A VIEW FROM THE PEW: Tawk Amongst Yourselves

An occasional blog by Robin Turpin*

"TAWK AMONGST YOURSELVES…I'LL GIVE YOU A TOPIC"

We recently celebrated Pentecost¹ at St. John. Since then, whenever I've turned on the news, a vivid image has come to mind of the disciples rising up and speaking in languages they had never known.

Let me explain...

Beyond the languages the disciples already spoke (Galilean Aramaic, of course, and perhaps some Greek and Latin), they suddenly found themselves proclaiming God's message in Persian, Egyptian, Libyan, Arabic, and many other languages. This was no routine miracle.² This was a crazy-good miracle that allowed a remarkably diverse, international crowd of Jewish pilgrims visiting Jerusalem to hear the Gospel in their own native language.

According to Pastor Sandy, the miracle wasn't that everyone suddenly communicated because they were all speaking the same language. The differences between people—language and otherwise—didn't disappear on that first Pentecost. They remained wonderfully intact. What changed was that those differences no longer stood in the way of understanding.

Instead, humanity gathered in mutual understanding, perhaps for the very first time. Some theologians even describe Pentecost as the reversal of the Tower of Babel. At Babel, human pride resulted in confusion and division as people could no longer understand one another. At Pentecost, God did not erase humanity's diversity by making everyone speak the same language. Instead, through the Holy Spirit, people were able to understand one another while preserving the beautiful uniqueness of their different languages and cultures.

It was less like everyone suddenly playing the same note and more like an orchestra. Violins remained violins, trumpets remained trumpets, flutes still sounded like flutes, and drums still sounded like drums. Each instrument retained its own distinctive voice, yet together they created something far richer and more beautiful than any one instrument could produce alone. Their differences weren't erased—they became harmony.

Allowing each person to hear the Gospel in their own language was amazing, but it wasn't the only miracle of Pentecost. Pastor Sandy reminded us that hearing the Gospel filled this wonderfully diverse gathering with the understanding that God's love creates new life, renews weary hearts, breathes hope into dry places, and calls ordinary people into extraordinary grace.

Regardless of our differences, we are all beloved children of God. It's okay to be different. In fact, perhaps that was God's plan all along.

So, when I turn on the news and I'm confronted with endless stories of human conflict, I can't help but wonder what might happen if we truly sought to understand one another. Not simply to communicate, but to listen well enough to hear each other's hopes, fears, joys, and struggles.

We are vastly different human beings. We see the world through different experiences, different cultures, different histories, and yes, different opinions.³ But perhaps Pentecost reminds us that understanding doesn't require agreement. It requires listening.

Watching the news, I sometimes think that level of understanding would take a miracle.

Then again...

Perhaps miracles begin when people are simply willing to "tawk amongst yourselves, no big whoop.”

Footnotes

1. A quick Pentecost refresher: Pentecost occurred fifty days after Easter, when Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire had gathered in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit arrived with the sound of a rushing wind and what looked like tongues of fire resting on the disciples. They immediately began speaking languages they had never studied—Persian, Egyptian, Arabic, and many others—so that every visitor could hear God's message in their own language. Peter preached, about three thousand people believed, and the Christian Church was off and running. Not a bad day! (Acts 2:1–41.)

2. Are any miracles really "routine"? By their very definition, probably not. But you have to admit—this one was unusually good.

3. Personally, I rather like the fact that we're all different. It would be a pretty dull world if everyone thought, spoke, voted, worshiped, solved problems, or saw life exactly the same way. If God had wanted us all to be identical, on Pentecost everyone would have begun speaking one common language. But that's not what happened. They continued speaking their own languages; they simply understood one another. Perhaps that's God's model for us—not sameness, but understanding.

For more information on St. John, contact the church at stjohnUCCpalatine@gmail.com.

*With thanks to Pastor Sandy Kolar and Laurie Turpin Soderholm for editorial assistance.