Saint John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Acts 2:1-21
God’s Word transcends all human barriers – language,
nationality, race, ability. By the time Jesus walked the Earth, the Hebrew
people had already migrated throughout the ancient middle east, encountering
people who spoke a myriad of languages. The biblical scriptures were written in
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As the Jews and the Christians spread out from the
middle east, and began to speak other languages, so the stories of God were
told in many tongues. According to Wycliffe[i],
as of 2018, the Bible has been translated in whole or in part into more than 3,300
languages.
We hear in this story of Pentecost that people from as far
away as Rome, Egypt, and Arabia were gathered there as the disciples spoke
about God’s deeds of power. If we think outside of human communication, other
passages encourage us to imagine and enact God’s Word moving through all of
creation, in the stones, the trees, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and all the creatures of the Earth.
I read a reflection on this passage written by James McTyre[ii]:
God’s voice came through a great wind. Listen. Can you hear it now? Listen to the sounds of the wind. Listen to the beating wings of birds. Listen to the rustling trees. Listen to the creaks and groans of building floors. Listen to the pops of expanding woodwork as your house breathes in the warmth of summer. Listen to mountain streams carving their way down a hillside. Listen to still lakes wrapped in morning mist. Listen to the gravel beneath your car wheels. Listen.
God’s Holy Spirit is speaking to us, not just in our own
languages. Humanity does not sing a solo. The Spirit speaks to the world, to
the universe, in languages beyond our knowing. Yet, the Spirit also speaks to
us in our own language. Through the words of our scriptures, through the
stories we tell one another, through the ways in which we share our joys and
hurts, our struggles and triumphs with one another we speak of God. Through the
work that we do with our hands, writing, building, cooking, creating, we share
the whispers of the Holy Spirit.
Learning to communicate is hard. It takes months, even years
before children can form words and complete sentences. Learning to communicate
in another language, or another culture, is even more difficult. Learning takes
time. To learn to communicate takes focus, attention, and good listening. To
listen, really listen, and seek to understand another is a holy act.
When the Holy Spirit filled the disciples that day, and they
began to speak, they were translating God for the people gathered in that
place. When we share our stories with one another, we too are translators. We
are the translators of God’s Word as it has been spoken to us. Translation from
one language to another requires great effort. Years of disciplined practice
are essential to acquire fluency. Communicating clearly and precisely across
languages requires nuance and mental agility. This is also true of the
translation of God’s word through us to those around us.
All relationships require patience, familiarity, and care.
Relationships can only function if there is good communication. So it is with
our relationship with God and with one another. This is why we take this time
each week, on Sundays at 9:30 on Jefferson Street in Union, to gather and
listen, and speak with one another. We seek to connect with God’s Holy Spirit
that can be found within each of us. The words may come from the pastor, the
one who reads scripture, the musicians, or the ones sitting beside us. We hear
the words and seek to understand what God is doing in our lives and the lives
of those we know and love.
Translation is not magic. It took effort on the part of the
disciples to convince people that they were not drunk, but truly sharing the
Word. It took patience on behalf of the listeners to discern the truth in the
words they spoke. But at the end of that day three-thousand persons were added.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
On this Pentecost day, we pray that our translation may be
pleasing to God. We ask for the Holy Spirit to help us raise our voices in
solidarity with all of our neighbors, and with all of creation, for it is of
the mighty deeds of God that we speak.
Amen.
[ii]
Posted in a devotional by the Rev. Bob Higle, https://revbobhigle.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/devotional-may-12/
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