Pentecostal Babel

Pentecost – Year A

Yo! Thomas, Mothers, Anyone Oriented Toward Common Good, etc. – Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Good works include finding ways to listen to and speak to as one does the best one can with what one has. In this setting there are rumors and rumors of rumors about several subjects. Language is being used to set decisions in stone that need an openness to new vision. Language is being used to limit the options G*D has to bless and individuals and systems have to receive blessing. Language is being used to divide the body. Even in a Pentecostal context, Babel lifts its head again.

Were it not such a mixture of Pentecost and Babel we would have long ago destroyed ourselves – give thanks for language well used. If it were not such a mixture we would have long ago experienced heaven on earth – be sad for language used for entitlement.

Yippee for Pentecost! Hip Hip Hooray for Mothers! May the ouches of life caused by words as real as sticks and stones be kissed and band-aided and new inclusive language be learned. This inclusiveness is not just about people, but tomorrow.