Our scriptures for Sunday are Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21. Looking at them side by side, there are contrasts and similarities. Notably, the Genesis reading ends in a united people scattered and the Acts passage ends with a scattered people united. Or you may notice that one is about homogeneity (Genesis) and the other about diversity (Acts). Maybe you’ve noticed the people’s swelled up pride in Genesis. Or maybe when you read Acts, you noticed that this is the beginning of the Church.
However, I think an element in both of these passages that must be lifted up is fear. The people in Genesis 11 were afraid to be scattered (dispersed), so they built a tower. They were afraid of losing control. They were content to stay in their bubble. In Acts, there are people afraid of the movement of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who brings multiple groups together from different languages AND everyone is able to understand the words from the Apostles as if they heard them in their own language. Yet, the group of fear mongers are so adamantly against what they see that they mock the others as drunkards!
Fear is powerful. Fear, unfortunately, drives too much of what we do. We fear the unknown. We fear losing control. We fear people who are different. And in many cases, we act out of fear. Sometimes that surfaces as building our own Towers of Babel or mocking others who are following the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Fear not, friends! God conquers our fear. The Spirit acts in gentleness AND drives us to venture in unknown territories. The Spirit calms our fearful souls and quickly moves us to Godly action. While it is certainly natural to be uncertain about the ways the Spirit may be leading us, we can rest assured that God has blazed the path for us and we are called to follow in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christ’s Peace,
Pastor T. Wes