Pasadena Presbyterian Church Sermon Text
June 8, 2003

"Beyond Language Barriers"
Preached by The Rev. Dr. Barbara Anderson

Scripture:  Acts 2:1-21

(1) When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. (2) And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. (3) Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. (4) All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

(5)  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. (6) And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. (7) Amazed and astonished, they asked, 'Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? (8) And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? (9) Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (10) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, (11) Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.' (12) All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' (13) But others sneered and said, 'They are filled with new wine.'

(14) But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, 'Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. (15) Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. (16) No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: (17) "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. (18) Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (19) And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. (20) The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. (21)  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

- Acts 2:1-21

When I was in ninth grade, my family traveled from our home in Southern Ohio to Montreal, Canada, for a week-long vacation.  I had studied French in school for since 7th grade and was absolutely convinced and thrilled that I could be our family's translator in a city that was already reasserting its French roots.  But I can still remember my panic as we drove into Montreal and I couldn't sort out all the words in time to get us to the right exit ramp.  In the extreme stress of the moment, I couldn't even remember the word for bridge.  I was lost, thumbing through my French-English dictionary as we sped past our exit. My parents, wiser than I, were prepared for this contingency, and we finally made it to our campground.  Even in those years, when nearly everyone in Montreal could speak English if needed, it was my first experience in a place where life is lived in a language I didn't understand.

As many of you know, it is humbling, frustrating, exhausting and disorienting to be in a country or a city where everything is written and spoken in a language you don't understand.  Greg Norton spent six weeks in Mexico learning Spanish last fall and has spoken about both how exhausting it was to be surrounded by a different language all day, and how gratifying it was when people graciously tried to understand his awkward Spanish.  Many of you have served the church of Jesus Christ in other countries and have learned their languages.  Many of you have come to this country from other lands and know much more than I, how hard it is to live in a land that speaks a foreign tongue. 

Periodically, Mark Smutny and I shop in a Ranch 99 in Arcadia where all the labels are in Kangi, and a Ranch 99 on Villa where the labels are in Spanish, and markets on Washington where the labels are in Arabic.  From time to time we drive through Alhambra and San Gabriel and various parts of Los Angeles.  Each time we do so, I marvel again at the diversity of languages and cultures that God has brought together in this place. 

Let me say that again:  I marvel at the diversity of languages and cultures that God has brought together in this place.  As Christians, we believe that God is somehow at work in human history and human lives.  Therefore we cannot believe it is merely happenstance that all these people of so many languages and countries and cultures have come together in Los Angeles and Pasadena at this time in history.  God's hand is in it.  As Christians, we believe it is somehow the providence of God that children born in Pasadena and Altadena, born in Glendale and Azusa, born in San Marino and Temple City now speak a wide variety of languages other than English in their home.

If God's hand is in our being together in this way at this time, then we'd better sit up and take notice.  Remember Jonah, how he refused to go to Ninevah because he didn't like the people there.  But then he repented of his prejudice and became an instrument of salvation.  And remember that after Moses refused to go to Egypt, saying he didn't know how to speak; he repented and led God's people into the Promised Land.  We, too, are called to repent of our prejudice against God's children and our hesitation to speak on God's behalf.

God has placed us here, together, long-time residents and new-comers, people from all across the country and around the world, people of age and youth, people of many languages and races and cultures.  What a miraculous, amazing, phenomenal gift God has given us:  that we should be called to make evident in this community, our oneness in Jesus Christ!

The world needs our witness, for the world has always been torn apart by tribalism.  It is not new in our generation.  The Middle East traces its roots of violence back for millennia.  Tribes and cultures have been at war with one another in Europe and Africa, Asia and South America for nearly as long.  And in this country, we have our own terrible history of violent tribalism: European genocide of Native Americans; the enslavement of Africans, and laws and hearts that considered them subhuman; the concentration camps we built to jail American citizens of Japanese heritage during World War II; the gangs that exist today in our schools and neighborhoods; and the boundaries we draw around our own racial/ ethic groups to keep us separate from one another in countless ways. 

Even as we come before God on Sunday morning, most of this country worships according to tribe:  Whites with Whites in one church, Blacks with Blacks in another, Koreans with Koreans, Chinese with Chinese, Cubans with Cubans, Puerto Ricans with Puerto Ricans, Latin Americans with Latin Americans. Even in the church, Jesus Christ is divided by language and culture.

So God has called us here at Pasadena Presbyterian Church to be a Pentecost Church.  It is a remarkable, marvelous gift and calling we have received from God.  On this Pentecost Sunday we are all in worship together, but on every Sunday, in various places in this church, we worship God and study scripture, all languages and cultures together as one body, under one Session, under one Savior who is our Lord, Jesus Christ. We worship, study and serve in many languages, surrounded by the visual and linguistic rainbow God is calling us to be. 

In this church we are called to remember and model that human experience goes beyond language.  We do not need to understand the words of the other's language in order to see tears in another's eyes, recognize grief or sorrow or pain and reach out to one another.  We do not need to understand the words of the other's language in order to recognize the joy of smiles that go from ear to ear and hearts overflowing so much that you cannot keep your feet still and your hands from clapping. We do not need to understand the words of one another's language to offer a cool glass of water on a hot day, or a plate of food to someone who is hungry. 

We do not need to know each other's languages word-for-word to know that when the bread is broken and the cup is poured, it is the body and blood of Christ given for us. And when we baptize, we do not need to hear the words of baptism in our own language to know that another life is being given to Jesus Christ. 

Shortly, we will receive new members in worship.  Because we have heard the liturgy so often in the English-language service, and because most of the new members being received this morning come to us through the Korean Fellowship and Hogar Cristiano, the liturgies will be spoken in Korean and Spanish.  They are printed in English in your bulletin. 

We know the words of the liturgy: "Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?  Do you renounce the power of evil?  Will you seek the fellowship of the church wherever it is found?" We know the words of the liturgy by heart, so we will know the Spirit of God as it is poured out on these people this morning.

We know that on Pentecost God crosses all language barriers and each of us hears God speaking to us in our own language, in the language of the human heart.  God heals pain and sorrow in our own language.  God multiplies joy in our own language.  God touches us with love and compassion in our own language.  That is what happened on the first Pentecost and it is what happens on this Pentecost.

God crosses all language barriers because in Jesus Christ, God has already crossed the biggest, highest, strongest barrier of all: the wall that separates the human heart from Divine Love.  Since God has already crossed that barrier in our hearts through Jesus Christ, we are now called to go out onto the street corners of the world, into the hallways of our lives and the shadows of others' hearts, and speak the word of God's love to them.  Just as the apostles preached God's love on that first Pentecost in such a way that it was heard by all in their own language, so we too, as we worship and work together, give witness to the Christ who is not divided, even in the church.

(c) Copyright 2003 by Barbara A. Anderson.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution.