Learning from the Stranger
within the Body of Christ

Sermon by Jeanette Hanson
May 30, 2010 (Pentecost)

Some people have asked me how long it took me to learn Chinese.  I say I will let them know when I do! Mandarin is my working language but I work with very patient people! 

To begin with, Mandarin is a tonal language so you first have to hear the subtle differences between words like Ma and Ma.  Ma means mother.  Ma means horse.  Or words like songshu, evergreen, and songshu, squirrel.  Then you have to spend hours figuring out the intricacies of every character and all the strokes that go into making a character. 

I have to admit, though, if I had to choose between Chinese or English grammar, I would take Chinese.  Our students slave over English grammar and spelling rules only to realize that much of the time these “rules” have exceptions. 

Learning a language is a slow, painful process.  It is a process full of mistakes and trouble.  This is true even of children much more of adults!  Our daughter Claire grew up with two languages simultaneously.  In her first few years these languages were totally mixed up in her speech.  She was best understood by people whom could speak both Chinese and English. 

Language learning and teaching have consumed the best part of the last 20 years of our lives so it isn’t surprising that I’m drawn to the story of the miracle of languages at Pentecost.    This day of Pentecost begins with the disciples gathered as they had been in the days since the Resurrection.  Then the unexpected happens, the sound of rushing wind, a vision of flames resting on them.  When they were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak in many languages.  There is a long list – about 14 languages!  They cover most of the known world at that time.  

People were amazed and astonished, bewildered.  It blew their minds. Everyone heard about the power of God in their own languages. 

But why this miracle of languages?

Pilgrims to Jerusalem would have spoken either Greek or Aramaic common in Jerusalem at the time. 

Peter preached afterwards and we don’t hear about the multiple languages at that time, only that 3000 believed, so why the multi-lingual miracle?  What does it mean? 

I think there probably were many reasons.  One was to get people’s attention and it certainly accomplished that!  Perhaps another was to show how this Gospel, begun in Galilee, would sweep the world.  Our presence here today is testimony of that truth! 
God reaches out to us in the languages of our hearts.   For some of you a German hymn can speak to your heart like no other hymn.  For others reading Scripture in Korean has much more depth of meaning.  After we had been in China for 2 years we gathered with other foreign teachers at a church in eastern China whose choir treated us to selections of Handel’s Messiah in English.  I’m not sure they expected the response as 80 weeping foreigners rose to give them a standing ovation.  God speaks to our hearts in our heart languages – no matter who we are. 

Another message that this miracle gives is a little unexpected. 

The Holy Spirit comes in power with signs of this power – fire, wind, and then  . . . languages?    But this is not the conquering power, the power of oppression, where you are forced to learn my language and do things my way.  This is the power of the upside-down Kingdom of God.  This is the power to speak, to hear and to understand.  This is the power to hear anew across lines of difference.  This is the power to love one’s neighbour as oneself.  Holy Spirit Baptism means the end of superior attitudes, the end of racial boundaries, cultural boundaries, family boundaries.  But how do we genuinely love our neighbours? 

David Smith, in his book Learning from the Stranger – Christian Faith and Cultural Diversity, says, “Learning from the stranger is a necessary component of genuinely loving one’s neighbour.” This goes far beyond pity for the needy or the learning necessary for preparing for missions.  As we open ourselves to what the strangers have to say, we may also find that the knowledge we have about the world, the way we have made sense of the world may be changed.  If we always look at the world from one perspective, stepping outside that perspective can be terrifying, and life changing. 
This is what was happening at Pentecost.  Jesus had already upset the carefully constructed social norms of the day.  Into the pure genealogies of Jewish families Jesus threw Samaritans, tax collectors, the poor, the blind, the lame, women!  The clue to this mixed-up view came early as both shepherds and kings visited the manger. 
People sit up and take notice when people reach beyond divisions.  The early church reflected this changed worldview.  Greek and Hebrew, Jew and Samaritan, Gentiles, all praying together.  No wonder the early church stories in Acts are so exciting as people notice this Body of Christ, a group like never before.

But is this unique to Jesus’ teaching and to the Body of Christ? 

There are many examples of this reaching across boundaries outside of the church in organizations, peace-building efforts. In our daughters’ school in Burnaby alone there are more than 14 languages represented. 

David Smith writes, “As contact grows, so does the opportunity for both good and evil, both blessing and curse.”  In China some of the most vocal anti-Western voices come from those who have spent years studying in the West.  We see many examples of this – perhaps even in our own lives and attitudes.  How do I deal with people in my life who are different?  Am I able to learn from those very different from myself?  Can I allow myself to be taught and blessed by those outside my usual circle of friends and family? 

I believe the Body of Christ is a place where we not only cross boundaries of race and culture but also find a way of interacting in which we learn from each other and complete each other. 

Andrew Wells writes, “In Ephesians, the metaphor of the body shows each of the culture specific segments as necessary to the body but as incomplete in itself.  Only in Christ does completion, fullness, dwell.  And Christ’s completion, as we have seen, comes from all humanity, from the translation of the life of Jesus into the lifeways of all the world’s cultures and subcultures through history.  None of us can reach Christ’s completeness on our own.  We need each other’s vision to correct, enlarge, and focus our own; only together are we complete in Christ.”

In the book China’s New Nationalism the author concludes that the only hope for the world is making a new “we” within “us and them”.  He uses this story to illustrate:
American bombs ripped through the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia in 1999, killing four Chinese journalists.  Anti-American protests erupted across China.  American teachers were told to stay in their apartments to avoid trouble.  One young teacher, Annarie, defied the order and went to class.  Her students were mourning, and some were shouting in protest.  Annarie stood at the front of the class with arms open and said, “I am so sorry.  Please forgive us.” The class was silent, tears poured down faces as both the students and Annarie confessed to their part in a violent and hateful world.  They talked of hope for peace, for finding ways beyond conflict.  One of the students present that day wrote a letter to the editor of the very same national paper that had lost the 4 journalists in the bombing.  This letter was published and read nation-wide as a beacon of hope that we can go beyond the violent rhetoric of “us and them” to a new “we”.

The teacher in this story is a Mennonite teacher from the States.  It isn’t easy to reach beyond our comfort zone, to learn from those very different from ourselves.  It is unglamorous with very slow steps. For Annarie that moment didn’t just happen, it was part of years of getting up every morning and going to class, spending time with students, allowing herself to learn, to change and to let God’s love flow through her to her students. 

It takes humility to admit that foreign “others” are neighbours that I need. It takes compassion given and received recognizing our mutual vulnerability. It takes a life of loving God so wholeheartedly that cherished boundaries are redrawn.  It takes the power of the Spirit.  The Body of Christ is the new “we” between “us and them”. 

Kaz Enomoto is a Japanese pastor and teacher.  He is the director of the Tokyo Anabaptist Centre.  He works with Japanese Mennonite churches. He has a young family and a busy schedule.  He speaks English fluently.  Kaz is also learning Korean.  It is hard work.  It isn’t practical.  There is no reason Kaz needs to speak Korean for his life and work.  He explained why at a conference of Asian church leaders.  Because of the way Japan treated Korea and China in history there are many grievances in Asia toward Japan.  Even within the church those grievances are difficult to deal with.  Kaz could use English as a common language to build bridges but he said to the group gathered, “I am learning Korean to ask you, my brothers and sisters, to forgive us.  Because without your forgiveness, without you, my salvation is not complete.”  The Korean and Chinese pastors interrupted the conference to embrace Kaz with tears and expressions of forgiveness and love, and we experienced again the miracle of the languages.  

As the Spirit came down on the group gathered at Pentecost Peter was prompted to speak from the prophet Joel.  He proclaims that sons and daughters, young and old, slave and free shall all dream and prophesy.  In fact, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!  May God’s Spirit pour this power on us so that all may experience the wonder of being part of the Body of Christ. 

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