"Speaking French in Paris works wonders"

Acts 2:1-21

As I mentioned last week, I am only partially a proponent of the "When in Rome" idea. I don't honestly think I need to look exactly like a Parisian to walk the streets of Paris. I don't think, actually, there is anything wrong with looking like an American in Paris. (cue Gershwin music...)

But, I do know that it is important to try to follow the rules, customs, regulations and, yes even language of a country when you are visiting. It is important when you are in Paris to know un peu de français.   The people who say that Parisians are rude, in general, are those who expect Parisians to use English just because they know it.  I know I'm trained to think this way as a former French teacher, but really? I just want to shout, "YOU'RE IN PARIS! THEY SPEAK FRENCH HERE."  I might add that some of these same people that demand English be spoken when they are traveling abroad sometimes get very testy when we have other language speakers here at home if they don't know English fluently.  I get that other language learners should try to speak our language (that's my point above, after all), and usually they are.  But you can't have it both ways. Don't demand that someone else in a foreign country speak your language if you're not also willing to speak someone else's  language here. But this gets a little political and off the point and that's not where I'm headed. 

I have a story or two about how speaking French in Paris works wonders for how you get around and how pleasant your trip can be.  Of course the same can be said about any place on earth that we go, if we try our best with a few simple phrases in the native language.  

In this week's story of the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the lives of the early followers of Jesus Christ, we have an interesting passage about understanding and language.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

 It isn't that they all hear the same language in this moments, it is that the Spirit filled them in such a way that each could understand the others' languages.  And they are amazed! How could someone from Galilee be speaking in my native tongue? How could that be? Or is it just that I understand that person as if he is speaking my language? How do I hear it as my own?

I love the 'feel' of this section of the Pentecost story. We  presume that they are speaking in other languages, that's what the beginning of that passage says. But it ends by saying "how is it that we HEAR in our own native language?"  

This passage is about cultural differences being bridged, accepted, included. It is about reaching across a barrier and connecting in a way that seemed foreign before the Spirit intervenes. It is about understanding someone else's 'language' despite every reasonable piece of you thinking that you could actually do so.

The Spirit enters the early followers of Christ in this way. In a way that breathes inclusion, that sweeps like a violent wind throughout the room in order to create such inclusion.  What if Pentecost isn't just about the Holy Spirit entering our lives and residing in our souls, but is also about the concept of full inclusion entering our lives and residing in our souls?  Hmm. Ponder that one. I know I will be.

Questions? Comments? Email me or comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.