Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 3

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-21 (NRSV)

I was exposed to speaking in tongues as a child as we were members of the Assembly of God denomination which is Pentecostal.  In this experience, the person is usually overcome by the Holy Spirit and begins to speak ecstatically in an unintelligible language.  Sometimes this is known as speaking in the language of the angels.

This tradition goes back to the early church as the apostle Paul outlines it in Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians.  The practice precedes Christianity and is present in other settings around the world.

Luke includes a different understanding of how the Holy Spirit allowed them to interpret.  People began to hear the Good News in their own languages.  As people from all over the known world had come on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost, we see that the statement made in Acts 1:8 begin to come to fruition (and we didn't have to wait very long):

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (NRSV)

The gift of tongues is not unintelligible here but rather allows the message to be culturally relevant in their own languages.  Some see this as a clear reversal of the Tower of Babel.

The story here really seems to echo Paul's critique of speaking in tongues especially from 1 Corinthians 14:9-12:

"So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.  There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound.  If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.  So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church."  (NRSV)

By being culturally relevant to the various contexts, the church was built up on the day of Pentecost.  People appreciate others making the attempt to learn and speak their own language.  If you have ever traveled to a foreign country where your language is not spoken regularly, and you hear someone speaking familiarly, you may actually have a sense of fondness come over you for the speaker.  This seems to be common for all human beings.

I once saw a sign that said, "Translation
devices here" and it was only in English.

As we see cultural divides, the church in the United States is witness to generational gulfs as younger people are giving up regular religious engagement at much higher percentages.  What does it mean to speak the Good News in their language?  Is it possible for the church to recapture this Day of Pentecost for the youth of our time?

I don't think there is any magic fix that will help us.  I think respect and relationship are two things that the church in every era should continually pursue.  When we value respect, we then have to figure out how does that allow me to step outside my comfort zone in order to pursue relationship?

I've seen plenty of Christians who were "on fire for Jesus" who didn't start with respect and so blew right past the deeper relationship with our neighbors to which Christ is calling us.

Prayer for the day:

Strong, covenant God,
save us from being self-centered in our prayers,
   and teach us to remember to pray for others.
May we be so bound up in love with those for whom we pray
   that we may feel their needs as acutely as our own,
   and intercede for them with sensitiveness,
   with understanding and with imagination.
This we ask in Christ's name.  Amen.


Prayer based on words from John Calvin, Switzerland, 16th Century

Photo by Jes via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.