From that experience, or your own, you can probably identify some answers drive religious people crazy: Santa, gifts, Elf on the Shelf, and so on. They will shout – it’s about Jesus!
You can also probably identify some answers religious people would love. Jesus is the reason for the season. A saviour was born. God is with us.
You can see how polarizing Christmas can be! It is a religious occasion that is solemn, deep and meaningful, and yet it is also a cultural reality with rampant consumerism, time with family, funny traditions and oddities like eggnog and mistletoe.
You might think Chiristmas shouldn’t be polarizing, and that this is a new reality. But Christmas and its effect on the world was polarizing not just today, but 2000 years ago. We’ll see how later this week.
Question: How much of Christmas do you think is religious, and how much is cultural? How much Santa, how much Jesus?
Reminder: We have a great Christmas event coming December 14th, 2013: The Original Christmas Party. Hope you’re coming!
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What was the meaning of all this about Jesus’ followers speaking different languages or “tongues”?
It was a sign that the impossible mission they’d been sent to accomplish was actually possible.
I love to rock climb, and I used to pride myself on never needing chalk. I considered myself a good climber with just my hands, and sweat never seemed to make me slip off holds.
One day, as I struggled on what felt like an impossible climb, a friend insisted I put some chalk on my fingers. I immediately realize what I’d been missing – I could actually do what seemed impossible if I put down my pride and got a little extra help from some chalk.
If Jesus’ followers try to spread the good news on their own, they will flail about like me on a difficult climb. They simply don’t have the skills, the numbers, the power to reach the entire world with this message.
Think of the number of languages spoken, the various cultural norms to learn, the geography to consider.
But with the Spirit of Jesus living in them, speaking through them, acting through them, they could and they did. There are 2 billion people in the world now claiming to be Christians.
One web site offers a film about Jesus in 1200 languages.
This was all evident in how the disciples began to speak in other languages, they never even knew. People remarked that this was unlikely, since they were Galileans – not considered refined and educated people - with an accent that made it difficult to speak other languages. One of those big barriers, language, was already being dismantled by the Spirit of God speaking through them.
In a world with lots of barriers, how refreshing is it to see the Spirit of God taking some down? His good news about Jesus is for everyone, who speaks every language, from every nation. Christianity is not meant to divide people, but rather it’s good news God uses to transform each and every culture, each and every nation, each and every individual.
Question: Luke never says what the people were saying as they spoke these other languages – what do you think the Holy Spirit would have said through them?
