Who Needs Tongues of Fire? We have Rosetta Stone!

Every so often I turn on PBS just to justify my hours in front of the TV so I can say I watch things “educational.” On one particular evening, I turned on a documentary called “Scenes from a Parish,” which chronicled the attempts of a Catholic parish in Lawrence, MA to accommodate a population shift in its congregation from being primarily Anglo-American to a mixture of Anglo and Latin-American Catholics.
One thing that surprised me was the negative reaction the priest got when he tried to incorporate Spanish into some of the services. This is probably evidence that I am becoming more and more Texan. In San Antonio, you are hard pressed to find a Catholic Church that does NOT incorporate Spanish into some or all of its services and, if you go to the South Side of San Antonio, there are many churches (both Catholic and Protestant) that hold services in Spanish exclusively. To give you an example, the Catholic parish near my new home has four or five masses each week, of those only one is in English. Also, it doesn’t really fit with the stories we here in the Bible, much like the Pentecost where tongues of fire would touch people and they could understand everyone else. To be frank, if fire came from the sky and touched me, my first thought would not be “wow I can understand all these people.!” but “where’s the fire-extinguisher?”
Language is often an issue in our every day lives because it serves as something that can separate us from other people. Debates continue over the topic of bilingual education, being able to speak another language fluently becomes an increasingly marketable skill, and anyone who has traveled to a place and does not speak the language knows that it can be frustrating at times. That is probably why language plays such an important role in many evangelist’s training, there are even groups dedicated to translating the Bible into all the worlds languages. Furthermore, language is rarely something that is black and white. When KFC tried to market their restaurants in China, the mistranslated their slogan: “Finger Licking Good” so the Chinese slogan said, “Eat your Fingers.”
In looking for Biblical examples about what to do about language or anything else that divides us, I came upon Paul’s poetic words in Galatians 3:38: “There is neither Jew nor Greek…” Although Paul was quite the wordsmith, I must confess I find many of his writings too lofty and an example of how idealized people can sound if not talking to someone face to face (Why do you think I keep a BLOG?).
About now is when we ask that question: “What Would Jesus Do?” I honestly don’t like this question and prefer to ask: “what DID Jesus do?” Jesus did not focus on people’s differences, he focused on the things that we had in common. Many of the aspects of his ministry focused on common needs and concerns everyone has such as Food, Healing, Water, and (most importantly) the need for the support of others.
In 1974, the swami Srila Prabhupada who is known as the founder of the Hare Krishna movement saw a group of children fighting with dogs over scraps of food. This scene disturbed him (as it probably would many of us) and he told his disciples that no one within ten miles of a temple should go hungry. This mandate became the foundation for what is now Food for Life Global, a ministry of the Hare Krishnas that has helped people all over the world during times of crisis and every day someone doesn’t have enough to eat. The case of FFL, I think, is very illustrative of the power of our similarities over our differences. Food For Life has made an impact in places so diverse as Pakistan, Chechnya, New Orleans, Poland, and Nicaragua. As you may guess, Krishna Consciousness isn’t something widely popular or well known in these regions, but the simple of act of provided food in times of need has helped bridge that gap.
Therefore, I think I would like everyone to take one thing with them when reading this posting, instead of looking at people in terms of how different they are, try to see what you have in common with them and build on that foundation.