Friends in Christ Weekly Message
May 22, 2010

They were excited and amazed, and said:

     Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome,Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.

Acts 2:7-11 (CEV*)

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, when the church celebrates the amazing coming of the Holy Spirit with power, and our scripture this week is excerpted from the description of that day. People from many different parts of the world all heard the same message about God in their native languages.

This is a message for believers in all times. And I think the meaning of the message goes beyond human languages themselves, but also to the ways in which different people are open to hearing the Good News. Among those speaking the same language, no one approach of sharing the Good News will work for all.

If we allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves able, as Quakers say, to “speak to the condition” of varied people. This speaking is first through our lives, which should be a witness to God, but will also sometimes be in words.

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you to reach others with the Good News?

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society.

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