Acts 2: 1-21
It is just a word! Really? When I began preparing for today, Pentecost Sunday, I read a prayer, it goes like this: "Good Jesus, fountain of love: Fill me with thy love, Absorb me into thy love, Compass me with thy love, That I may see all things in the light of thy love, Receive all things as tokens of thy love, Speak of all things in words breathing of thy love, Win through thy love others to thy love, Be kindled day by day with a new glow of thy love" …. Stop right there… I could sort of follow it up to that point…through all that "thy" stuff but, did you catch it…kindled day by day.
(Hold up Kindle) What does a product sold by Amazon have to do with Pentecost? Then it occurred to me, I am seeing but one more example of what makes the English language unique in many respects, and also maddening. One reason that English has become the global language is because English adapts and grows over time. Yet, that very fact is one of many that make English so difficult for many language learners. The prayer from which I read was written by a famous British preacher in the mid 1800's, over 160 years ago. That's why it has all that "Thy" language. But it also explains why the word "Kindle" had only one meaning …. To build or set on fire.
Now, kindle has taken on a totally additional meaning. For example, if you were to walk into Barnes and Noble bookstore and shout the word "Kindle!" they would respond not with water but with "Nook."
But, all of this got me thinking, because when you consider all of the language groups and the communication hurdles that were present in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago, it is remarkable that enough about Jesus got through to the crowd that 3,000 people accepted Christ.
The reading from Acts sounds like it could be the roll call at a plenary session of the United Nations: "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs …" Yet, the wonder of it all rumbled through the crowd: "Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?"
It is of course, the first public miracle of that Pentecost day --- instant translation --- that gets our attention. However, translation alone was not sufficient, for in the retelling of the event it goes on tells us, "Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'"
That means that the miracle of translating the words from the Galilean tongue into the languages spoken by the hearers enabled the crowd to comprehend the words of the disciples, but not to discern what those words meant. Instead something else had to happen. A translator can go from a word in one language to a word in another, but an interpreter is the one who takes those words and expresses their intended meaning.
In that first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was the translator but not the interpreter. Peter was the interpreter who answered the crowd's question about the meaning of the translation they heard. Peter addressed the people and told them about Jesus and about salvation. The communication miracle of Pentecost happened because the Holy Spirit translated and Peter interpreted.
Sometimes I think we Christians get confused about that. We may wonder "Why isn't that person getting it?" But that is like asking, "We built a church, why is it not packed?" I am not suggesting that the task of translation is not significant. The work of putting the faith into plain language for people to understand is important. There are people whose life work it is to explain what the Christian story is. Some develop translations of the Bible in other languages like the Wycliffe Bible Translators, others write books like What Christians Believe by C.S. Lewis, others use art and others blogs and web sites all trying to explain what we believe, and how to read the Bible like How to Read the Bible by James Kugel, and so forth.
But there is something just as important --- interpreters. That's because there are always people who say, "Look, I understand what Christianity teaches, but so what? Why should I buy into it?" Interpreters are people who are convinced about the value of following Jesus Christ and can therefore answer the question: "What does this mean?"
This does not demand that we are especially eloquent or have a convincing speech ready. It does not mean we have a degree in Christian apologetics or narrative evangelism. But it does mean that we are willing to speak and act faithfully from our own experience of Christ. One of the most powerful methods of interpretation is simply stating and living out our own experience and telling why our contact with Jesus Christ has made a difference. For example because of Jesus Christ we can say: "I can no longer be comfortable with my prejudices and homophobia." "I have real peace that stays with me, even when everything is going wrong." "I am less judgmental and more able to forgive." "I never knew a time when I was not a Christian, but I'm convinced it enlarges my spirit." "I know a joy and contentment in my life I never knew before." "My natural inclination is to think only of myself. But because of Christ, I can no longer ignore the needs of others." "The guilt I lived with has been taken away."
None of this "interpreting" guarantees anything, but statements about what commitment to Christ means to us personally and the choices we make has a greater impact than the nicest, fanciest Bible, the best-written Sunday school lesson or the most articulate sermon that explains the faith. That's because nobody can deny our personal experience and because we are sharing with words that have meaning to us.
Today we are confirming the faith of two people. They are young, and we all hope that they will have many years of life yet to live. How will the world be in fifty years when they are approaching 65 years old? Where will they be? What joys and sorrows will they have experienced? I have no clue, but one thing of which I am certain, Jarod and Lacey will have the same task that you and I have, interpreting our faith in Christ. What words and actions will they take and use to interpret the faith?
Perhaps the one word they will need to interpret is one we need to interpret in our time. When we read that more soldiers and civilians have died in Afghanistan, or that a child was killed in Florida, or that a woman was executed in a Texas prison --- two words are invoked. These words are retaliation and revenge. These are words that embody a spirit of violence. These words and that spirit may satisfy our thirst for retaliation, and might justify our continued use of a mechanism that has been utterly revealed and destroyed in the death of Jesus.
Jesus' death also invokes a word. Because Jesus' death is a reflection of God's character, Jesus' death is an invocation of God's Spirit. So what is revealed about God in this dead, resurrected, ascended Jesus? It is the word of forgiveness. What are others? Let me suggest love and hope.
Let us be inspired to interpret fully and completely what we have received because if you remember … they are only words. Amen.
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