. Annie and her friends were planning the event as a primary fundraiser for their annual mission drive. This fundraiser seeks to build awareness among her classmates and raise money for the various missions that are locally and globally led by the community religious sisters who run the school. Listening to all the updates, my wife and I loved to argue about which of us could claim genetic responsibility for Annie’s creativity and executive organization skills, while simultaneously avoiding taking fault for the impatience and unreasonable expectations she had of her classmates. As the event drew nearer, the Celluccis were looking forward to the show coming to an end.

I wasn’t even planning on going. Initially, I thought it was just for students, and, recalling from Annie’s updates, I imagined a chaotic teenage mess of goofing around, poor logistics, and music or slang I would not understand.

My presumptions couldn’t have been further from the truth based on what I experienced. For one, there was actual talent. There was a math teacher with mad baton twirling skills, several beautiful soloists, a harmonica rendition of Piano Man (a song I knew), even a heartwarming duo between a student and her brother from the boy’s school. There was some chaos and wholesome goofing around, but more than that, there was a community of people cheering on each other’s talents, and displaying patience with mistakes or mishaps. There was love. While the winner received a Wawa gift card, everyone knew the real mission was to serve the poor and to build the community.

As I drove our family home, all of us exceptionally proud of Annie and her friends for such a successful night, I couldn’t help but think that in so many ways, at Her best, the Church is like that talent show. Whether in my parish or my home, how do I create the conditions to invite others to bring their gifts in front of the community, not out of pride or personal agenda, but for mission? How do I build an audience that is eager for people to thrive, that delights in discovering hidden talents?

As I heard over countless dinners, there’s a lot that goes into organizing a high school talent show. However, when talent is aligned toward mission, especially the will of the Lord, it becomes abundantly clear that the show must go on.