June/July Newsletter article reflecting on how God speaks to us in the language of love
God’s Native Language
“Today
the lost are found in His translation.
Whose
mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.”
From Sonnet for
Pentecost Malcolm Guite
We are very fortunate that our ‘mother tongue’ our ‘native language’
is recognised as one of the worldwide universal languages, when we travel we
can almost always find someone who speaks our language. But this is not true for vast numbers of
people. This is a fact that the story of the Disciples in Acts at Pentecost
brings into stark reality, as the Holy Spirit coming upon them enables them to
speak the good news to people in their ‘native tongues’. Yet in our world so
many people have been damaged and traumatised by being forced to abandon their
language and by the resulting impact upon them culturally.
Some classic examples of this:
In the US,
“In April, 1917, the United
States declared war on Germany. In addition to sending troops to fight in
Europe, Americans waged war on the language of the enemy at home. German was
the second most commonly-spoken language in America, and banning it seemed the
way to stop German spies cold.”
And after Culloden,
“Their culture was
demolished, their native language - Gaelic - was banned and marked as a hanging
offence if spoken, the wearing of tartan was also made a hanging offence and
even the Bible was not allowed to be learnt in their own language, never mind
written”
And sadly the list could go on and on producing a culture of
assimilation and dominance that has repercussions for centuries.
What you may wonder has this to do with the church, with our faith
as Christians? The story from Acts tells it all. God send the Holy Spirit so
that his people can be spoken to in their own tongues, in the depths of their
hearts in a language they fully understand and identify with. And God’s native
language? well I think that is clear, he doesn’t speak in Hebrew, Latin, Greek
or English these are human constructs, but he does speak to all nations in his
own language in one language only ‘the language of love’ his ‘mother tongue is
love’ for every nation.
Love for you, love for me. Love for the whole of his creation.
With blessing to you all
Liz Baker
May 2016
