I always find it ironic that on the Sunday that we read how the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak in different languages, that our worship reader has some of the most difficult words to pronounce!
If you are a Sunday worship reader, you want to pick any Sunday but this one to read scripture. I refer to verses 9 and 10 of our Acts reading for today as the holy gauntlet for worship readers. There are other readings which are almost as challenging to read in public especially those genealogy scripture passages, but today’s reading is right up there in terms of degree of difficulty.
I think this Sunday on the church calendar should become known as Worship Reader Appreciation Sunday. By the way, let’s thank all of our worship readers who help with our worship services. We appreciate you!
When I’m preaching, there are some difficult to pronounce words, at least for me that will often trip me up when I’m trying to say them out loud. I was attending a worship service when the preacher was meaning to refer to “Lebanese Christians” and instead she said “Lesbian Christians” which did change the meaning of the point she was trying to make.
When she made that mistake, the people in the congregation turned to each other wondering if they heard the same thing. They ended up adding that to this preacher’s blooper highlight reel.
I can’t tell you how many times I pray for the people who will be leading the upcoming Sunday worship service. I start planning for a particular Sunday, four months in advance and the week leading up to that Sunday, I pray daily for all of the people who will be contributing, as well as for myself in preaching and leading worship.
My prayer goes something like this: “O God, be with all who will be helping to lead in worship this Sunday. Empower us with your Holy Spirit that we would help to draw people closer to You and with one another. Amen.”
I didn’t realize until I started working on this sermon for today, how the disciples were doing the same thing as they were waiting upon the Holy Spirit. I mean, they must have been praying and praying and praying in the days leading up to that first Pentecost Sunday.
Just before this scripture reading that tells us about the Day of Pentecost, we are told that the disciples had been constantly devoting themselves to prayer after the Risen Christ had ascended into heaven. If you add that up, that was ten days of constant praying.
And then we have this incredible Pentecost story which takes the disciples by surprise. They knew to pray for the Holy Spirit to come but they didn’t know when that might happen. It ended up being on one of the major Jewish festivals known as Pentecost.
On that day, there would have been many people visiting the city of Jerusalem. Pentecost was a spring harvest festival so the city would have been very crowded with people from all over the surrounding regions and would have included people who spoke a number of different languages.
And this is why we have so many challenging names of regions to pronounce in this scripture passage. Actually, I think it’s perfectly fine if some of these words get mispronounced because that just goes to show the incredible diversity that would have been present in one place that day.
The miracle of this story is that these uneducated disciples are suddenly able to share the good news of Jesus in the native languages of the people who were there that day. This leads to someone in the crowd to say about those disciples, “Are not all of these who are speaking in these different languages, Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”
If you are wondering a little of what it must have sounded like when the disciples were sharing the good news of Christ in several different languages at the same time, this video might help. We invited three people to read this Acts scripture reading at the same time in different languages. These three people include IJ who is from Nigeria, Taeil Kim from our own Korean Congregation, and Vickie Seiter who is fluent in German.
Let’s listen to them read this scripture at the same time to give us a feel for what the people would have heard on that first Pentecost.
Thanks to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, these uneducated disciples became Good News Interpreters of the saving and healing love of Jesus Christ for the world. The Holy Spirit empowered those disciples to break down the national, cultural and language barriers so that all could hear the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Or think of it this way. Even if those disciples of Jesus had been highly educated and fluent in several languages, without the Holy Spirit, they probably would not have shared the good news of their faith outside of their own circle. It was the Holy Spirit that pushed them forward.
And really, this is the theme of the entire Book of Acts. Pentecost here in Acts, chapter two is just the beginning of how the Holy Spirit empowered the early church to go beyond their own little bubbles to share the gospel to the greater world.
Without the Holy Spirit empowering and leading them, we would not have the story later in the Book of Acts where Phillip ends up baptizing an Ethiopian Eunuch.
Without the Holy Spirit empowering and leading them, we would not have the story of Peter rethinking his faith to the point where he was willing to share the gospel to a Roman centurion and baptize his whole family.
Without the Holy Spirit empower and leading them, we would not have the story of those early church leaders welcoming Gentiles into the Christian faith.
The story of Pentecost is more than a story about the birthday celebration of the church. It is really a story about the Holy Spirit pushing the church forward to share the good news of Christ with all people.
Pentecost Day reminds us each year that we are all Good News Interpreters even if we only know one language. It’s amazing how God can use us to offer God’s healing and saving love for the world.
Our denomination, the United Methodist Church supports 350 missionaries who are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in over 60 countries. A portion of our church’s conference connectional giving each year helps to support these missionaries.
David and Kristin Markay are two of our United Methodist missionaries who now are serving in England. Before their current assignment, they were pastors of the Italian Waldensian/Methodist Church, a multi-cultural church representing many different languages located in Milan, Italy.
Here is a statement about their church of many languages:
"The Italian Waldensian/Methodist Church has set as one of its missional goals the hospitality to the stranger. The church seeks to embody the inclusive love of Jesus by offering a spiritual home to persons from places far from their homelands. Intentionally, the Waldensians and Methodists in Italy are striving to be the church together. Therefore, persons with all faith backgrounds, cultural heritage, and church experience are seen as gifts to the community. The Methodist Church of Milan has members from all over the world: Italy, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere."
This is just one of many examples of where the Holy Spirit is bringing people together to be the church together. But even beyond knowing other languages, there are other ways that the Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome language barriers. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit!
Here’s a personal example. During college, I studied German, Spanish, and Modern Greek, but I never became fluent in these languages. I have remembered a few phrases here and there but if I would go to any of these countries based on what I know right now about those languages, I would be a lost soul. I would probably not even be able to ask for directions.
But sometimes the miracle of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome those limitations and empower us to be Good News Interpreters.
And sometimes, we don’t even need to rely on words to share our faith. One of our members here shared during a bible study that they felt welcomed here at Athens First through the hospitality she received during their first Sunday. She said that it’s not always our words, but it’s also our actions in how we graciously welcome others.
And I might add, that there are other times when all we really need is some bread and grape juice like we will be sharing together in our service today when we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
May the Holy Spirit empower us to be Good News Interpreters so that all people will know the healing and saving love of Jesus.
Good News Interpreters
O Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us. Enable us to hear the good news of our faith in a language we can understand. Empower us to share the good news of our faith with people throughout the world. Lead us to celebrate the good news of our faith with your church universal. On this Day of Pentecost, grant us a Learning Faith that would open us to embrace the diverse faith perspectives and experiences of others. O Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us. Amen.
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