When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,
Acts 2:1-21
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
There is an old proverb that we’ve all heard that says “Talk … is … cheap.” We’ve all had people make promises to us, and not keep them, or say things that their actions don’t quite live up to. Things are easier said… than done. Actions speak… louder than words. All of these old sayings lead us to think that words aren’t really important. That what we say doesn’t really mean much.
The scripture we just read this morning, the whole story of Pentecost, which we celebrate today, contradicts that old wisdom. It’s not to say that what you do isn’t important, but the story of Pentecost reminds us that what we say, how we speak, what language we use—is incredibly significant. Words have power. That’s true on a larger scale—our country was made possible by the words that are written in a document called the Constitution—and it’s also true that our words have power in our daily conversations, and sometimes we don’t even know about it.
I’ll give you an example that comes from someone you all may know quite well. Our very own Pastor Courtney told me a story just last week about a situation in which words had real power. Back when she was at seminary—with my Dad, who is here with us today—she was studying in this beautiful old hall in this two hundred year old building on campus, where a lot of people like to study and read together. And, being Courtney, she finds herself in a conversation with one of the other students there. They’re cramming for their Old Testament exam, or whatever, and the other student communicates to Courtney that she’s having a really hard time keeping up with the work. Courtney doesn’t really remember what she said that night, but I’m sure it was something reassuring, related to God’s faithfulness, and something or another. Sure enough, though, two years later, on Graduation day, this other student comes up to Courtney and offers a heartfelt thank-you. And she says to Courtney, “You know, I really never would have made it through seminary without what you said that one night when we were studying.” Courtney doesn’t even remember what it was, but she said something that connected to that woman, and allowed her to persevere and earn a graduate degree. Words have power.
I’m sure you’ve had an experience like that. A word of comfort, of encouragement, a card in your mailbox, even a text message from a friend can change your week—or your life. Two years ago, my dad sent me an email of encouragement and advice as I was considering moving to Spain for a year. I’m sure he doesn’t even realize how important the words were that he used, but I’ve read that email out loud to at least four different people—it changed my life so much. Words have power.
What’s remarkable about Pentecost, though, is not just that words have power, but that words are the very thing that God uses to communicate with us. We are told over and over again in the Bible that God has spoken to so many of his people—to Noah and Abraham, to Moses, and to the prophets. I think we expect God to communicate with us through things like the burning bush—miraculous signs of his power. We imagine that God speaks to us through a lightning storm, through a toddler’s smile, or through a piece of music. And that is true—God does speak through visions and miracles and circumstances. But we can’t neglect the ways that God speaks to us through words, through language. Yes, there was a burning bush. But as Moses drew close, God spoke. God called his name—Moses, Moses—and said, “take off your shoes,” he told Moses to come encounter God, and then he said, “bring my people out of Egypt.” God spoke to Moses. With words.
I think it’s only natural that we’re a little uncomfortable with the idea of God speaking to us like that. As Pastor Courtney mentioned last week, if you say to a friend that God speaks to you and tells you things, and tells you to do things, they might think you ought to process that with a psychiatric professional. I’m not saying that God doesn’t sometimes speak in that way, directly to us, but in the story of Pentecost, that’s not what happens. In this story, God speaks through the mouths of the followers of Jesus.
Let’s recap, shall we? The apostles are all trying to figure out what to do in the wake of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. So they’re praying together in a house—it could be the place where they had had the last supper with Jesus, or maybe they’re in the house of God, the church—and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised would come to his friends after he was crucified, shows up, and makes a whole bunch of noise. Here is what Jesus promised would come! But what does the Holy Spirit do? It doesn’t send them outside to heal people or perform miracles. It moves in each of the apostles, in Peter and James and John and all twelve of Jesus’ best friends, and it empowers them to speak. With words. They speak words, we’re told, about God’s deeds of power, about God’s mercy, to all of the visitors that day to Jerusalem from that whole long list of a dozen and a half provinces that I won’t dare try and pronounce. (My dad did wonderfully heroic job of that!) And, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they speak in the visitors’ own language. With words… they didn’t even know. They were poor Galileans, unfamiliar with Phrygian and Cappadocian—they might as well have been speaking Russian or French or Mandarin Chinese. But God spoke through them—like God spoke through Courtney to her study buddy in seminary, not even really knowing what she was saying—God spoke through the apostles to those visitors who didn’t yet know about Jesus, in ways that spoke to them and moved them to follow Jesus, too. Later in Acts 2, three thousand of these visitors, who hear these words about God, in the language of their own country, repent and are baptized.
That’s why a lot of churches celebrate today, the day of Pentecost, as the church’s birthday. When the Holy Spirit moves in us and enables us to witness to God’s power and glory, that speaks to people, and it enables us to build a community. Because it takes language, it takes words, to build a community. I don’t know if you’ve ever been abroad, but if you have, you’ll have an incredible sense of that. I can remember that when I lived in the Czech Republic, where no one could speak English, my American friends and I often felt like we were on another level of the same world when we would sit in the subway. No one could understand us, and we couldn’t understand them, either. We could just say, right out loud, “Oh, I love that girl’s dress!” or, “Can you believe that guy’s haircut?!” and no one would take any notice, because we just didn’t use the same language. We couldn’t be a part of the same community because we couldn’t communicate.
But what the Holy Spirit does is enable us to communicate in order to witness to Jesus. It enables us to say together that Jesus is Lord. It brings us here on Sunday morning to confess together what’s wrong with our lives, and to hear words of assurance of God’s mercy. It speaks through us when we claim together the apostle’s creed—that we believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Spirit and the universal church. We all are a community of confessing Christians, and when we claim together that Jesus has died on our behalf and forgiven all our sins, there is no language barrier in this community.
But it also empowers us to witness to those things outside of this church community, too. On Pentecost, the words that Jesus’ disciples use are carried outside of their house of prayer to those who need to hear words of God’s great deeds. Because words have power, and because God speaks through us to his people both inside and outside of this place.
So this morning, at this celebration of Pentecost, I urge you to think about how God is speaking to you, what words God is using to communicate with you—and what words the Holy Spirit might be putting in you that someone else here or outside of our church needs to hear. Follow Paul’s instructions from the letter to the Colossians: Let the word of Christdwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. Amen.