Heere Odda Hilldidda Hildhiruhah

It's not Pentecost, but waste not-want not


Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

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A bow bow

Heere odda hilldidda hildhiruhah
Juuuyr adda hilldadida jigguwah
Hieere odda hittomamma jizzowazzah
Hoow bawlda hillowowa howahwah
Heere odda hilldeninne hilldennine
Hiiire odda hillimoney hilluwowahwah
Dwiire odda higgunama shuppobup
Deare odda hildumama hithuivha
Peurr onna hillimona hillduwiva

"Rubber Biscuit" by Johnson and Adam R. Levy, recorded by The Blues Brothers on "Briefcase Full of Blues"

Speaking other languages, this is what many consider the primary sign of the Pentecost. Sure enough on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell upon their place like a rush of violent wind and divided tongues appeared on them with one tongue resting upon each of them. What a day this must have been.

It must have been a very frightening day. Tornadoes have been vicious this spring all over the Eastern United States. Wild fires have burned enough land in West Texas to be visible from space. People romanticize the Pentecost when it must have been very, very frightening. Wind and fire would have been known to the Hebrews living in the Holy Land and they would have known them as a dangerous combination. Tornadoes, fires, we say how glorious this was, but for the men in the room it must have been a holy terror.

Many today say the benchmark of the Pentecost was the giving of the gift of tongues, the ability to speak in other languages. The purpose of this gift was to allow the disciples to take the Word of God to people from other cultures. It was a spontaneous gift. It was also created so that the person who heard the tongue heard it either as gibberish or in their native language. It was a way to take the word to cultures that had not heard it before.

We are lucky in our time. Because of folks like Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Gideons, the word is being spread to people all over the world in their native tongue. Folks at Google and Microsoft, among many, have software that allows translation the written word (not nuanced, but still translated). In this way, the written word continues to have its own version of the gift of tongues.

In his discourse on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Paul implores us to seek the greater gifts of God. In this respect, as for the gift of tongues perhaps it is best to seek this gift to share the Word of God with other. And given the differences between peoples here at home, perhaps the tongues we need to seek to speak are all in our native tongue. This is how we speak truth to the powerful and the oppressed, to old and young, and to rich and poor.