It is one of the funniest scenes in an already funny movie. The movie is Airplane, the spoof of the old 1970s era disaster films. In the movie, the passengers and crew of an airline flight succumb to food poisoning and our hero must manage to land the plane, despite the fact that he‘s afraid of flying. As we see the food poisoning work its effects, the camera lingers on two African-American gentlemen, talking about the situation in the popular street slang of the era. When the stewardess approaches them to discover what’s up, she finds that she cannot understand them. But she is rescued by an older woman, played by Barbara Billingsly of “Leave It to Beaver,” who stands up and says “excuse me, Miss, I speak Jive.”

I often wonder if witnesses to the first Pentecost weren’t equally amused as audiences were to see June Cleaver breaking down with these two black guys. To see a bunch of Galilean “hicks” speaking Latin and Persian and Greek and whatever else must have been comical. But after the laughs subside, they start looking for some rational explanation to what they are witnessing, dismiss them as drunk and move on. They are not alone. We too tend to write this particular part of the story off as little more than a cute parlor trick, a neat little miracle of the Holy Spirit, but nothing more.

No miracle is ever just that. God doesn’t do anything without a purpose and so then what is his purpose in granting this gift of tongues to his disciples on that day? What lesson is he trying to teach? To me, this is object lesson number one of Christ’s own commandment, “Go ye therefore…” If you’re going to make disciples of all nations, the first thing you’re going to need is how to speak the lingo.

It’s an important tool, more so than most people realize. It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul. For a people and a culture, language are the eyes. How they talk, what words they use, and what they mean can tell you more about a culture than anything else. Words and language are more than just a means of communicating ideas; they reveal the heart and soul of a people, reveals what matters to them, what is important.

It’s a complicated process sometimes. Even a simple phrase, like “I love my Mom,” can be hard to translate from one tongue to another. Take Greek for example. There are three words in Greek for love: philos, eros, and agape. Which one do I use? If I said I eros my Mom, I’d be looked on as some sort of pervert, since that’s the love of romance, not of family. Getting it wrong means I’m saying something completely different than what I intend.

My purpose today is not however to have all of us run out after worship and sign up for a language course. Not a bad idea, but not completely what I have in mind. You don’t have to go that far to find a foreign tongue or its speakers. There are probably dozens of languages spoken in this very community, even though all of us speak English.

Ok, Pastor, what on earth are you talking about? I’ll give an example. Each generation has its own language. Ever wonder why it seems like your kids are speaking a foreign language? How many here speak Teenager? Sometimes I think my sermon illustrations go over a lot of heads in this sanctuary, because I’m fluent in Gen-X, but my Baby Boomer can be a bit rusty at times.

Who here speaks Outlander and who speaks Native West Virginian? I’m sure you’ve noticed that divide in our community. Here’s another one. I’m sure all of us here are very fluent in Church, but how good is our World?

Ah, now that is a question. We pass by dozens if not hundreds of people each day. Do we speak their language? Do we understand who they are and what they struggle with? What are their words and do we know what they mean?

I mentioned in my newsletter article this past month about some of my experiences in college, times where I lived in a dark world of sex, drugs, and despair. As I look back on those days, I’ve come to realize there was a gift in that sojourn: the gift of language. I can speak geek. I can speak Goth. I can speak Hurting.

Many of us have other such sojourns in their lives, times when we were in a alien land with an alien tongue. Maybe we worked with the elderly or with children and learned their language. Maybe we were with folks from another country, worked in an immigrant community or traveled overseas. I know two folks in this church who spent their careers working with the deaf. What did you learn from those times? What languages did it teach you?

The Holy Spirit hasn’t stopped giving the gift of tongues, he’s just more subtle about it now. Over the course of your life, what languages have you learned? Who can you reach? Who can you speak to of the wonders of God, of his son, and his life, death, and resurrection for the sake of all?

We all have that gift in some form. Embrace it, use it. I remain convinced that in our callings as disciples of Jesus Christ that there are people out there that only we can reach. Only we speak their language. Only we understand them, know them, relate to them. Seek them out. They need to hear the message God has given to you, the message of salvation, the message of love, the message of life. Speak boldly, even if the language you speak is Jive. Amen.