I try to write a poem to coincide with the Feast of Pentecost each year, I don't always make it. Quite often I make it, but a bit late. This year I started early and so I am putting down here what I have got.
At the first Pentecost, the disciples who were already following Jesus started speaking many languages and people from many different places heard their own languages spoken by "these simple folk from Galilee" So this year I decided to treat LANGUAGE as the theme.
I will admit that though some bits are poetic, it is not all poetry. These are my various thoughts about language.
To begin with, did we all speak the same across the board - one universal language with universal understanding? That would have been paradise, no? An ideal perhaps to which it's natural we should aspire to return?
It is portrayed that way in the book of Genesis that from Adam and Eve, for many generations the people spoke the same language, and then came along a huntsman by the name of Nimrod, and he was obviously a very charismatic man with a very ambitious spirit, who wanted to build a very high tower, that would "reach the heavens" - something God would not stand for. And so God miraculously "confused their languages" resulting in the downfall of the team through the inability to communicate and with that confusion came the downfall of Nimrod's mighty tower.
Was language then like a precious beautiful ornate vase, that all of a sudden is knocked down and falls and shatters to smithereens, tiny shards of pottery take flight across the room. Not one tiny piece of the lovely vase resembling another but each one unique. Every piece representing a language, some pieces bigger spoken by many and other pieces tiny spoken by just a few.
I don't think the shattered vase analogy is that useful really, for a few reasons: We know that languages were not completely formed at their genesis, and that they were not all formed in one moment in time. No, like the humans that made languages, languages have evolved, and different languages have come into being over the millennia that humans have been around. We know for a fact that some languages gave birth to others - for example The Dutch community that went to live in South Africa formed a language called Afrikaans. Many of the words used by their forefathers would be understood by Afrikaners today, but there have been enough changes to the vocabulary, and even the grammar, to make it distinct.
We also know that some languages have spread not just generationally, from parent to child, but also because of politics and power. The language of the powerful imposed upon the people with no regard for the languages of the oppressed. This is why Spanish and Portuguese became the dominant languages spoken in South America, and many of the languages that were spoken there are now extinct, and why the official language of so many countries of the world is English.
The powerful have used language as a means of oppression and control. They have barred indigenous people from communicating in their mother tongue, and insisted they only use the "official language" They have taken babies from their parents and placed them with families who do not speak the babies' languages, depriving them of so much more than just their language.
It doesn't only happen at the level of government, but still to this day we hear too often of people facing racist abuse because they are overheard speaking in a language that is not English (in the USA and in the UK). People making the assumption that someone not speaking English or speaking with a non English/American accent means that they are foreigners, and then using that assumption whether accurate or imagined to be xenophobic towards them.
Language is more than the words we speak or write.
Language is that look, that shrug, that chuckle or sigh -
language is the tear that fall from the eye.
Language is the silence that follows a threat, a clenched jaw, a clenched fist, an intense stare, just standing there!
Language is a handshake, a high-five or hug -
Language is the gesture that gives heartstrings a tug!
Words are important - should be measured and true -
Not too many and not too few.
I think my little poem makes the point that not all language is verbal - that is consisting of words. Much of what we say to one another whether on purpose or not, we say without words.
The saying "Actions speak louder than words", comes to mind. I think we should be very aware of what we are communicating when we aren't talking. Is what we are communicating what we really want to communicate or is it possible that our meaning can be lost in translation?
On the Day of Pentecost that came 50 days after Jesus rose from the grave, 10 days after He had Ascended from the Earth, we read that a group of about 120 followers of Jesus were gathered together in a room, and they heard a mighty wind within the room, and what looked like little flames appeared above each person's head and they all began speaking in different languages, just like the people building Nimrod's tower, only this time, instead of this causing confusion, it actually lead to understanding as many people from the surrounding districts heard the message in their own native language.
We should not feel threatened by a diversity of languages and diversity within languages. Our language is a part of who we are.
I am a lover of languages. I have learnt other languages just for fun. I definitely think that people should take a pride in their own languages but they should see the beauty in other languages too.
Some people are gifted in the area of languages being able to speak more than one, some even quite a few. Other people, for many different reasons may struggle even to manage their own language and may need a lot of help. We need to make room for all of these.
My final thought: It has often been joked that God is an Englishman - of course that is preposterous nonsense - the truth is that God speaks YOUR language, whatever that language might be, and God understands and knows you completely. He knows and never misunderstands like humans, even your nearest and dearest, might do.
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