I first heard the phrase “speaking in tongues” when I was in college and one of my classmates returned from a weekend at home with what I thought then was one of the strangest stories I had ever heard.  He told me that the first night he was home he joined his mother and dad at the table for dinner as usual, but as the family began to pray before the meal, his parents suddenly stood up, broke into a strange sounding language, their voices filled with emotion, but not one single word was recognizable. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it was over. They apologized for startling him so, explaining that this bizarre behavior he had just witnessed was a spontaneous form of prayer they had begun experiencing lately and that this “speaking in tongues” (or glossolalia) was simply an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on them inspiring these strange words of praise. Years later, at a massive gathering of Lutherans in Philadelphia marking an anniversary of the Augsburg confession, from the top row in the balcony came an enormous voice, drowning out all the other noise of the crowd below, and speaking unintelligible words that we just knew had to be that woman’s powerful words of praise somehow inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Since those earlier years, I have not been privy to too many such occasions when the language of the Spirit seemed to be present in such a startling way… Nonetheless I don’t discount those stories…

Today, in the church we encounter the original story of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples and the phenomenon of discovering a common language amidst the cacophony of many languages being spoken by all those people from different tribes and nations at the same time. As we read in that colorful recounting in the Book of Acts,  “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability.”  Can you imagine what that must have sounded like? Speaking in tongues, indeed… And yet, we read further that all the people gathered in that place seemed to understand one another miraculously through their own native languages.  Wow!  What an amazing thing, this Holy Spirit inspired language, that suddenly breaks through barriers that otherwise could so easily divide and opens up minds and hearts to a common language that translates into prophesy and visions and dreams of a life to be shared. And with that, the community of God’s inspired people is born.

Still, we northern European extraction Christians are more often baffled than excited by this passionate story of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Just as being in the presence of one who claims to speak in tongues makes us uncomfortable, this business of believing in the unseen presence of God challenges our rational minds and can push us to the edges of our belief. After all, few of us have ever allowed ourselves to be caught up in any kind of  public expression of spirit-filled fervor… Yet in our confessions and in our creeds, in our sacramental life and in our post-Easter faith we claim the Holy Spirit to be the presence of God at work in our lives.  “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we say,  “the Lord and giver of life…” But what language can we use to describe the Spirit’s power at work in us?  What language would translate into a common understanding of God’s work in the world no matter how different our backgrounds, our experiences, our beliefs or doubts?

In anticipation of Pentecost, one of the websites that encourages thoughtful preaching , posted a series of answers to a question that was asked of some leading theologians… The question was simply “How is the Holy Spirit at work in the world today?  In other words, how do you speak, what language can we use for the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives? One theologian responded this way…

          “When we put the gospel to hip hop…

          When we share the building with the Korean congregation

          When we preach against homophobia

          When we break bread with Jews and Muslims…,

          When we invoke the ancestors and learn from their lives,

When we live at the borders offering water to those in the desert

Harbor to those in danger and community when we don’t fit in…

It is then that we speak in tongues…

And yet another answer reads:

          Closer to us than our own breath and breathing, the Risen Christ fill us with his own Spirit --- quietly intimately.  With this breath, this power, we then go about the everyday, unspectacular, grubby work of forgiveness.  Breathe, forgive; breath, forgive; breathe, forgive

          Although we often long for the dazzling or spectacular, we live in a time, a world, in need of people who breathe in, regularly, the quiet power and grace of Christ’s Spirit – and people who, likewise breathe out, regularly, the power and grace of forgiveness.  Our world – so spectacularly broken and burning –needs people  for whom reconciliation is as normal and natural as breathing…

2 answers to the question “How is the Holy Spirit at work in the world today?” speak out of a common language… did you hear it? … a speaking in tongues passionate language that translates the Holy  Spirit’s presence not into words but into acts of love and forgiveness that continually affirm Christ is alive in us and working to transform and redeem this world. 

It might be hard to somehow catch the passion behind this festival day – the story, complete with rushing wind and tongues of fire doesn’t seem to ignite a lot of excitement these days.  After all, there are no Pentecost pageants, no Pentecost gifts to exchange, and few family gatherings around this celebration, though indeed, we could have a birthday party for the church! But I suspect our ambivalence about this day has  to do with our continual wondering about the Holy Spirit itself and our uncertainty about just what this strange and unpredictable presence is, and is God’s Spirit really at work in every one of us

What language shall we use to tell this story today and in the days that follow?  Perhaps the Holy Spirit can only be understood in the context of the difference its breath of new life can make in our world. So when gratitude begets generosity; when anger begins the hard work of forgiveness; when love overcomes fear, and new life is breathed into whatever our broken world has damaged or destroyed, that is when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit finds its voice.

Who/What is the Holy Spirit?, you ask… The Holy Spirit is God’s presence in the world translated through our lives.   You see, we are the instruments of the Holy Spirit… We are Pentecost people, and our lives – who we are and how we live -- become the language of God’s presence in this world. Do we all have that Spirit in us?  Absolutely! Through water and the word, and even sometimes with tongues of fire and a rushing wind, you and I receive this gift of life as daily we are washed in God’s great promise.

Today the outpouring of the Holy Spirit breathes life into us renewing our sometimes weary and skeptical faith, inspiring us to live as God’s faithful people and to speak in tongues the language of God’s amazing grace!

Come, Holy Spirit, come!!!