Sermon on Acts 2:1-21 (Pentecost)

You’re Speaking My Language

Acts 2:1-21

This past Monday and Tuesday I traveled down to College Station on a road trip with John, Ruth, Mark and a member here at Shepherd of Life, Chad Chipman, to retrieve some furniture for Jody and Jo’Ann Smith. Chad was donating a lot of different items that were left to him from his mother, we just had to go down and get it out of storage. We picked up Chad from his home in North Richland Hills because of some car troubles he was having and then we were on our way. It was decided that Chad and I would ride down together because we both knew the area well and knew where we were going. Chad had lived in College Station while he had gone to Texas A&M and I was born in raised in Bryan which is right next to College Station. Beyond this fact, I think I had only met Chad once before and to my knowledge this was all we had in common. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

            As we drove the 3 hours to Bryan we talked about this and that. Sharing our interests and hobbies, stories and different memories. The more we talked the more we found we had things in common. You see, Chad grew up in Marlin, which is close to Bryan, so we essentially grew up in the same area. Talking with Chad was refreshing because he was speaking my language. He knew of many of the places I grew up around. He could relate to the different places I would talk about because he had memories and experiences there too. I did the same for him. We didn’t have to explain or go into great detail describing things. Somehow we both just knew and understood. We had never had any long conversations before this, but by the time we hit Waco it was like I was back home and had rediscovered an old friend.

            I think this was the main reason for the amazement and bewilderment of the crowds that gathered in our reading from Acts. On that first Pentecost all of them were travelers from all over those places with the funny names, but they all heard something in Jerusalem that sounded familiar…their own language. You would think they would be bewildered by the fire that was resting on everyone, but the story tells us that “at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each” It’s interesting that the fire and the loud wind, the things you would think would baffle them make only a small mention. What takes larger place are the people hearing these Galileans speaking their language.

            Language isn’t always the easiest form of communication. There’s some irony, considering we use language to communicate every day. There are about 6,000 spoken languages in the world though about 2,000 of those languages have less than 1,000 people speaking them. And that’s just a language you might use for everyday conversation! As you look at people’s interests and jobs the language gets even more muddled. Ask a technology guru about a computer’s video card and they’ll give you all sorts of information. Ask a business person about the market and they’ll tell you all about it. Ask an electrician about how a building is wired and you would learn more than you ever wanted to.

            I had an experience with this recently. Last weekend Lauren and I went to visit her cousin Alan and his family to celebrate their son’s birthday. Kevin just turned 8 and he loves playing a computer game called Minecraft. This game literally has its own language and different names for the different parts of the game like monstersin the game that come out during the night, the special types of minerals to mine and the special things to craft. For someone who didn’t really play the game it was a little hard to follow sometimes when Kevin would talk to me about it. He always talked so excitedly about it and described it so well that I had to check it out and play it with him. It was then that I understood how much fun Minecraft was and could understand the language better so that now I’m more in sync when Kevin talks to me about it.

            The same thing tends to happen when we try and share our faith with others. We use some really interesting language that people are often unfamiliar with. We may talk really excitedly with tons of passion, but that doesn’t erase the fact that there is a distinct language barrier. It could be that a lot of the words we use have baggage attached to them. Words such as church, Christian, ministry, grace, and even love, words we use all the time, mean different things to different people. When these words come out the barriers come up. We’re not speaking the same language. So then the answer is to change our language entirely. Throw out a little of this and a little of that to make way for some language that does make sense. Well, that might help a little bit. The beauty of the gospel is that each generation will read it and understand it in the context of their language, so some of the language used to share it will change naturally. But the beauty of the gospel is it is also timeless, some of the language doesn’t change.

            What is important to remember in all of this and it is easily overlooked is: that it is through God’s spirit within us that we are able to do any of this. Without the Holy Spirit coming to settle on the disciples at Pentecost there would have been no way that the entire crowd would have heard in their own language the message of “God’s deeds of power.” It would have just been a rabble of Galileans talking about things few could understand. With God’s spirit, they were able to speak to people in a language they could relate to. For some it was amazing, for others it just seemed like the disciples had found the good wine and had taken a bit too much of it. This story gives us a really interesting insight. We are the same way today. With God’s spirit we are able to do some amazing things. When we’re able to talk to people in their own language about faith it is guaranteed to look a little crazy to some folks.

            Even though you’ve heard quite a bit about this already, I see our “ Backyard” ministry as being a place where all of this culminates. I had the chance Wednesday to go out and play basketball with John, Mark and the youth from the apartments. While we were waiting to get some teams together it was interesting to see the facial expressions of some of the preschool parents as they picked up their children. From the outside looking in I bet it looks pretty strange to see three grown men hanging out and trying to keep up and play ball with these youth. What was also interesting about this week was the difference that I noticed in language. The guys seem to have their own unique way of describing and talking about things in a really comical way. They encourage each other and rag on each other in multiple ways, but never in a way that excludes anyone. They even gave Mark a cool compliment. They kept referring to him as Jason Kidd. Obviously they thought he was a pretty good ball player. Though we aren’t always on the same page with them and we’ll occasionally make a reference to something they won’t understand when we play basketball out there with them we are speaking the same language.

            That language is the language of love. It’s a universal language through which we can do some amazing and crazy looking things. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the faith to follow its guidance, we can speak the language of love into all of the dark places here in our communities, our relationships and in our world. Love is a language everyone understands. It can be expressed through spoken word, but it can also be expressed through action. Like the first disciples we can tell of God’s deeds of power: most importantly the power to overcome death and the grave so that we all might be drawn close to God. We can also show this through our actions. We are redeemed and given the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not something that we’re meant to keep to ourselves, but to share freely with others. The language that we use might differ, but the message is still the same: God has come near and is working to establish a new kingdom. In you, in me, in our families, in our community and in our world. And under it all is the language that makes all things possible, love. May you go out this week and do something that amazes and bewilders people. May you remember the power of the spirit to do amazing things through each of you. And may you feel empowered to speak love into every dark place that you encounter. Amen.