Japanse New-Girl Monkey Network
Tongues of Fire
"The day of Pentecost had come, and they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky what sounded like a strong, driving wind, a noise filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them flames like tongues of fire distributed among them and coming to rest on each one."
Acts 2:1-3 (Revised English Bible)
"Pentecost," said my pastor Leslie Ann this morning, "is about being empowered to speak out." And that got me thinking while I was walking home from church.
Usually when I think about Pentecost, I think about people who choose to worship by jumping around and speaking in tongues. Stuff that seems silly to me and out of place in a church, but I guess whatever floats your boat.
This week, though, instead of Holy Rollers, I started thinking about blogging. Some people might find that sacriligious, one way or the other. Some bloggers might take offense at being compared to Jesus' disciples, and some might not like the suggested parallel between an event on the liturgical calendar and people's daily lists of banal daily minutiae. But I keep going back to speaking out.
"Pentecost," as far as my limited New Testament understanding allows, is a word that simply means the fiftieth, and signifies the 50th day after Easter. Almost two months had gone by, and (if you don't believe in Christianity, fair enough, but just for funsies, play along with me here and try to imagine) this amazing thing had just happened to Christ's disciples. They just saw this person they loved and admired die in a really horrible way-- but wait, he didn't die-- how weird is that? "But nobody knew how to talk about it," said Leslie Ann. Until the miracle of Pentacost.
Nobody knew how to talk about it. Humanity's history is full of nobody knowing how to talk about things, things as small as every day miracles, hopes and pain and loves and fears. And blogging is like our collective Pentacost. Suddenly, we are speaking in tongues, to people who are at the furthest reaches our respective worlds. Maybe not different literal languages, but new languages of everyday, of vulnerability, of experimentation, of personal knowledge, of voice. Some people mock us and say we are just drunk. But we know, we know. Tongues of fire. Jeneane, Chris, Mike, Elaine, Gary, Marek. Passionate outbursts. Empowered to speak. Tongues of fire.
{ link me }