Speak in the Tongue of Men and Angels

I decided NOT to do something this year that is very popular in our Church culture (even beyond St. Barnabas).  In many churches I have attended over the years, the Day of Pentecost showcased the various languages people in the congregation could speak, reading all or part of the Gospel in another language, or perhaps the passage from the book of Acts, or just the verse, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21. For many years I thought this was a great way to celebrate the diversity of people that had come to know the Lord.  I even offered my feeble attempts at speaking Spanish and Koine Greek, feeling like a bit of an impostor since I am not fluent in either of those languages.

To be honest, there was always something about this event that made me anxious, but I couldn’t articulate it.  There was some trepidation about making sure everyone who agreed to speak would be there and have a translation they could read (not that most of the other people would know). But it went deeper than that, partially because I know the most important part of reading Scripture during worship is so that it is UNDERSTOOD by those in attendance, not for there to be a show.
My anxiety was confirmed by an older colleague who said that such a show is NOT the right way to interpret the events that took place on the Day of Pentecost.  Pentecost is about being open to the Spirit’s presence in our lives, allowing the Spirit to flow through us, and then understanding God’s message.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:4

When we allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we can do amazing things because we are allowing God to work through us. This is how all things are possible with God, even speaking a language you may not know or what you might not even consider a language.  It isn’t about ability but willingness for the Spirit to be active. 

And the Spirit is active through us for a particular purpose.  In the case of Pentecost, there were people whose “heart-language” – the tongue they were most familiar with – was different from the language most Galileans would knew.  That did not inhibit the Spirit from offering God’s message of love and redemption. It was an opportunity for the message to be clearly heard and understood, even if the listeners were perplexed by the speaker’s ability to do so:

And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Acts 2:6-7

While there might have been a cacophony of voices, there was meaning communication happening for a purpose, not just to show how many languages we can offer at a given moment.  The only time I experienced such a cacophony that was positive was at Salisbury Cathedral in England where they pause each hour for prayer and invite all present to recite the Lord’s Prayer in their heart language.  We all know what we are saying even if the words sound different. It was powerful, but it was not a Pentecost event because the Spirit didn’t need to work through us to offer understanding.  Nor is having a variety of languages spoken when only a handful of people know that language. 

So let us re-frame our expectation of Pentecost to be about being open to the Spirit’s movement in our lives; of loving in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and praying in the Spirit.  When we allow ourselves to be free and open with our belief, God can do awesome things, even speak in a different tongue.  It might be a prayer language just for ourselves, but it could offer someone we don’t even know an opportunity to know God. 

In God’s gracious Spirit,

Rev. Valerie+

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