Pentecost 2026: What is the best language?

Sermon for Pentecost 202, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
Text: Acts 2:1-21, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, John 20:19-23

Recently on a Facebook group that I help manage, someone posted in German about a medical problem they had with their child. Facebook, in its helpful wisdom, automatically translates posts in one language into the language of the reader with a fair amount of accuracy. Except this time. In the German post, the word “Antriebslosigkeit “ was used and is translated by the Google Translate app to mean “low drive.” However, in the Facebook post, it was translated as “impotence,” and I alerted the poster, in German, to this potentially embarrassing mistranslation. I suggested “Energielosigkeit” which translates to “lack of energy,” that was more appropriate for what the poster wanted to say. Soon after, a Dutch member, who also speaks English, German, and French chimed in and offered to help with translating vocabulary. I gratefully accepted the offer, as my German can only get me on a train, to a bathroom, a hotel room, a sausage, and beer. This, I think, was a moment when the Holy Spirit was at work across languages and nations, helping us understand one another. But what seems even more miraculous is that we have a community of members who post in several different languages and have conversations across those languages. The similarities between Facebook translations and the Spirit descending on the disciples, and subsequently speaking in different languages are too close to ignore.

Within this Facebook group are many people who have a wide range of knowledge and gifts regarding medical diagnoses and issues, from those who are completely lost to those with medical backgrounds. These are similar to the gifts Paul mentions in his letter to the church in Corinth. Each member brings these gifts, in their own language, to help and educate others in their languages, creating a community, a body of people who live and learn together in a way that was not possible until recently. This sort of communication seems natural to me because I have an interest in languages and have broken through the wall of rote memorization of foreign words to knowing how to share ideas in other languages. This is not something we are used to in America, where we have tried to pass laws making English the official language in the name of assimilation, but are driven by fear of what we do not understand. It does not matter that our ancestors spoke German, or French, or any one of the other European, Asian, or African languages. What matters is that we set the rules for communication and expect everyone else to follow them. In Jerusalem where the disciples were speaking in languages that they did not know, it was the Holy Spirit that moved them beyond the desire to set the rules of communication to sharing knowledge of Jesus and the power of the Spirit. The message was more important than the rules and the gift of languages more important than uniformity. This is what Jesus kept talking about as the religious leaders and scribes accused him of breaking the laws of the Torah and breaking social norms.

The disciples were able to break through their own wall separating the language they learned as infants and the language given to them by the Holy Spirit. They reached out to others by communicating to them in a way those others could understand when the disciples could have insisted on being understood in their own language. There could have been a third way of communicating that happens naturally, called a pidgin, or a mix of two languages with simple, predictable word order. These scenarios reflect three attitudes toward communication: self-centered, other-centered, or meeting in the middle. I have always made an effort to communicate with others using their language, something that has been seen as encouraging unwanted behavior, or giving away power that is rightfully mine, or worse, as un-American. When working with English-speaking Americans, I and they both use language we are familiar with, but I work to learn how they speak and then use what I learn to make myself understood on their terms. This has been seen as condescending on my part, or degrading myself by stooping to their level, but my intention is to find a middle ground where we communicate rather than enforce social and economic boundaries. The radical action of the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit did the same thing, ignoring human made boundaries set by language, culture, and faith when telling the world about Jesus’ liberating message of hope and salvation.

There is a hidden aspect of speaking other languages to make ourselves understood that is not apparent at first. In communicating in someone else’s language or meeting them in the middle, we get out of our own way and humble ourselves, putting others ahead of us, and not making it, whatever “it” is, about us. To do so becomes a test for us and for others around us: are we motivated by power that we are afraid to let go of, or are we genuinely motivated by the Holy Spirit to do God’s work? Do we make room for cultures, languages, and ideas in our community, or do we sneer at others, saying they are filled with foolishness from new wine and justify our dominance over them? Are we so sure of the power of our righteousness that we feel we can set aside guidance from the Holy Spirit? I am reminded of Jesus’ words elsewhere in the gospels where he talks about the first being last and the greatest being the least. These are not bumper-sticker phrases, but ones taught to us as part of being his disciples. So, it is in these situations where we set aside expectations that everyone around us uses the same words, or insist that we use the best words to communicate. This call to humility means that we, at the very least, meet people halfway, or even better to use their words to convey our thoughts. This is where the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that Jesus breathed on the disciples, speaks through us in someone else’s language, and we cannot get in the way of God working in the world through us. The attitude of a single language and culture is not working for us because it creates more strife and chaos than it brings orderliness and the illusion of peace. If we want to find peace in our communities again, we have been shown a way to find it: speaking humbly to be understood. Speak in peace so that everyone knows that you are a child of God.