“Are not al these people speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, &Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt,…yet we hear them speaking in our own languages of the mighty acts of God.” Language carrys not only a culture, but the history, dreams and hopes of a people (maybe even God!).
Recently we celebrated with our young people, Confirmation. They are all brilliant (and I mean that too). Part of the program is a personal interview with me. Before that part we gather in the library & discuss what the sacrament is all about.
I ask this question, “What language does God speak?”
The answers are all correct (well mostly) …Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin (a big stretch), hey - all languages. Yes, but what language does God speak? … huh??? Then, rather prophetically, one person will always say, LOVE. YES! And not only that, but God speaks through you! Only you can speak to your generation. Love has many dialects! (Class of 2012)Probably, 90 % of all human communication in non-verbal!
People don’t really pay much attention to what we say about religion,
… because they’d rather watch what we do about it. (E. C. McKenzie)
Have you ever heard of “broken English?” A true story from North Carolina relates that a Vietnamese woman who was waiting her turn to be examined in a crowded hospital emergency room. She gradually became aware of a frustrating “non-conversation” being attempted a few seats down. A nurse was trying to ask a new patient for some details on her illness.
The patient spoke Spanish. The nurse did not. The Vietnamese woman listened for a minute then realized that while she didn’t speak Spanish she did understand the broken-English bits & phrases the Spanish speaking patient offered as answers. Because of her own experience of learning to communicate in “broken English,” the Vietnamese woman could hear the heart & gist of what this other woman was trying to say. The Vietnamese woman offered to “translate” the broken English of the Spanish speaker into something the nurse could understand. She was so successful at bridging the brokenness of their languages that eventually the Vietnamese woman was hired by the hospital as a kind of generic translator.
Brokenness was/is the common language spoken by all hospital patients.
The Holy Spirit speaks through broken people to a broken world,
using language every broken heart can hear & understand. Because we know what it is like to be broken by hatred, we can speak of the 2 … healing love of Christ’s sacrifice. Because we know what it is like to be broken by despair, we can speak of the healing hope of Christ’s forgiveness. Because we know what it is like to be broken by doubt, we can speak of the healing faith in Christ’s promises. Because we know what it is like to be broken by illness, we can speak of the healing wholeness of Christ’s resurrection.
(Source: eSermons.com/The Broken English of Pentecost /Sweet )
Who does the Spirit descend upon today?
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of the one spirit. 1Cor 12:13 This is about us !!!Who does the Spirit descend upon today?
… 2,000 years later, one generation after another!
This same Spirit lives within all who will welcome this powerful presence.Let the Divine Wind blow away Hatred & Despair, the Holy Fire ignite a blaze of Compassion & Outreach. Feel the Spirit flow through your heart, your mind, & your hands to embrace a world with God’s unbounded love….
Yet how, no, who, makes all this possible?
St. Teresa of Avila is said to have captured this so well when she wrote*:
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ's compassion must look out on the world.
Yours are the feet with which
He is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which
He is to bless us now. * attributed to St. Teresa of Avila
That is YOU!
At this Liturgy of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is still throwing a birthday party for Christ’s followers. It’s Pentecost, the Church’s birthday. Pentecost can be for us a time of renewal, of recreation, as we open up the birthday presents the Spirit gives. There are gifts of teaching & preaching, so that all may hear about God’s deeds of power. The Power to LOVE like God!
The presence of the Spirit brings to life the individual gifts we have received. The gifts are many & varied … let us share them.
And when we do so, God sends us with
… the Spirit to renew the face of the earth.
