Acts
2: 1-21
May
28, 2023
Pentecost
Now, long ago after the time of Noah
and his children, the people
had one language and they lived in
one place.
And the
people said to each other,
“Let’s make
some bricks” and they made some bricks.
And then
they said,
“Come, let
us build ourselves a city,
and a tower
whose top is in the heavens;
let us make
a name for ourselves,
lest we be
scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
That is the story that’s
been come to be known as
the tower of
Babel. Although it never mentions a tower.
The people
wanted to band together
for their
own glory, for their own power
and pride
and ambition,
They thought
they could be like God,
if they could
just build an empire big enough to reach the sky.
But God knew that would
not be good news for anyone.
So God made
them all speak different languages,
so they
couldn’t understand one another
and then
they couldn’t build the city to reach the sky.
And the
unfinished city was called Babel which means confusion.
And the
people were scattered and separated
from one
another.
Now this scattering can
be seen as a curse:
God’s
punishment for the human penchant
towards
despotism and oppression.
It can be
seen as a cure:
The
separation of languages
has
prevented one power from taking over.
And it
can be seen in the long run as a
blessing:
diverse
languages and cultures make
the world a
more interesting place to be.
The richness
of humanity is a gift from God.
The difference in language
and culture can divide people.
Try as I
might, I still cannot understand Swahili,
or
Cantonese, or Spanish
or the other
languages of friends that I have had.
It makes me sad to
think,
There have
been people that I know
I would have
been closer with
if only I
could speak their language and they could speak mine.
If we could
have gotten beyond translators
and hand
signals, we would have had a deeper relationship.
The difference in language
has lead to suspicion,
misunderstandings,
and hostility
between
people and countries.
But the differences in
languages can be a beautiful thing too.
Learning the
nuances of a new language is an
exciting
adventure. And the tapestry of languages
make this
world rich and wonderous.
Languages
form culture and they are formed by culture.
Different
languages give people and nations their personalities.
People have said that after they’ve lived in a country
where
another language is spoken,
one of the
most comforting things
is to hear
their own language again.
And ministry
is best done in people’s native language.
When I was
in Columbus, we had a Lutheran Swahili ministry.
Other people
would preach,
and I would
do the communion part of the service
and I would
read it in Swahili. I did it phonetically,
and I’m not
sure at all times what I was saying
and I can
assure you, it was bad pronunciation.
But they
wanted that part, especially,
in their own
native language.
Their mother
tongue.
It comes
close to people’s heart.
Language is
a powerful thing.
And some people have
known that power
and have tried to restrict it or control it.
In the early years of
our country,
Native
Americans were not allowed
to speak their
own languages,
or to teach
them to their young
in an effort
to “civilize” them make them American.
During the world wars,
Germans in the US
were forced
to hide their own language,
lest they be
seen as the “enemy”
And today, although on
one hand we claim
to be a
proud to be a melting pot,
there is a
lot of open hostility
to those who
speak languages other than English.
Like that city of Babel,
we want to
build our own empires to the sky
and to do
that, we try to enforce uniformity,
and make a
name for ourselves,
built on our
own pride and prejudices.
But
when the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound
like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability.
Meaning the disciples spoke,
and everyone in that room, no matter where they were from,
they understood the gospel preached in their mother tongue.
God is doing a new thing in this era.
Some
have said that Pentecost is an undoing of Babel,
but notice this: everyone didn’t speak the same language,
they didn’t all just start speaking English
or some majority language that was convenient
for the dominant culture.
It says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak and be understood
in other languages.
No
one lost their identity,
they weren’t a homogenous group.
They were all still distinct from one another:
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Romans, Cretans, and Arabs.
Or, as the updated
countries would go:
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq, Israel and Palestine
and many parts of Turkey, including near Istanbul and Ankara;
Egypt and northern Libya, Rome in Italy,
the island of Crete or from Saudi Arabia.
They were all different and distinct.
But their differences were no longer a
barrier.
Pentecost
is the birth of the church.
And the church was meant to be a sign
that diversity does
not equal division.
Even
though, as Martin Luther King said,
“The most segregated hour of
Christian America
is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning”
and that statement is still true to
this day,
The church that God created on that day of Pentecost
day is a blessing of diversity.
Not just bringing other people together so that they can
take on our identity and leave behind their own.
Pentecost is the sign that unity of humanity is possible.
But that it doesn’t mean assimilation, conforming or watering down
of who people are, or where they come from, or who they identify
as.
Pentecost is the unity of the Spirit of all people found in Jesus.
Where language and culture and other unique qualities,
don’t need to disappear, but are celebrated.
Where we are one in the Spirit of God.
Our goal as a church of Christ is to create a “beloved community”
Another quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.
The end goal is a community where people can come together
in their uniqueness and still be a community.
We
are scattered over this world
to proclaim God’s peace, understanding, and love
Instead of making a name for ourselves,
we create a servant community, to build up one another.
Instead of building a city as a homage
our own ambition and pride, we build a city of God.
And
as we do that,
we see that God is breaking down
all sorts of barriers.
God is breaking down the barriers of language, culture,
race, gender identities, sexual identities,
physical and mental abilities, age, economic status,
and all other barriers that we have created between
people.
Often God has to break things down
before God can create new things.
We
resist, but God goes right on breaking down
barriers to create the Kingdom of God on earth.
After working on it for more than 2000 years,
We’re obviously on the long term plan.
We are always going back and forth between our will
and God’s will, but our faith tells us that
God’s vision of a diverse yet united people will become
reality.
At the first congregation that I served,
we had a mission to Honduras the congregation
before I had gotten there, had helped to build
housing and a school, we gave scholarship to the kids
so they could go to school past Jr. high,
someone donated a fire truck.
Once we had done all the practical stuff,
we decided that we wanted to go there
and do Vacation Bible School for them.
Sharolyn was our children’s ministry director.
She was an expert in Godly Play,
a Montessori-based Sunday School curriculum,
where you tell stories with objects
and have conversation with the children
and there was craft that went with each story.
She told stories all through the week
to different age groups,
We told the story to the older children
first and then they helped tell the stories
to the younger children.
Pablo, our guide, was our translator.
It was going really well.
Everything was leading to the final story
on the final day which was the story about Baptism
and God’s love for all of us.
So we gathered all the about 75 teens and children and the adults
together under the portico outside of the school.
And we’re ready to go, and we just needed Pablo.
But he was gone, the Mayor had called him out for a special
meeting
or something. I don’t know the details, but, somehow
Sharolyn and I were only ones from our group there
with no one to translate.
Now Sharolyn knew the Godly Play Story.
but she didn’t know any Spanish.
Now I could speak a little Spanish,
but not enough to translate completely.
And I didn’t know the Godly Play Story.
And there was a teenage boy named Marco
who could speak a little English but not
enough to translate,
but we had been combining our efforts
to do some translation together earlier in the
week.
So,
here’s what we came up with on the spur of the moment
with everyone
sitting there waiting for us to get started:
Sharolyn told the Godly Play story and did the
visuals.
Which included giving each of the 75 children candles
which they would light somewhere in the story.
I was not really prepared for that part at
all.
Then I would translate it into bad Spanish all
in present tense,
And our Marco would take my bad interpretation
And put it into something that I can only hope
made sense in Spanish.
And, in the end, no one set themselves
or anyone else on fire
which we could call a success.
But it was more than a success.
At the
point they were told to light their candles
on the
larger candle and on each other’s candles, which they did.
And once
they were all lit, Sharolyn said,
“Look up
now and see the light of God”
and I just
couldn’t find the words in Spanish,
(even
though we had just been saying light and God
over and over again.)
But I
didn’t need it,
I just
looked up and everyone looked up at the same time,
and everyone
fell silent and we could all feel
the Spirit
of God move through
that
little cement portico we gathered under.
Language differences can be a barrier,
and a joy.
Culture differences can be a barrier, and a
joy.
Sexuality can be a barrier, and a joy.
Gender can be a barrier, and a joy.
Mental health can be a barrier, and a joy.
Age can be a barrier, and a joy.
All our differences can be a barrier, and they can be a joy.
But crossing over barriers is what the Spirit
of God does.
And what the Spirit of God can help us do.
And when those barriers get crossed,
we can find God’s real joy.
God
is doing a new thing today,
right here at Christ Lutheran.
Jesus is opening our hearts and minds.
The Spirit is breaking down our barriers.
God is giving us new challenges.
God is pouring out God’s Spirit on all flesh.
and our sons and daughters are prophesying,
and our young people are seeing visions,
and our old people are dreaming dreams.
And with the Spirit’s love and grace,
we will all be saved together as one.
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