Beyond The Pew - Episode 1 - Setting the foundation in Christ

Transcript:
Welcome to Beyond the Pew, my name is Matt Rice, President and Founder of Collaborative Catholic Formation Ministries, a youth ministry collaborative focused on igniting hearts, inspiring discipleship, and empowering families.
Beyond the Pew is a ministry of CCFM focused on starting or helping refresh that conversation of faith at home between family members. This being the first episode of Beyond the Pew we want to set the foundation right. So what foundation should we have for Beyond the Pew? Like the wise man in Matthew 7:24, we want to set our foundation on stone, not on sand. And in Psalm 62 we hear that God is our rock and our salvation.  So I see no better way than to start than with Jesus Christ and His message of salvation.
I know that if I was a parent and that I heard the first part of this video, I would be thinking to myself, “This is supposed to be a Catholic video, and there Matt is saying something about Jesus Christ and quoting from Scripture. Is this Catholic?” And I’m happy to tell you that it absolutely is.
As Catholics, we should be reading the Bible and we should know it. As Catholics, we also believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and this is the foundation of our faith. And as Catholics we love Jesus Christ and follow Him through the Church that he founded. So why does the name of Jesus Christ, as Catholics, make us so nervous?
Speaking from my own experience, I can tell you that my formation when I was growing up wasn’t the best. And even if you were fortunate enough to have a great education in the Catholic faith, more than likely most of us stop after Confirmation and for most of us that’s 8th or 9th grade. And so at best I was given a middle school education in our faith, which isn’t sufficient. And often, we’re not told that we can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
This is something that’s glossed over or missed in our religious education. Often I think this is missed because our catechists haven’t been given that foundation themselves, so how can they possibly share the Good News of the Gospel if they haven’t had it shared to them first? Up until about four years ago, I don’t think that I would have been able to tell you what the Good News of the Gospel was and to me, that’s just sad, that’s after four years of graduate school. And I’m just going to be honest here, I was never shown how to share the Gospel.
So what is the Good News of the Gospel? Put simply, the Good News is that God became man, suffered and died for you. And I don’t mean you in the general humanity sense, I mean you as in you specifically. When He was up on that cross, He saw you. He saw the sins that you would commit and He still sacrificed Himself for you. And He would do that even if it was just you that He could save. Now this, I have to tell you, is Good News. It’s Good News to everyone, not just young people, not just old people, but all of us. You have a God that created you on purpose, for a purpose, and loves you so much that He sacrificed Himself for you. This is the Good News of the Gospel.
So what do we do with this Good News? Well, I have to tell you we have to respond. That’s what He expects of us. As a perfect gentleman, He just waits for us to respond to the love that He offers to us. Even if you’ve been confirmed in the Catholic Church, sometimes we miss this foundational step of inviting Christ into our hearts.
I know when I was young I went to different Protestant services here and there, and sometimes there was an altar call. And as a young Catholic, I felt a draw, a pull, to stand up and answer that call.  But something kept me in that pew because I knew there was something true within my Catholic faith and I didn’t want to betray that in any way. We as Catholics may not do so through an altar call, but we have a chance right now on this video, and in our everyday lives, to respond to that call and invite Jesus into our hearts.
We as Catholics need to get over the fear of these certain phrases like, “accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior” because you know what? We believe that. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. So why don’t we say so? It is not against our Catholic faith to say this and to invite Jesus into our life. It’s actually what our Popes have been calling us to do for years. So right now, I’m going to invite you to say a prayer along with me. It’s going to show on your screen, so hopefully this will be easy (and hopefully you’re not driving). But I want you to read it along with me. This is from Pope Francis.
Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned Your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.
God created you to be in relationship with Him and this relationship is real and personal. If you don’t know what it feels like that’s ok. Sometimes it’s hard to start something new like this, but I will tell you that He will be faithful to you if you answer this prayer, if you say this prayer, honestly. And if you need Him to show you what it looks like, ask Him. He will show you what this friendship looks like. This relationship is more real than any relationship we have here on earth, because this is what you were created for: to be with Him forever. This simple but powerful message is what we need to make sure what our kids hear and as a primary catechist of our children at least now we know where to start. 
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