Day 127: Giving Peace

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  John 14:27

Happy Pentecost!  Come Holy Spirit!

Today is the day that is usually identified as being the founding of the Church.  It is the day of yet another promise fulfilled.  It is a day we remember Jesus bringing all of us together under one accord.  It's also a day where we celebrate the diversity of languages, which is something that I hold very dear.

For the past few days, I'd been thinking about what the language trope meant in the story of Pentecost.  Sure, it was a way for the people to show that they were fully equipped to preach in every place.  It was also a concrete sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  But, when I went through the readings in the Lectionary Page, I saw that the Tower of Babel was in the readings as well, which gives a different perspective on language diversity.

I found that a major theme in Pentecost is the idea of redemption.  God scattered the people from the Tower of Babel and confused their language.  God then starts to unite people through a gift of the Holy Spirit - that of language.  Language diversity comes about because of sin, and then it comes back as a blessing.  These are two almost opposing views on language diversity, but they are important for our growth.

There are so many different things happening in our lives right now.  There are things that keep us going, and there are things that keep us back.  However, God is the one who can show us how to manage everything.  We have the Holy Spirit as a guide in our turbulent lives.  The Holy Spirit is a breath of fresh air when we are trapped inside an office, a basement, a hospital.

In the language learning communities I am a part of, I see many people who want to see language diversity to go away.  They see the diversity as a barrier, and, in reality, they have quite a point.  Imagine if we could get all our ideas across without any challenge in terms of language.  There are others, though, who want to learn more languages so that they can gain more perspectives on life.  I like to see languages as a gift from God.  Yes, I wish I knew how to speak all of them, but the fact that I don't and probably won't is beautiful, because it means that there are people who will always have stories to tell me.

Jesus has also shown us how to look at things in a very good way.  Throughout his earthly ministry, he guided his disciples very closely.  He made sure that they understood everything with his teaching.  However, he also had to depart from them and head to heaven.  In the end, they were left with peace.  Jesus offers peace to all of us.  We can concern ourselves over all the challenges in our lives, but at the end of the day, we can relax on the peace that Jesus leaves us.  Unlike the gifts that we can give, ones that can only be used for a certain amount of time before fading, the peace and the Holy Spirit are gifts that guide us throughout our entire lives.

So, when you look at the big picture of your life: all the struggles that lie behind and ahead of you, the problems that face you, the difficult things that might scare you; remember that we have a way to get through the trouble.  It involves an open heart to receive the peace that Jesus has given us.  It's knowing that the hills are there so we can have something beautiful to look at on our journey.  It's knowing that we have no reason to be afraid.  It's knowing that no challenge is too big for us.  It's knowing that God is gathering all of those who have wandered off with comfort.

Day 094: Lord of the New

So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.  But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here."  And he arose and stood.  Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  Luke 6:7-9

Jesus came into the world to change things, and the way he did that was very direct.

One of the things that probably separates so many of us from one another is language.  Language is something that humans use to communicate with one another, but when two people don't speak the same language, there is a stark disconnect between the groups of people.  I know that in my own family, we will switch back and forth between Spanish and English in order for others not to understand what we are talking about (at times).

We speakers of English, though, might forget that there are so many people around the globe that don't understand English.  We like to think that English is the only way to speak to one another, and if somebody can't speak English, then that person is deficient.  Historically, many cultures looked down upon the others that didn't speak the same language as they did (ever hear of the word barbarian?), but that still goes on to this day.  And, it's not only English speakers who have that prejudice.

In the same way, the Pharisees looked at Jesus.  He was doing many new things, and they were amazing, revealing the unconditional love of God for all of God's people, but the Pharisees rejected those things because they were different.  Rather than accept a new Gospel, they wanted to stick with the things as they were, even if that was actually hurting them.

Jesus challenges us every day to accept the new and the good.  The good might look very strange to us at the first glance, but if we live as the disciples did, attempting to understand every word and teaching that Jesus did, and not as the Pharisees, finding all things new to be bad, we will enjoy blessing after blessing.

Day 029: Discerning Speech

"Righteous lips cover hatred, but those who bring forth abuse are very lacking in discernment." Proverbs 10:19

Probably one of the most talked about images or issues in the entire bible is the mouth.  We use it to speak and communicate in a way that most people who speak our same language can understand.  But our words, though on the surface they are just utterances of sound, can bring forth different meanings.  Some of the meanings are mundane, like, "I'm going to the store," or, "The dog barked."  Some of the meanings are provocative, some in the good way, and others in the bad way.

In my personal reading of this proverb from the Septuagint, I understand the second half as reading, "but those who bring forth abuse are senseless" or "are without direction".  Taking all of these for the interpretation of one word, though, can help me understand what is going on in the proverb.

Hate is something that is so easy for us to do, for we can point the finger so quickly when something doesn't go our way.  Think about how easily children say the phrase, "I hate ...".  When we grow up, we become conditioned so that we either say that phrase in a hyperbolic way, or we reserve the phrase for very choice occasions, when we truly have hatred towards something or someone (or, we want to think of it as being in that way).

Hatred separates us from those we hate.  We isolate ourselves by saying that we hate others.  And, when we start saying that we hate every single thing around us, we start to put ourselves into a little box, where we lack direction, where we can't accomplish anything.  When we hate someone, sometimes we just like to go to our little corner and burn with anger against that one person.  We waste our time we could be using to learn or to communicate to think about how much we hate that person.

So what does it mean, then, to cover hatred?  I like to think that this proverb is another way of saying, "think before you speak."  When we can take some time to think about what we are going to say, about what we hate, we can start to consider not only the consequences of our accusations, but also the other qualities in that person.  We can also start to make it a moment to learn more about our sincerest beliefs and about why they exclude that person.  Why does that guy want the room to be red while I cannot have it any other color than blue?  Why does that woman say that there is no church without the liturgy while I enjoy an altar call instead?

The moments where we are tempted by hatred are ones where God is trying to speak to us.  These are challenges of our own faith.  God is trying to help us understand how to be better missionaries, so that we can continue to spread the gospel, both abroad and in our own hearts.  When we have the opportunity to discern whether to bless or to condemn, we have the opportunity to hear God speak to us in a difficult situation.