COLUMN: Pentecost: Listening in tongues

When Christians talk about "speaking in tongues" we are typically describing something that can happen when people are moved by God’s Spirit during prayer and worship. The Spirit emerges through utterances and proclamations which may not sound like any language that we know. Some Christians experience this frequently in worship and prayer, while others of us look on from more sedate pews and try to figure out what to make of it all.

Whether we speak in tongues or not, many Christians will tell a common story about tongue-speaking this coming Sunday, the feast day of Pentecost.

In the second chapter of the New Testament book of Acts we read about a group of early Jesus-followers who were gathered in Jerusalem to observe the Jewish Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and who were overcome by the Spirit of God. The Spirit first appeared as a rush of wind, and then descended on them like tongues of fire. Each of the disciples began speaking in languages which, the text implies, they had never spoken before. And what’s more, there were people in Jerusalem from many lands who understood what the disciples were saying, and they were shocked to hear Galileans speaking in their own native tongues.

When we tell this story in the church I wonder if we often see ourselves as the disciples, assuming that we are the ones who possess a holy message which God has called us to speak in many tongues and in many lands. We may overlook the fact that one of the gifts of the Spirit present on that Pentecost day long ago was the ability to “listen and understand what was being spoken.” The ability to "listen in tongues" is a gift that the church needs too.

God speaks in many languages and through many traditions and lives that are quite different from my own. God is present within-and is certainly powerful enough to speak through-each person I will meet in this life. Am I prepared to listen? When I encounter someone am I ready to first ask, "How is the Spirit already blowing and speaking through this person’s life?"

How especially hard it can be to ask such a question when we find ourselves face-to-face with people who annoy us, who think or believe differently than we do, or who push our buttons! We assume “they” are misled, “they” have got it wrong, “they” are the ones whose hearts and minds must change. And perhaps we even assume it is up to us to make them different. Such assumptions become barriers between us, and make it difficult for us to perceive the fullness of God’s presence in the world.

Who are the people in your life whose “tongues” you find difficult to listen to or understand? When you look around at the Newton community, who are the people you have avoided, or the people you have not heard simply because your life rarely intersects with their own?

If you have wealth, where might you go to hear the language of the poor? If you are a grown-up, how might you listen to the language of a child? If you are healthy, how might you listen for the voices of those who are ailing and in pain?

Pentecost stands as a reminder that such differences are not barriers to the Spirit of God, and this Spirit continues to speak in the tongues of a surprising assortment of people. May all of us who profess faith in this God be as quick to listen as we are to speak.

Eric Massanari is the pastor of Shalom Mennonite Church, 800 E. First in Newton.