Acts 2: 1-21, 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-13
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And they all spoke in different languages, and all
the different people from different countries and different walks of life could
understand them.
Different languages.
I was trying to think this week of how many
different languages are spoken by people in this congregation.
If you can converse in another language, or read
another language, would you raise your hand?
…..
I speak Engineer. Many people do agree that that is
absolutely a unique language, right? Can I get an Amen for that?
But isn’t it true that, even if we don’t know the
language of another nationality, that we each learn other languages based on
our lives?
Life teaches us different languages.
Our different backgrounds
Our different geography
Our age
Our gender
Our family history
Our roles in life
Our gifts
All these give us different connection points with
different people.
So, what other languages do you speak? Either raise
your hand or just call them out, whatever makes you comfortable.
……
We all have our own multiple languages, whether we
realize it or not. They are the basis of how we connect with one another. We
seek common ground, a way of finding shared experience, shared understanding
with one another.
All these different languages give us each a
different connection point with the people around us.
The Word of the Lord, the Love of the Lord can be
revealed to others by each of us differently, in different times, and places,
and circumstances, based on the languages we have learned.
Our particular faith stories, the stories about how
our lives have been changed by following Christ, these stories speak
differently to different people at different times.
Paul wrote, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by
the Holy Spirit.” And we know because of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit is
here, is in each one of us, and is working differently in each one of us,
through our different lives, through our different gifts.
When we gather together to worship, we grow in
understanding of the fullness of the Holy Spirit and what is intended for us as
the church.
When we leave, we scatter to share the good news in
the way each of us can show it and tell it best.
Gathering and scattering; learning and sharing;
show and tell. This is the life of a disciple; this is the life of the church.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The parables, the lessons of the living Word have
different meanings to us at different points in our lives, and so we can share
them differently with others based on what they say to us and to them. We all
become interpreters of the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Henri Nouwen writes that the power of God, given to
us through the Holy Spirit, is not power that controls, dictates, and commands.
It is, instead, the power that heals, reconciles, and unites. That is the power
of the
divine Spirit that Jesus wants to give us. The
Spirit empowers us and allows us to be healing presences. When we are filled
with that Spirit, we cannot be other than healers, reconcilers, and uniters.
The different gifts, the different languages of the
one Holy Spirit are in each one of us, encouraging and guiding us toward one
common mission, one great commission, one church, serving one Lord and Savior.
Take a look at this video with me.
The flame is in each one of us. It’s the desire,
the burning in our hearts at those times we feel the need to say something to
someone or do something for someone that will help heal them, that will bring
reconciliation, that will unite rather than divide.
One of Eleanor’s languages is pies. Through her
pies she warms the hearts of those who save lives by giving blood.
One of Janet’s languages is prayer shawls. She
keeps making them, praying as she goes, and we take those gifts and share them
with others who need to feel God’s presence wrapped around them.
One of Donna and Lynn and Francis’ languages is
visiting those who are not able to be with us in worship. They are making the
rounds behind the scenes, speaking their unique languages of the Holy Spirit to
everyone they see.
One of Mike’s languages is the garden he is
planting to provide good healthy food for people who would not otherwise get to
enjoy a homegrown tomato in the middle of the summer.
And of course there are many others.
And we don’t need to know exactly what words to say
– the Holy Spirit can be counted on to make them work, even when they feel lame
or inadequate to us, if what is in our hearts is that desire to heal, to bring
reconciliation, to unite.
Even our quiet presence with others brings to them
the power of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to do it right. We just need to
keep our hearts open to the Holy Spirit, and we can warm the hearts of anyone
with our reconciling, healing, uniting love – because that love comes from God,
through the Holy Spirit.
Let’s keep finding ways to tell the story we have
to tell, as individuals and as the church, in our words and in our work, always
speaking and working out of love.
Thanks be to God for Pentecost!
Thanks be to God for the church!
Thanks be to God for love!
Amen.
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