May 20, 2018              The Language of Love                           

I’d like to begin my sermon this morning, with an old testament passage that is not in our lectionary today. This passage is from the book of Genesis, in the 11^th Chapter verses 1-7.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. An as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly,” And they had clay for bricks and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with it’s top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the mortals had built. And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.

As we read in our prayer of confession this morning, the purpose of God confusing the languages of humankind, was to lessen the human sin and suffering that came from humanity having one language. I know that sin and suffering are not apparent from the reading of the story, but there are two key phrases that indicate this. They had clay for brick and bitumen for mortar – is a reminder of the slavery of the Israelites. And nothing they propose to do will be impossible for them – which is a reminder that before the flood, humankind did whatever it proposed to do and it was evil in God’s sight. And so, God’s confusing of the languages of the people at the tower of Babel, was meant to lessen our human sufferings.

Now the reason for remembering the story of the tower of Babel this morning, is because of our reading of the story of Pentecost. Pentecost is the reversal of the Tower of Babel. In the second chapter of Acts, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon those who are gathered, and we get that whole list of peoples from basically all the known nations, are now speaking in their own languages, but understand each other through the one language, the language of God’s Spirit, the language of God’s love.

And the reason God has done this now, is because in Jesus Christ, the whole world has been given a sign, so that we will not enslave and oppress one another, and we will not allow the wickedness of human imagination to run rampant in our lives.

Now, many will say, that oppression and wickedness run rampant in our lives today, and I would agree with you, there are a great many, who choose not to live in the Spirit of Christ, and great is the sin and suffering they cause among us. And when we see these things happening, we are called to remember that sign of Christ's death upon the cross, and turn from our willful and self destructive ways. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to proclaim the gospel, in the face of injustice and oppression, and the healing of a broken world. 

And I would also say, that despite the oppression and wickedness we see in the world, we forget about all of the people who choose to live in the Spirit of Christ, who choose to live with love in their lives. There are a great many more of these in the world, whose daily thoughtfulness, concern for others and sense of justice for all, goes unremarked and unreported in the news.

Every time, I hear of a poll of Americans, where 70 or 80% display the kind of justice, compassion, and mercy revealed to us in Jesus Christ, I am heartened. I am reminded that there are far more people out there whose lives may not be perfect, but who have a love for others in their hearts. I know that this love is present in the lives of our members, but I encourage you to keep at it, your love makes a difference. And I encourage you to grow in that love, so that you may continue to take part in God’s plan for the salvation of the world!  

Which brings me to something I saw yesterday. Yesterday, was the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. And at the Wedding they invited the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Chicago to give a sermon. In that sermon he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. telling us that we need to discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love in our lives, and then we will be able to make this old world, a new world, love is the only way.

And then he challenged those in attendance to imagine what the power of love could do in our homes and families, our neighborhoods and communities, our government and among the nations, even in our business and commerce. When love is our way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love, - no child will go to bed hungry,  poverty will become history, the earth will be a sanctuary, justice will roll down like water, and humankind will study war no more. When love is our way, we will treat all people like family, as brothers and sisters, as children of God. And then he conclude his sermon talking about the harnessing of fire, and how it had forever changed the world, and if we could just learn how to harness love, it would have the same impact and effect on our lives.

And as I listened to that sermon, I thought about our story from Acts this morning. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire resting on each one of those gathered, the people with so many different languages speaking on one language, the language of love. That’s what God was doing at Pentecost, the fire of God's love had been harnessed in Jesus Christ, and now poured out upon his followers, so that we may make this old world new, so that we may bind up those who are broken, so that we might overcome sin and suffering of this world, and live as one throughout the whole wide earth.

And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ!