The Power to Communicate
RCL Year C • Sermon • Submitted
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Lu was a member of this congregation when I first moved here and she moved down into the valley a number of months ago. She was back up to take care of some things and she came and worshipped with us at the 8am service last week. After worship she wanted to know how my family was doing and she asked if my girls were here. I told her that Aubreigh was with her grandparents but that Madisyn was there being held by someone so I pointed her out and she couldn’t believe how big she was. I told her it was hard to believe that she is already 10 months old.
It is hard to believe she’s already 10 months old. It has been and will continue to be amazing to be a part of all the things that she is learning and will continue to learn as she grows up. What has truly fascinated me the most about watching my children grow up at these infant stages is the ability to learn a language. Madisyn knows Mama, and Dada, and we’ve heard her say something like Aubreigh. I’ve heard that she kind of says kitty now. She also says a lot of things that we don’t understand. She loves the word bao and what sounds like duh. And of course, don’t forget the baby language that they speak.
When Aubreigh was a baby, Bekkah was on a youth trip and at one point she was babysitting Aubreigh and another chaperones son. Bekkah took them to a park and at one point she told me that they were sitting down and eating and while they were eating they began to just talk back and forth in baby language and they were laughing at what each other were saying and just having an incredible time having an entire conversation in this language that Bekkah just sat and watched in fascination, amazement and joy.
Wouldn’t it have been incredible to have been able to understand what they were saying? And isn’t it incredible that these tiny minds are somehow able to pick up what we are saying and then begin to form and use those words to begin to communicate with us? To help further our conversation with both our kids before they could talk we used baby sign language and that has always been a big help.
Language and communication has become one of the most important ways that we interact with one another. We use it on a daily basis and whether in written or spoken form. We have so many different things in our lives that help us to aid in communication as well. We have telephones and cellphones, we have text messages, we have messenger programs, we have televisions and internet content. We have news both spoken and written. We also have programs on the computer and on our phones that will automatically translate a website from the language it was written in into our preferred language. Sometimes it isn’t the best translation, but it’s better than not being able to read it at all. There are even some programs out there that will help translate spoken words from one language into another, helping us to better communicate when we are places where the language that is spoken is different from our own.
That is very similar to what that disciples and all the people from around the world experienced that very first Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples they begin to speak in the language of all the different Jewish people that were gathered there for the festival. I wonder if the babies that were there could also understand like Aubreigh and her friend understood each other that day. I think that as much as it was incredible for the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit and to speak the language of anyone who was listening, I also think it was equally incredible that people from all over the world were hearing the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to be somewhere where you don’t speak the language of the people and you are there for an important trip and then suddenly out of nowhere you hear someone speaking in English? Think about the relief and the joy that must rush through your body as you realize that you are not alone. Imagine how incredible it is that you now have someone to talk to about why you’re there or ask them questions about where to go and what to do.
This is the first time that the new of Jesus Christ is being spoken about and shared with people who come from all different parts of the world. Pentecost is so incredible that the disciples and all of us receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and that gift of the Holy Spirit enables all of us to do incredible things in this world for the sake of Jesus. The whole world is hearing the word of God and when those people go back to their homes in the different parts of the world they live, they too will then be able to be disciple and apostles and share the story of Jesus and God’s love to those parts of the world.
What an incredible way to begin the mission of the apostles, what an incredible way to see the faith grow, and what an incredible way to see the birth of the church. What an incredible gift that we have to continue to carry out that same mission. The mission to communicate with those people who are around us. To use that same gift of the Spirit to communicate in the language of the people who live in our community? And how do we do that? What language should we use? Should we go door to door? Should we use Facebook, or Twitter or Instagram? Should we text them and send them emojis and hashtags? What language do the people in Kingman speak and how is the best way to share God’s love for them? What is the best way to tell them that Jesus Christ is the one who came to this world to suffer and die so that we no longer have to suffer and die? And how we do that as an entire community of believers? Because this task isn’t one that is meant for just me or just one of you, but it is what we are all called to do as followers of Christ.
As we ponder and live out those difficult questions of reaching out to our community, think about and always remember the way that you first heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. What language did you hear it in? What was the way that it was communicated to you that really impacted you and made you ask the question that the people gathered at Pentecost asked, “What does this mean?” Remember that day and more importantly remember all the days that you have experienced the love of God as found in Christ Jesus, and how you were communicated with and told that there is nothing in this world that can take away God’s love for you, and that you have been saved by the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. May God bless and keep you this Pentecost and always. Amen.