Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

There are two types of “tongues” in this seminal story from the Book of Acts, the story about Pentecost: tongues of fire that appear over the heads of those gathered in Jerusalem that day, and then those gathered began speaking in tongues.  All of this was due to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus promised the disciples that when he ascended into heaven that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them.  And it wasn’t just the disciples.  There were people from all over gathered in Jerusalem that day.  In fact, the writer of Acts (the same writer of the Gospel of Luke) says that there were “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” present on the day of Pentecost.

There is a message here.  It’s about breaking out.  It’s about spreading the Word.  Prior to this, Jesus ministered in a rather small area.  He also preached to a specific audience: Jews and Gentiles throughout Jerusalem and Galilee.  To use a term that is in fashion today, Pentecost allowed Jesus to go viral.  There is a reason why so many different people, from so many different countries, speaking so many different languages were witnesses to this event: it was time for the Gospel to spread.  God calls us to spread the Word as modern-day witnesses and he uses a similar approach.

Now, don’t worry.  No one is going to ask you to learn a different language and travel to a different part of the world to evangelize.  There’s plenty of work that needs to be done right here in Canton.  But let’s talk about this whole language thing for a second.

You know the expression, “He (or She) doesn’t speak my language,” when referring to someone who does speak your language — another English speaker, for example?  It means that you and that person are not on the same page.  It could be because you hold different values or that you are totally different when it comes to politics.  It could also be a generational thing.  How many teenagers have said this about their parents?  How many parents have said this about their teenagers?  We don’t speak the same language.  I am not talking about the slang words teenagers use.  (That’s a different issue.)  I mean the impasse you reach when you feel as if your teenager’s life is totally out-of-whack and they feel as if you (the parent) just don’t get it.  Every generation has these problems.  You are not alone.

But the same goes for other adults.  Let me give you an example.  You have a friend who doesn’t attend church, but you feel as if she should.  She’s recently divorced or widowed and keeps to herself a lot.  She seems rather down and the church is the perfect place for her to make friends and to get involved in various activities.  However, when you ask her, the friend shrugs it off.  She says, “Maybe,” at best — or, at worst, she gives you an emphatic, “No way!”  Her reluctance makes sense if she’s an atheist, but you happen to know that she isn’t.  What’s the problem then?  Answer?  You have no idea.  It could be anything.  Maybe she has a history of abuse associated with the church, or maybe she is just of the mindset that churchgoers are hypocrites.  Maybe she finds it too difficult to darken the door of a church because she used to go there all the time with her husband (her true love) who died.  Who knows?  You’re not a mind reader.  Even if she tells you why she doesn’t want to go — if she says something like, “Sunday is the only day I have to myself” — that may not be the truth, or maybe it isn’t the whole truth.  The only way you can know for sure is if you speak her language.  The good news is that even if you don’t, you can learn.

Too many Christians expect that people will understand our language.  They think that if we just invite them to church or tell them how much our faith means to us, that they will get it.  We need to speak their language.  We need to meet them where they are.  A change needs to occur — a change in the way we think about evangelism.

I was a sophomore in college.  I was dating a girl who attended a nearby Christian college.  We spent a weekend with her family and her college roommate’s family at their home on Martha’s Vineyard.  My girlfriend and I were on the outs, nearing the end of our six-month relationship.  During our first night, I met her college roommate’s father who was an ordained minister.  Actually, he held an executive position in his Baptist denomination.  I did not know this man from Adam, as the cliché goes, and he knew nothing about me or my relationship with his daughter’s roommate.  That night, the group of us went out for ice cream.  I drove with the pastor in his jeep.  In fact, he invited me to drive.  (A jeep with its top-down on Martha’s Vineyard on a warm, summer night?  You didn’t have to twist my arm.)

The pastor rode shotgun.

My words cannot explain what occurred next.  During that brief ride, he spoke to me in such a warm, genuine, loving way.  He knew nothing about me, yet one would think that we were old friends.  He did not say a word about religion, church, Jesus, the Bible, or anything remotely related to faith — yet I can count on one hand how many times I have been in the company of such a sincere, pastoral presence.  I felt the unconditional love of God at the moment that I was in the midst of the throes of a broken relationship.

I knew he was a minister — my girlfriend told me before we got on the ferry — but he never mentioned God.  He did not proselytize, however, God was present with us the entire time.  I could feel it.  I could taste it.  It was more flavorful than the ice cream we enjoyed that night.  The Gospel exuded from this man — every word, every gesture.

My point?  He was speaking my language; he did not expect me to speak his.  He met me where I was rather than approaching this chance meeting as if he had something I needed (which I did) and that he was going to sell it to me.  He spoke to me like a peer, an equal.  Age difference didn’t matter, neither did where we were in our lives.  He listened.  That may be the best first step when it comes to evangelism: listening.

The disciples and all the Jews gathered in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost spoke in such a way that people who did not know their language could understand them.  That is because the Holy Spirit stepped in.  The Church faces the same opportunity today, and, because the Holy Spirit is with us, we have everything we need to complete the task.  You don’t have to speak in tongues.  All you have to do is listen — listen with your heart and for God to usher you into the conversation at just the right moment.  If your listening and speaking are genuine, you will evangelize.  You will spread the Gospel in spite of yourself.  Allow the Living God to work through you.  We may fail, but God never does.  I would even add that with God, you cannot fail.  Amen.