In the course of my schooling career, I took 3 foreign language classes. I took 1 year of Spanish in high school; I took 1 semester of Italian at Illinois State University; and I took 2 semesters of Greek at Lincoln Christian University. I recently gave a sermon on the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 where we are told of the spread of people around the world and how God gave out numerous languages to the people to confuse their communication.
I had the pleasure of going to Mexico in July with Matt Alessandrini and a group from Western Hills Church of Christ in the Cincinnati area. Now, in case you didn’t know this, they don’t speak English in Mexico. They speak Spanish, which is very different from English. Language was a real barrier in trying to communicate with non-English speakers. We couldn’t just tell them what we wanted. We needed someone to translate our words into words they would understand. We were certainly blessed with some great translators in Mexico, which enabled us to do quite a bit. It wasn’t without some missteps, however.
The pastor at the church we were staying at and working at was Gariel. I’m not going to lie, for the first 4-5 days we were there, I thought his name was Gabriel, and I was really confused as to why we called him Gary for short. I eventually figured it out. But Gariel didn’t speak very much English, so it was difficult for me to really communicate with him. A perfect example of this is that on one of the days we were there, relatively early in the week, we received word that one of our vans that broke down on our journey there was fixed and ready to be picked up. It was about 20 minutes from Villa Union. I got recruited to go and pick it up. Gary was going to drive us over. On the way to his car, he asked me if I knew how to drive a manual. I told him no and asked if the van was a manual, to which he responded, “yes.” So on the 20 minute drive over, I’m trying to learn from him how to shift and drive a manual vehicle. His car was a manual, so I was watching his feet a lot to see how he shifted and all that. I figured I could catch on real quick. So when we got to the van, I hopped in the driver’s seat and quickly started trying to figure out where everything was, only to discover it was an automatic, much to my relief. In retrospect, I think Gary thought I asked if his car was a manual. After we got back, one of the guys in our group pointed out that Gary was probably very confused as to why I was looking at his feet so much on the 20 minute drive over to get the van. All of that panic just because of a minor misunderstanding. I can’t say for certain, but I’m sure that wasn’t the only misunderstanding that happened that week due to the language barrier.
But while it was frustrating not being able to communicate in my native language of English, VBS showed me more clearly than ever that language is not the only way, or perhaps even the best way to communicate with one another. We had about 120 kids Monday-Wednesday for our VBS and then around 180 kids on Thursday, our last day. Now, most of those kids didn’t speak English. Even though they didn’t speak English, they understood one thing: Love. For 4 days, we got the opportunity to show these kids the love of God which transcends language unlike anything in all creation. We got to laugh with them and play games with them and worship with them. Love and joy are universal, and that was on full display that week as we shared Jesus with those kids, and their parents, as some of their parents stayed for their own small group, which was led by the worship leader, who only spoke Spanish.
Going to a different country where they speak a foreign language is scary for a lot of people. I was nervous about it. But God’s family is one that speaks all kinds of languages and who live in different countries all around the globe. Revelation 7 tells of a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language. And they were all crying out the same thing, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Whether we speak English, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, or whatever other language you can think of, God’s love speaks to all, impacts all, and his salvation saves all. I look forward to the day when I get to heaven to worship with men and women from all different cultures who speak all sorts of different languages, all to the glory of the Father. But until that day comes, we are called to speak the universal language that has changed more hearts than I could imagine, and that language is the unconditional love of God.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. -Colossians 3:9-12 (NIV)
