00:00:00:00 - 00:00:15:09 Rev. Trudy Welcome to Perspectives. A podcast where the clergy women at the First United Methodist Church of San Diego share their musings on scripture, theology, and what it has to do with us. 00:00:15:11 - 00:00:37:08 Rev. Brittany Hi everyone, I'm Reverend Brittany, and welcome to another episode of Perspectives. I'm here this week with Reverend Hannah, who I've missed so much, and I'm so glad that we get to share our perspective together today. We're still in our series Becoming Better Humans. In this week, we're talking about the importance of speech and our speaking, and our text comes from the Book of Acts, Acts of the Apostles. 00:00:37:10 - 00:01:04:00 Rev. Brittany This time, though, we're going back to chapter two. So we're in Acts chapter two, verses one through 12. The story reads as follows: "When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven, like a howling of a fierce wind, filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 00:01:04:02 - 00:01:33:18 Rev. Brittany They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages, as the spirit enabled them to speak. They were pious Jews from every nation under heaven, living and dead in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone had heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, look, aren't these all the people who are look, aren't all the people who are speaking Galileans? 00:01:33:23 - 00:02:09:18 Rev. Brittany Every one of them. How then can each of them hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and other regions of Libya bordering Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. We can hear them declaring the mighty works of God in their own languages. 00:02:09:20 - 00:02:19:15 Rev. Brittany They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, what does this mean?" Hannah? What does this mean? 00:02:19:17 - 00:02:50:17 Rev. Hannah Well, I have to say that there is a lot packed in these 12 verses, lots of different regions and countries and cultures and languages. And to begin with, four verses that was packed with a lot of things going on. And I hear the word "suddenly." So, when suddenly something happens to you outside your normal experience, when suddenly something happens that you have never seen before. 00:02:51:10 - 00:03:28:12 Rev. Hannah Do you make sense of what's going on around you? That's where your reason stopped working. And there's this a lot of things going on out of blue. And people in its whirlwind have no sense of, yeah, what's going on. We often understand the Holy Spirit and the image of fire like the flaming cross in the Methodist Church and all those over 2000 stained windows, stained glasses in our sanctuary that symbolizes fire. 00:03:28:14 - 00:04:21:09 Rev. Hannah You know, all red colors. And that's why we wear red on Pentecost. But I listen to you, as I listen to you read the scripture. I heard those words "like the howling of a fierce wind" ... "What seemed to be individual flames of fire" ... "like the howling" ... "what seemed to be" is not the same as what is. There's a simile here, and I picked up from your reading that the Holy Spirit is not a wind or fire itself, but it's something like it's happening to us what wind or fire produces in us? 00:04:22:10 - 00:04:47:04 Rev. Hannah Something that we didn't expect and we react to it. So I wonder what people were thinking when this was happening. And this captures the moment, the chaotic and mysterious moment that was going on. Yeah. Because of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:47:06 - 00:05:06:04 Rev. Brittany I mean chaos, we run from often times. Right. I mean, I know I like things done in decency and in order, right. I was raised. But there comes a time where, when we are open to accepting the chaos, we might actually hear a word from God. It's kind of what I think. 00:05:06:06 - 00:05:15:20 Rev. Hannah Yes. Yeah. And there are a lot of people from all different places that I couldn't even pronounce. That's why I had you read the Scripture. 00:05:16:12 - 00:05:19:19 Rev. Brittany I don't know if I did a did us any justice, but I tried. 00:05:19:21 - 00:05:42:16 Rev. Hannah And did a whole different kinds of people speaking different languages and dialects, coming from all different places, gathering around this agricultural holiday called Festival of the Wheat. And there was something happening. Some kind of communications. Do you want to speak to that a little bit? 00:05:42:18 - 00:05:45:18 Rev. Brittany Of course. Me? Talk about communication. 00:05:45:18 - 00:05:51:09 Rev. Hannah Yes. Just kidding. You're bilingual. 00:05:51:23 - 00:06:20:03 Rev. Brittany Reverend Hannah. So, as we talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit. And you know what stuck out to me the most about this? Is that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. They spoke as the Spirit enabled them to speak. And so, when I think about the Holy Spirit and I think about this text, Pentecost, my favorite, because I love the Holy Spirit. 00:06:20:07 - 00:06:49:06 Rev. Brittany I just I think she's awesome. but when I think of that idea that the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak, it reminds me almost of like a divine Rosetta Stone that they were able to hear and understand each other. Right. That this connection happened. These words that were spoken in this, difference of understanding happened because the Holy Spirit allowed it to happen. 00:06:49:10 - 00:06:56:13 Rev. Brittany And when I think about communication, for instance, you and I come from two totally different backgrounds. 00:06:56:13 - 00:06:58:03 Rev. Hannah With some bad histories. 00:06:58:05 - 00:07:27:12 Rev. Brittany With some bad history. Because, you know, the question I asked you when we first met ... but we going to leave that one. Okay. We ain't got to tell everybody that. But, we did have this conversation right? About "tell me where you're from." And how, you know, we just started to get to know each other. And the more comfortable we became with one another, the more our professional dialect and our professional colloquialisms kind of shifted into more of personal colloquialisms that we had and cultural colloquialisms. 00:07:27:17 - 00:07:48:23 Rev. Brittany And, you know, I always talk about African American vernacular English, right? You and I have that that conversation sometimes. But we're able to communicate. I believe the way that we're able to communicate is because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Right. And when God is in our conversations, we can talk to people who come from different backgrounds. We can speak to people who come from different countries. 00:07:48:23 - 00:08:00:02 Rev. Brittany Right. And when we think about the shelter, right, our emergency migrant shelter. That was the most beautiful representation of what the Holy Spirit can do with and for us. 00:08:00:03 - 00:08:01:05 Rev. Hannah Yes. 00:08:01:06 - 00:08:18:07 Rev. Brittany If we are willing. Right. The conversations that happen, right, from people who came from Martinique and people from Colombia, and all of these conversations that occurred really based on their willingness to be in relationship with one another. Yes. Right. 00:08:18:11 - 00:08:19:19 Rev. Hannah And listening with heart. 00:08:19:19 - 00:08:42:19 Rev. Brittany And listening with the heart. And I think that to me is what this text means. They're all in one place. They're all coming from different places, but they're in this one place. And I think that when we are willing to be in the presence of one another, then we're also willing to be in the presence of God. And that translation will happen because it's really not about the language that we speak, because the universal language is love, right? 00:08:42:19 - 00:08:51:15 Rev. Brittany Yes. And everybody knows that language. And so if you're exuding that and you're giving off that love, we can communicate no matter what barriers might be in front of us. 00:08:51:17 - 00:09:22:18 Rev. Trudy Hey, it's Reverend Trudy. Thanks for tuning in for this week's Perspectives. Be sure to like, follow, and subscribe, and all those other things. You know what you have to do so that you can get the latest episode as they go live. And if you're really enjoying the conversation, I invite you to help support this ministry. You can give online at fumcsd.org/giveonline. 00:09:22:20 - 00:09:32:06 Rev. Trudy That's fumcsd.org/giveonline. Thank you. 00:09:32:07 - 00:10:07:06 Rev. Hannah And you talked about communicating with people who are coming from different language backgrounds. And when it comes to the scene of different languages, it reminds me of another scene. Yeah. The babble. Yes. People were speaking the same language and they were communicating, but they weren't sure if they understood God correctly and they wanted to reach out to the sky, to heaven, to get to meet with God and understand God better. 00:10:07:08 - 00:10:47:06 Rev. Hannah You know what happened? I do. God scattered their language and confused them and and separated them by different languages on this. Stay on this scene that you just read. It was not people reaching out to God. It was after the resurrection, after the ascension. They were depleted and they didn't have any hope. They were just withdrawn. But then that's when God came down to the people and touching each one like a tongues of fire. 00:10:48:02 - 00:11:14:20 Rev. Hannah And like a wind. Came down to the human world. And God put everyone to be in connection with each other and understand each other in their own native languages. And imagine a scene like when we meet with people, we pick up their accents and Korean accents. Japanese. I say they are Chinese. And you say. 00:11:14:20 - 00:11:15:03 Rev. Brittany I don't. 00:11:15:03 - 00:11:53:04 Rev. Hannah Know. And you say they're southern. Oh, yeah, and Bosnian and New Yorkers and all of those. Imagine the diverse backgrounds and some negative connotations associated with certain language or accents. And there might be some tensions among the people who work here. Making it difficult to communicate. But the Spirit came and they became curious about who God is and what God does, and wanted to talk to each other and listen with their heart. 00:11:53:18 - 00:12:27:17 Rev. Hannah And there were some deeper connections and understandings being formed and they learned to speak others languages. And pay attention to what others were speaking and learn from their culture and language. And that's what I liked about you, although I never told you about that. You asked questions to learn about my culture and language and try to understand my words with your heart. 00:12:27:19 - 00:13:01:01 Rev. Hannah And that's the Spirit movement. And that's the communication that happens when we are touched by the Holy Spirit. And I can say the early church and the "first church." Oh that's the Scripture! We are not the first church or some first church 20 centuries ago. Yeah. Well so diverse. Yeah. Way more diverse than we can possibly fathom in 21st century with all the globalization. 00:13:01:03 - 00:13:25:06 Rev. Hannah Right. So here you go. And Pentecost is not just a personal experience, even if it's tongues of fire touching one individuals and wind blowing into someone's heart. Their changed hearts enables them to communicate with each other deeply. 00:13:25:08 - 00:13:51:16 Rev. Brittany And the Holy Spirit doesn't come to them while they're home in their houses alone. Right. The Holy Spirit doesn't come to Peter while he's walking on the road by himself. The Holy Spirit comes when they are together, gathered together in one space, because the power of God, the power of being in a community of faith, is the fact that we're in a community, that we're doing this thing together, right? 00:13:53:11 - 00:13:54:22 Rev. Brittany You know how I feel. 00:13:54:23 - 00:14:02:00 Rev. Hannah Yes. You know how I feel about God. I knew you were going to talk about John. 00:14:02:00 - 00:14:05:21 Rev. Brittany We're talking about John Wesley, because I love him. 00:14:06:00 - 00:14:08:01 Rev. Hannah Your theological crush. 00:14:08:01 - 00:14:31:09 Rev. Brittany I love me some John Wesley. Shout out to John, the founder of Methodism, if you do not know. Anyways, John Wesley has a saying that essentially is talking about what we're saying, right? There is no holiness apart from social holiness. Right. And so that essentially what John Wesley is saying is you can't be a holy individual. It is not enough. 00:14:31:11 - 00:14:56:00 Rev. Brittany The holiness, the experience of the Holy comes when we are in relationship with one another. Right. And so being in relationship with God means being in relationship with other people. That's how our relationship with God is strengthened in community. And so while I appreciate moments of walking and having solitude and time with God, I also know that that's only one step of my journey. That my faith is in full work. 00:14:56:03 - 00:15:19:14 Rev. Brittany When I'm with other people, when I'm able to hear the hearts of another person, when I'm able to ask the questions. Right. When I'm able to live into the chaos that the Holy Spirit brings, because it's often chaotic, but it's beautiful and holy chaos, right? And in that holy chaos come holy conversations and holy relationships that are built in holy understandings, right, that are cultivated in that. 00:15:19:14 - 00:15:30:11 Rev. Brittany And when those holy understandings are cultivated, then we begin to actually see God's presence moving in and within us in the community. Yeah. 00:15:30:12 - 00:15:32:10 Rev. Hannah Yeah. 00:15:32:12 - 00:15:37:18 Rev. Brittany Someone told me that I have a powerful voice. Yes, I have a power. 00:15:37:19 - 00:15:38:05 Rev. Hannah You know. 00:15:38:11 - 00:15:52:00 Rev. Brittany And I knew exactly what that meant. You're loud. And I am. I'm powerful and I'm loud. But I take that as a badge of honor because I feel, yeah, I am loud. There's a lot to say. 00:15:52:00 - 00:15:52:17 Rev. Hannah That's a preacher. 00:15:52:22 - 00:16:01:07 Rev. Brittany It's a preacher's voice. And I hope that right. The loudness is a signal and a sign that the church is still alive. 00:16:01:09 - 00:16:04:01 Rev. Hannah Yes. Right. That we will welcome noises. 00:16:04:01 - 00:16:21:03 Rev. Brittany We'll welcome noises when I hear babies crying. Or it reminds us that the church is still alive. So when we have opportunities to meet with people and have understandings and experiences with them, and sharing where they come from, where I come from, I didn't grow up in a church where I got, I just sat and I was very quiet. 00:16:21:05 - 00:16:43:07 Rev. Brittany And we. That's. Yes. Amen. No, no, no. If it was good, you said Amen. And you got up and you shouted in the Holy Spirit, you know. And so having the experience that you didn't shout in church and that's different and that's fine. But here we are communicating. And I don't know what Trudy did in her church, but I can assure you that it wasn't the black Baptist church that I grew up in. 00:16:43:09 - 00:16:59:04 Rev. Brittany But we're able to communicate, and I think that this podcast shows us how our different, our, you know, our God uses our differences to bring us forward, to share our perspectives so that we might learn and grow together. 00:16:59:06 - 00:17:04:19 Rev. Hannah So with your loud preacher's voice, would you like to pop the questions? 00:17:04:20 - 00:17:29:19 Rev. Brittany I always like to pop and pose the questions with my loud, powerful preacher's voice. So, our first question is: Have you had experiences of the Holy Spirit while you were with other people, or mostly when you're alone? So, have you had experiences with the Holy while you were alone or with other people? The second question is: What have you learned from others who speak differently than you do? 00:17:29:21 - 00:17:57:12 Rev. Brittany And: Who do you have a hard time understanding? And who do you have a hard time listening to? We hope that you'll take some time to ponder these questions in your heart, and then you can join us for Tapestry at 11 AM on Sunday mornings. And, if you like to dive deep and have more conversations with other people, you can join us for Convergence online on Tuesdays at 6 PM or on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 AM here in Lander Hall. 00:17:57:14 - 00:18:08:07 Rev. Brittany We hope that you'll find ways to join and connect with us, and we also hope that you'll spend some time welcoming the chaos of the Holy Spirit this week. See you soon. Bye. 00:18:08:09 - 00:18:37:10 Rev. Trudy This is a production of First United Methodist Church of San Diego. 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