Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, April 7, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I’ve always wanted to speak Japanese fluently. One of my best friends is Japanese and I loved hearing her family converse when we were growing up. I took it in college, but never did anything immersive enough to become fluent, and the rudimentary skills I had picked up just faded away. These days I can remember a few phrases including, for some bizarre reason, how to ask where the post office is.
Most places in the world, people grow up speaking multiple languages. Learning another language does amazing things for the brain, as well as opening us up to other cultures. I’ve read many times how, in our multi-cultural world, it is an act of great respect to try to learn another person’s language, rather than insisting, as many do in the US, that others learn my language so I don’t have to put in the effort.
This story of Pentecost is perhaps most beautiful to me because when the Holy Spirit came, it wasn’t that all the people in Jerusalem could suddenly understand Aramaic. It was that all these Aramaic-speaking Israelites could speak to the visitors in their own languages. The Holy Spirit proclaimed, “I see you! I know you! I am for you as much as I am for anyone else in this place. You are included in the reign of God.” No one said, “You need to speak our language to be acceptable to God.” Instead, the clear message was “God speaks your language.” How can we meet people where they are and accept them as they are, loving them with all the inclusive grace of the Holy Spirit by learning what it is to be them, instead of insisting they be like us?
All-embracing God, open my mind and heart to share the place of others on their terms, that they might feel seen and heard by you. Amen.
