Speaking in Other Languages with Amy

Speaking in Other Languages

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Acts 2: 2)

Liturgy is life. Worship is life. Any time that you and I are living in a moment of deep awareness of our connectivity to God and to our neighbor - love of God and love of neighbor - we are at worship.

I don't know about you, but for me as someone who leads public worship on Sunday mornings, I can too easily forget this fact - life itself as an act of worship.

I am reading a collection of prayers, liturgies, blessings, laments, and hymns created by communities all over the world and shared by the Methodist church. When I read and pray with a psalm or a liturgy of baptism or a prayer for healing adapted or created by a particular community in the Philippines or Malawi or Myanmar or India, I am reminded of the Oneness in the Spirit that God intends for God's people. It is powerful.

This Sunday each of us are invited to say the Lord's Prayer together in different languages at the Eucharist. Perhaps you would like to learn the Lord's Prayer in Spanish or Korean, perhaps you would like to say the Lord's Prayer in the language of your ancestors, perhaps you would like to say the Lord's Prayer in English. Whatever you choose, I hope you find the blessing of knowing that all God's people in all times and places all over the globe are one, as Jesus and the Father are one.

Where do you experience worship today in your life? Listen for the Spirit at work in those around you. Amen.

Source: May You Stand and Raise Your Head - a blessing adapted from Liturgies From Below. 462 Acts of Worship: Praying with People at the Ends of the World. Claudio Carvalhaes, ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2020. p. 60.