In Woody Allen’s classic movie, “Annie Hall,” there’s a scene where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are talking, and as they speak, captions appear showing what they are really thinking. Woody says, “Is that your photography inside?” But he’s thinking, “You are a great looking girl.” Diane says, “I’d really like to take a serious photography course,” but she’s thinking, “He probably thinks I’m a yo-yo.”
And it goes on from there. They both are obviously trying to impress one another, but can’t bring themselves to directly express their intentions.
We’re not always able to express what we’re really thinking, or how we really feel about something or someone, and what we say doesn’t always reflect what we really mean. The result is that we often feel misunderstood.
Today we celebrate Pentecost, which is really a miracle of communication. As Jewish believers from all over the known world are gathered in Jerusalem for the holy days, Jesus’ disciples find themselves overcome by wind and fire, and able to communicate to the crowd in languages that they could all understand. The crowd is stunned.
It ought not to be difficult for people to know that they are welcomed and included in God’s unconditional love. It ought to be, like it is in today’s first reading, obvious and amazing.
“They were astounded,” says the Acts of the Apostles, “and in amazement they asked, ‘Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?’”
I have a friend who liked to say, “If you’re rich, God will come to you in a Cadillac. If you’re poor, God will come to you on the city bus.” His point is that God will come to us in ways to which we can relate. God will speak to us in our own verbal and nonverbal languages.
Why? Because God is not trying to hide from us or to make it difficult for us to believe. God wants us to experience His love.
Jesus, of course, is the ultimate example of God’s desire to bridge the gap between humans and God. In Christ, God fully enters our world, speaks our language, and expresses God’s love in simple, direct and powerful terms. The Holy Spirit, descending on Jesus’ disciples at Pentecost, makes it clear that this divine ministry will continue, as all are able to see the power of the Gospel, and understand its message, in their own languages.
This is good news for all of us, of course. While it doesn’t always seem like it, God is still present to us in ways that we can experience and understand. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of inclusion, embracing people in their own languages and in ways they can understand. We are called to do the same in our own Christian communities.
It ought not to be difficult for people to know that they are welcomed and included in God’s unconditional love. It ought to be, like it is in today’s first reading, obvious and amazing.
The disciples share the fire that they feel. It ought to be that way for us. We need to ask ourselves, once in a while, if we are feeling that wind and fire, and that experience of God’s love. We can’t share what we are not experiencing.
Bill Peatman writes from Napa. He may be reached at [email protected].
