Mutual Understanding - July 31
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73; Judges 5:1-18; Acts 2:1-21; Matt. 28:1-10
In my last semester in college, with only a few electives left, I spent the semester at the University of Wales in Swansea. I lived in a little flat off campus with six other wild college students: Mattie, Johnny, Stu, Jules, Ben, and Dan. Mattie, Stu, and Dan where Welsh students, with Stu being from Northern Wales. Johnny, Ben, and Jules were English. I would sit and play football (soccer) on the PlayStation with Johnny and he would talk really fast, and I would be shaking my head. Then he would say, “Oh you want me to say it like an American so you can understand” and he would spout off a ridiculous American accent and we would all laugh. Mattie was probably the hardest to understand. His accent was best described as a high pitch mumble, and I was the only one who struggled to decipher his words.
I loved the accents, and I treasure those few months, but as I read the story of Pentecost in our Lectionary, I thought of my time in Wales. See, even though we shared a common language, there were a number of cultural barriers that kept us engaged with one another and having to dig deeper and learn how to understand what each was saying.
A few years later, I ended up in India for several weeks. I remember showing up in a small village in central India five hours after we were scheduled to be there. We were greeted with drum lines and dancing and dinner served out of teak leaves. We had a translator who would translate the local language to Hindi and my friend, Milind, would then translate the Hindi to English. I can’t imagine how much was lost in translation, but it was inspiring to share and learn from one another. I was so struck by how their culture was so focused on an event and a relationship where our Western culture had been so focused on time.
The story of Pentecost that we read in Acts is a miracle because the crowd gathered hears each other speaking in their native tongue. They understand each other. But it can’t just be about language, can it? There must be a broadening of culture that is understood at that moment. Their understanding of each other has to be much deeper. It’s not just what they say, but the stories and culture that cause them to say it.
We seem to be angry than ever at the words and the stories that we share with each other. If you are oblivious to this, you must have somehow managed to resist the urge to have a social media account. Well done! It seems to me that we focus a lot more on the words, then pausing to ask why someone might have said or shared what they did. What are the experiences, the narratives, the culture that has caused someone to arrive at their position? It still might be wrong, or crazy, or dangerous, but the Spirit of Pentecost drives us to go further.
My friend, Eric Law, says the goals of dialogue should not be mutual agreement, but mutual understanding. This is what we should seek when we engage with one another. It seems like we need the Spirit of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s help to help us manage our life today. Good thing we are told at Baptism that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. Maybe we should remember that as we work collectively to engage one another.
-John+
Questions for Self-Reflection
What are the foundational experiences you have had that have led you to have different beliefs that other people? What might some of the experiences be that others have had that would lead them to a different position?
Daily Challenge
Today, something will be said, or you will read something that is offensive. See this as an opportunity to engage in mutual understanding.