“What is the Language of the Spirit?” Acts 2:1-21
Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook; Northwood United Church; June 4, 2017
Have you ever considered how amazing the gift of hearing is? I was reconnecting with a mentor of mine last weekend at the United Church BC Conference meetings and he shared how he is increasingly having difficulty with his hearing as he moves towards retirement. His new hearing aids are helpful in amplifying the sound of another’s voice in a one on one conversation; however, when you add another conversation going on over there, and another one over there, and yet another one over there ~ as often happens in a large conference setting, it all sounds like NOISE. He can’t hear me speaking; he can’t think; it all sounds like a loud squelching noise. He was clearly frustrated and it saddened me to see that he just wanted to leave and go home. As I thought about my interaction with Gary later that night, I wondered: isn’t this the challenge within any human relationship? The challenge of hearing ‘the other’ is at the root of any deep relationship: hearing the other ~ whether they be a parent; a child; a sibling; a spouse; a friend; a neighbor; a colleague; or event an enemy for that matter. The challenge in building these relationships depends upon hearing the language of the other, and having your language heard in return; it depends upon finding common language upon which these relationships are further built and allowed to grow and flourish. But how do we ever hear one another? How do we ever find common language in our relationships?
I sometimes wonder if the same thing is at play in the church. (I wish I could credit the scholar who wrote this, but it is so long ago that I can’t) One scholar posed an interesting dilemma to the Christian church saying “Jesus did not set out create a church. He set out to reform Judaism that it would be fully inclusive of all ~ both the Jews and the Gentiles, men and women, slave and free. Wouldn’t he be shocked that we formed an entire movement after him”? Further to that point, I wonder if Jesus would be at all pleased at the diverse array of churches that have grown and expanded through the world over the past two millennia: churches speaking so many different ‘languages’ have formed and evolved over the past 2,000 years. Churches speaking the language of Catholicism, of the Reformed Tradition, of Orthodoxy, of Evangelism, of Fundamentalism, of Pentecostalism… just to name a few. And the sobering reality is that there is a growing fissure between our various faith communities. To gather at a meeting of neighbourhood churches is often to attend a collection of groups who each believer that they have a better take on the gospel ~ “you allow women as leaders in your church?” One asks. “And you don’t?” another counters. “You allow the LGBTQ community?” another questions. “And you don’t?” another replies. “You view the stewardship of the earth as a theological matter?” “And you don’t?” another challenges. Each believe they are doing a better job in the community, and each see themselves as uniquely being God’s chosen people. It seems that in the diversity of the church, we have created an us versus them mentality; a theological arm wrestling match; a battle to see who is truly speaking God’s one true language. It sometimes seems like we are speaking different and conflicting languages and I wonder if we will ever hear one another in the church and serve the world as we are called.
I think this is what was at play in the various communities that were gathered together for the festival of Pentecost. Ian did a wonderful job of reading the various languages that were present in the first Pentecost (and no I wasn’t picking on you Ian by giving you one of the most difficult readings of the year). In Surrey, we can easily imagine how this might have been voiced in our community here in 2017. The text, today, might say “amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is that we hear, each of us in our own native language?” Punjabi, Chinese, Mandarin, Filipino, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, French, Burmese, English. That is the call of the text: to hear one another’s language, one another’s needs, one another’s pains, one another’s joys. Imagine what that would look like for us to all listen to one another, hear one another, and understand one another.
If you can begin to imagine that ability enabling us in finding a way to understand one another’s language, I think that is what the Holy Spirit’s work at Pentecost was truly all about. The text begins by telling of the action of the Holy Spirit. The text speaks of the Holy Spirit filling everyone who had come together. I think it is a helpful reminder for us to recall that some other, equally valid, translations for the Holy Spirit are “breath” and “wind”. It is the same creative Spirit that hovered at the beginning over creation’s very birth all the way back to Genesis 1. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters”. It is the same breath that was placed in creation in the second creation story in Genesis 2. And it is this wind-breath that blew upon all the people who had gathered on that day of Pentecost. The text goes on to explain what the coming of the holy spirit will allow us to do: sons and daughters will prophesy; young men will see visions; old men will dream dreams; and slaves – both men and women – will prophesy. A more thorough investigation throughout the book of Acts reveals that the Spirit will give us guidance, she will allow us to perform miracles of healing, we will be freed up to engage in the sharing of our resources, we will be given courage to face the threats we face. Indeed the coming of the Holy Spirit poured out upon all God’s people allows the church to be … the church.
Over the last while, I have been reconnecting with a supervisor who oversaw my training in hospital visitation at Vancouver General Hospital. I remember 20 years ago being terrified at the thought of going into a hospital room and Dale was a wonderful teacher. I remember my fears: what could I possibly say that would bring comfort, what could I possibly do that would bring relief. I came to learn about “the ministry of presence” and that it wasn’t what we bring to someone’s bedside, or what we say ~ however, eloquent (or not). Our greatest gift is found in opening up spaces for the Holy Spirit to be found; opening up spaces for the Holy Spirit to be heard; opening up spaces for the Holy Spirit to touch the lives of others. Sometimes, I found, the embrace in a hand held of another, the silence between words is the most profound moment of my time with the patient. And what I increasingly have come to believe is that the Holy Spirit’s language is truly one that we all speak and that we all can understand. And that is the language of love. No matter what language another might be speaking to you, you can tell what lies behind their words. You can tell if it is the language of love or the language of hate. So, thanks be to God, for God’s Spirit poured out upon all flesh ~ flesh that is white and black and colours in between. A Spirit that calls us, that yearns for us, whose soul purpose it to unite us that we might speak to one another in ways of Spirit-love.
Amen.