Sermon June 5, 2022 by Rev. James Rausch

“The Tongues of Mortals and of Angels…Multilingual Presbyterians”

Rev. James Rausch

Has Pentecost Sunday ever really meant much to you?  Or is it just another churchy theme that comes up every year? 

Every year on Pentecost Sunday, we and countless others in worship hear the story of what we have come to call the birth of the church.  50 days after Easter, the confused and frightened disciples of Jesus were together in a room, not sure what to make of everything that happened, and less sure what to do next.

It was then that the promised arrival of God’s Holy Spirit came to them in wind and flames, it was a powerful experience that left them feeling filled with some of that power.  The kind of power they knew when Jesus was leading them to heal and to preach the good news of the coming of the kingdom.  The power they thought was no longer available to them now that Jesus had gone to be with the Father in heaven.

And they overcame their fears and went out to the people, speaking the gospel in many languages so that the visitors to Jerusalem from other lands could understand in their native tongues.

Today there are people here who speak scores of different languages.  How many of you speak another language?

I hope that when I ask the question again today, everyone will find that they speak at least one other language.

Each week we receive the Word of the Lord, and we pray for the Holy Spirit of the Lord to come give us understanding and courage to act as God calls us to be Christ-like. 

The guiding Word which we read is a lamp unto our feet, and the empowering Spirit, the very breath of life for the Christian that gives us strength beyond our own ability to conjure up.

We need both.  It has been said:

If you have the Word without the Spirit, you’ll dry up.

If you have the Spirit without the Word, you’ll blow up.

But if you have the Spirit and the Word, you’ll grow up.

The power of the Holy Spirit of God – How many of you are thinking, “I want that?”  How many of you are wondering if you have ever received that?   How many of us think, “that only happens to other people?”

That’s what most of the people thought in our OT passage.  Moses had the Spirit of God.  And he gave it to the 70 elders who really showed its power.  That made sense.  Moses was their leader – special.  The elders had been selected, set apart.  But something odd happened.  Two others, not even with Moses, began showing signs that the Spirit was moving them just as powerfully as the elders.  Since this did not go with the general understanding people had, they went to Moses with alarm asking him to put an end to this.  And Moses said the words that have echoed through the centuries.   O, would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!”

Jesus wanted that too.  And he sent the spirit – but not just to 12 or 70, but to every believer.

Have you ever experienced it?  How do you recognize it?

Is it always some supernatural phenomenon that we hear about happening to others, but not to us?

I said that I believe people here today speak other languages, and that the Spirit can move you to speak them aloud to others who will hear in a way that surprises them:  “I didn’t know someone here spoke the language that I understand.”

Search yourselves and see if you are among those who can say…

I speak the language of…

…someone who has moved into a new town from a very different place and experienced culture shock.

…someone who has lost a child.

…of someone who knows what it’s like to be left out.

…battled a life-threatening disease.

…been through a divorce.

…has been abused.

…knows the depths of depression.

…who has seen God’s healing.

…has lost a job.

…one who has taken a risk because I sensed God urging me to.

…of someone who has forgiven another for doing a terribly hurtful thing.

Now we have the Word.  We are engaged by it, we learn from the Word.  But God breathes out for believers the Spirit.  Will you pray for it to come to you?  Will you recognize and receive it?   Will you pray for it to come to another?

It’s time for us all to listen for the Spirit’s call and be ready to say, “Here I am, send me.”  Look around you – at work, in your neighborhood, when you travel – for anyone God might send your way who might be surprised to hear someone speaking their language.