Our old testament reading today is about the tower of Babel. Those of you familiar with the story have probably been accustomed to thinking of it as a caution against human beings thinking too much of themselves and being punished. A few years ago, I attended a conference where I heard Dr. Cynthia Campbell offer a different interpretation of the tower of Babel . As you listen to the story, try to listen to it with fresh ears. You may follow along in your pew Bibles on page 9, but Betty will be reading from my translation. I use the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh, where it says so in the Hebrew text. Your pew Bibles use the words “the Lord” instead. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Genesis 11:1-9.
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and fire them well." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
4 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of humanity had built. 6 And Yahweh said, "See, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is the beginning of their deeds and now nothing which they devise to do will be cut off from them. 7 Come, let us go down, and mix up their language there, so that they will not understand one another's language."
8 So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel for there Yahweh mixed up languages of all the earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them upon the face of all the earth.
This ends our reading from Genesis. I hope you saw that it is possible to hear Yahweh's words as full of wonder and celebration rather than judgment. “ See, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is the beginning of their deeds and now nothing which they devise to do will be cut off from them.”
Mixing up the languages wasn't a punishment, but a way for them to spread throughout the earth. This interpretation means that God's intentions are for a great diversity of language and culture, rather than uniformity. This idea fits with God creating so many different parts of creation, we have difficulty finding and categorizing them all.
We will read psalm 104 in unison. It is found on page 554 of your pew bibles. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 104:24-34.
4 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works-
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
This ends our reading from Psalm 104.
Our new testament reading is found on page 119. The men and women who traveled with Jesus felt the spirit at the first Pentecost after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. The disciples are in Jerusalem , celebrating the Jewish Pentecost, fifty days after Passover. That holiday commemorates the day when Yahweh gave the Torah, the law, to Moses on Mount Sinai amidst thunder, lightning, fire, and a mighty wind. Listen for the word of God as it is found in the book of 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.'
This ends our reading from God's word.
All those people from all those places: Parthia , Medea , Elam , Mesopotamia , Judea , Cappadocia , Pontus , Asia , Phrygia , Pamphylia , Egypt , Libya , Rome , Crete , and Arabia , all heard the Galileans speak in their own language. Their different languages weren't erased, but the holy spirit allowed them to communicate with one another. Acts tells us that all the men there were devout; I believe it was their faith and their willingness to hear one another that allowed the holy spirit to work in them.
It takes a lot of effort to be able to hear one another. It takes energy and commitment.
Patricia Rich writes about her experience of listening to one another during an ecumenical service in New York City. “Central Synagogue's Friday night Shabbat service was unusually crowded and particularly full of good feeling, as our friends from Marble Collegiate Church and a mosque were attending as part of our interfaith effort. Families with kindergartners had been encouraged to attend and participate. There was a lot of conversation and explanation as everyone was getting to know one another.
I was seated with some people from the church and a family that had just joined the synagogue, and we went through the usual friendly introductory conversations. When the mother asked me what I did, I replied, “I'm a writer.”
Her 5-year-old daughter joined in with a perceptive question: “Righty or lefty?” 1
Our experiences determine our questions. Our experiences also determine how we hear the truth, and tell the truth. Sometimes, we are unwilling to face the truth, and so we resist telling it. When people around us tell the truth, it's easier for us to be brave and do it ourselves.
Sometimes the truth is huge and full of consequences, and sometimes it is tiny but still difficult to tell.
I read one account by Cynthia Czelder, who was walking in New York City . She said:
“Several months ago, I fell into a pothole while crossing Broadway at 57 th street . I was quite lost in my thoughts when I suddenly found my face buried in the tar and grit of the street. Blood trickled down my nose; my phone, wallet and contents of my purse lay scattered around me on the street. In the middle distance I could sense buses, cars and trucks moving toward me.
Immediately, as if they had been traffic cops in another life, passersby began to direct traffic away from me. …With the discipline of seasoned veterans, my traffic directors cleared a spot for the ambulance and fire truck that shortly arrived.
“How old are you?” the EMT asked.
I hesitated. As one, my seven rescuers from the fire truck chimed in, ‘Oh, go ahead, lady,' and with great solemnity announced their seven different ages. I relented. The EMT then loudly announced my age to the dozen or so people that still looked on. A sigh of relief rippled through the crowd as it became apparent that I was mentally as well as physically unharmed.
Just as quickly as they had all arrived to my rescue, these dozen or so New Yorkers scattered, across the street and around the corners, as my husband arrived to take me home…. The term ‘New York's finest' can be very easily broadened to include the average resident of our city walking down the street on any given day.” 2
Cynthia recognized that it took many people to make her feel safe.
I have a letter about many people working together, not just to make people feel safe, but for the healing of the world. Last Wednesday, the presidents of the World Council of Churches wrote a Pentecost message to all the churches in 2007. I wanted to share it with you this morning.
“The Feast of Pentecost reminds us that there is a new dispensation of the Grace of God, renewing the Old Covenant. This new law is also granted through a marvellous experience, an impressive rush of wind and fire, which is granted not just for one people in particular but for all people in all times so that all tongues can speak of the wonders of God.
The Feast of Pentecost thus reminds us of the emergence of the Church as a community of faith called to live out a new covenant in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit. Pentecost marks the fulfillment of the promise made in the Old Testament and by Jesus. The Spirit calls, empowers, shapes and forms the confession, life and hope of the individual Christian and the Christian community so that they give witness to all nations in the world.
Pentecost confirms that the Spirit of God never stops moving, from the beginning to the end, it is the Spirit's dynamis [that's Greek for power] that drives the history of the universe, of this world, of every community of believers everywhere in the world.
…
In the words of St Gregory the Theologian: "The Holy Spirit always was, and is, and will be, neither beginning nor coming to an end, but always ranked and numbered with the Father and the Son". We believe that the Holy Spirit that called the Church into being continues to sustain and inspire the Church. This Church, the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Spirit, is the central concern of the ecumenical movement. We are called, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to work for its unity and to be together in bringing God's love and reconciling power to God's world.
On this day of Pentecost we are challenged to discern the signs of God's Holy Spirit calling together our divided churches. What does the Spirit say to the churches this Pentecost as we seek to be faithful to Christ's prayer that ‘all may be one'? While we are assured that the preservation and unity of the Church are ultimately in God's hands, we know that we are called to co-operate, here and now, with the Spirit by using our gifts to preserve unity and to bring together separated churches so that the world may believe.
Today we experience difficult times. The world around us seems to take us back to the chaos and disorder described in Genesis in fearful images "the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep..." (Gen 1:2) We need to remember that the effects of the Spirit's work are both eschatological and social and God calls us now in the power of his Spirit to be churches together acting for the healing and transformation of our world.
May the Church of Jesus Christ, brought together in the power of the Holy Spirit, never fail to praise the Lord in every part of the world with joy and with the psalmist cry continually - "Come, Spirit of God, and renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30).”
The Presidents of the World Council of Churches
Archbishop Dr Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
Mr John Taroanui Doom, Maòhi Protestant Church, Tahiti
Rev. Dr Simon Dossou, Protestant Methodist Church in Benin
Rev. Dr Soritua Nababan, Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP), Indonesia
Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega, Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba
Patriarch Abune Paulos, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, United Church of Christ, United States of America
Dr Mary Tanner, Church of England, Great Britain
1 Rich, Patricia, “Metropolitan Diary,” The New York Times, May 14, 2007, p. A19.
2 Czelder, Cynthia, “Metropolitan Diary,” The New York Times, May 14, 2007, p. A19. |
First Presbyterian Church