Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? (Acts 2:7-8)

About 35 years ago Sue worked for a company that organised school skiing holidays and part of her job was to take a party of teachers off to Austria to get a feel for what was on offer and I tagged along. On the last day of our visit, when we were supposed to be heading home, the local rep didn’t turn up and no one knew what to do. All we had was the phone number of the family he was staying with. The German-speaking family. So, with my O-Level German from 12 years previously I got the job of phoning to find out where he was. I think I explained the situation - I could equally have told them their hovercraft was full of eels - and I think I got the gist that he was on his way and he did arrive a few minutes later. What I wouldn’t have given for a universal translator like they have on Star Trek.

Wouldn’t it be brilliant if humanity could do that? Understand each other without the barriers of language? The way the people from all over the place understood Peter at Pentecost? Sometimes people say that Peter may have been speaking in tongues but that doesn’t quite fit with the text. The crowd are hearing what Peter says in their own languages - he’s speaking in probably a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. But let’s consider what’s happened just before. The followers of Jesus were hiding away worried that they might be arrested, stoned, beaten up, whatever. Then the Holy Spirit touches them, fills them, inspires them, drives them out of the building and out into the world in a moment that changed the world forever.

Why. Because what was said on that day was understood by everyone who heard it. No translation was required. This message was for everyone - whatever language they spoke, whatever country they came from, whatever their social status, whatever their sex or age. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” says Peter. Whoever. No qualifications. No ifs or buts. The good news that the church has proclaimed from that day to this - that through the Cross of Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and we are set free - is for everyone who accepts the love of God and tries to live in his way.

Love. The love of a parent for their children. At heart that’s what the coming of God in Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit are all about - God pouring out his love on his children and that is something that needs no translation. It’s something I think we all in our heart of hearts understand. And yet so often we’ve kind of wanted to think it can’t be as simple as that. I mean surely there must be a bunch of rules to go with that right? Surely you have to sign up to a set of dogmas and rituals, right? Surely it doesn’t apply to that lot over there. Or that bunch. And them? Certainly not, surely.

The Book of Acts tells us otherwise. Some time after this event Peter finds himself in the home of a Gentile by the name of Cornelius and he realises that the Holy Spirit - that same Holy Spirit that had inspired Peter and the others - has come to Cornelius and his family and that the biggest division in the Jewish thinking - the division between Jew and Gentile -  is dissolved in the love of God for humanity. 

Talk of the Holy Spirit can seem kind of high faluting. What does it mean? Sometimes it can involve folk being inspired - maybe to write a hymn or say a prayer or to just stop and look around them at the wonders of the world around us and to find God in that experience. You ever had that? Do you need a translation for that experience? Sometimes it can be life-changing. I’ve had that. That’s why I’m stood here today doing this. Most often, though, it means allowing ourselves to be guided to display what Paul called the fruits of the Spirit.

What are they? Love. Above all love. Above all it’s doing what Jesus called us to do - to love our neighbour as ourselves. Who is our neighbour? Jesus answered that with a parable that I’ll sum up as “That lot over there. That bunch. Them”. 

Peace. When, say, an American President threatens to wipe out a whole nation maybe the Spirit inspired response isn’t “Yeah! Go get ‘em!” But “Wait a minute there!” It’s to see the people the world calls our enemies and to love them and pray for them.

Forgiveness. We can all do that, right? It’s sometimes hard to do that when someone hurts us, but we can. And when we do we do something remarkable. Something that reminds us that we are the forgiven children of God.

Kindness. Hands up anyone in this room that’s incapable of kindness. It’s something that requires no translation, right? I was in Edinburgh about a year ago and I fell over. No. I hadn’t been drinking. A tourist offered his hand and helped me up.  No words were exchanged. No translation was needed. 

Pentecost. The day the Spirit came. What is that Spirit? It is the voice of God within us that calls us to be our best, our kindest, our most forgiving, our most loving and to live in peace with those around us. It is the voice of God that we don’t always listen to that inspires us to live not by the standards of the world but as children of God and citizens of Heaven. Did you ever wonder why Christianity got the foothold it did? Maybe it wasn’t the proclamation of doctrines. Maybe it wasn’t great orators. Maybe it was ordinary folk, listening to God’s Holy Spirit, doing just that.

Father may we listen to your Holy Spirit in our hearts and display the fruits of the Spirit in our lives

Preached at Dryfesdale Parish Church and Lochmaben Parish Church

Complete Service