Good morning All Saints, blessed Pentecost!
Continuing with theme of unity from last week, I wanted to expand on this conversation for Pentecost. As dutiful Episcopalians, we have read about Pentecost. No surprise here, this is where the Holy Spirit moved amongst the people, and different languages were spoken, yet the same message was heard. During this time, it shocked everyone, clearly, everyone had been drinking, right? God creates the opportunity for us to seek out our differences, yet also our similarities, and to not feel lost in this journey.
At that time of the first Pentecost, several languages were spoken in the region known as Jerusalem. Now, we have many more languages that have evolved, from the languages that were spoken after the Tower of Babel, to the first Pentecost, to the present day in 2025, there has been an exponential growth in languages and cultures that have spread across the globe.
Today, according to Google, we have approximately 7,159 languages. Now, of course, some of these are dialects of more prevalent languages. And so forth. There are variations and threads of Native languages among the First Nations, and some have sadly become extinct. This language concept is fascinating if you think about it.
One of my classmates in Seminary holds a PhD in ancient Greek. He shared that he could read the New Testament. Silly me, when I first met him, I thought, ‘Oh, I would love to learn Greek maybe you can teach me.’ Then he had to elaborate that the Greek we have today is not the same as the Greek we had 2,000 years ago. The evolution of languages, the evolution of us, it doesn’t just start with the English language, right? Sadly, the evolution of languages can also have us lose languages and cultural traditions, too.
How many other varieties of things do we have in the world that also might be lost unless we preserve them? We know there are over 7,000 languages, but how many different types of rice there was on the global scale. I was not shocked when I discovered there are 40,000 types of rice and 94 types of apples. I was curious on how many ethnicities are there in the world? (Yes, I love going down rabbit holes.)
The number of ethnic groups in the world can range from 13,000 to 24,000. The CIA lists ethnicities broken down by country, and it’s a doozy. And sometimes we get ethnicity confused with race, ethnicity is more cultural & geographic, race is physical characteristics. I took a class a couple of weeks ago, and it asked the question about the genetics of human beings.
We might assume that those of us with a European background and descent share similar genes, as opposed to our sisters and brothers in Asia or First Nation populations in Australia. We are all very similar, genetically; in fact, only one in 1,000 gene sequences differs compared to fruit flies, where their variations are one in 50 genetically. Yes, fruit flies are more genetically diverse than humans.
Did you know that we have seed preservation efforts to find & conserve seeds in the event of extinction of some species? Think about that, we have scientists gathering seeds to ensure that our food supply doesn’t lose its va-rit ial diversity.
Now that I’ve got your attention with all this science talk on a Sunday morning, isn’t it beautiful how God created all these variations of food in the world? Isn’t it beautiful that humans are genetically more alike than fruit flies? Wouldn’t it be amazing to try all 92 types of apples? Speaking of food. Do I have any Indian food lovers in the house? I love Indian food. The flavors, the colors, the spices, it’s so exciting! I tell you, once I had Indian food, even Thai food seemed too plain to me; it was too bland! And don’t even get me started on how to compare pizza with Indian food.
And isn’t that the beauty of our world? What if everyone liked pizza or everyone liked Indian food? Some of us would prefer the same schedule, the same food, and the same vacations. Some of us would prefer different flavors, new experiences. Personally, I am still looking forward to skydiving for my 50th birthday in a few years!
What is beautiful is that God made us all uniquely, perfectly imperfect.
What if, in God‘s omnipotent wisdom, we have thousands of varieties of rice, dozens of varieties of apples, thousands of ethnicities, and languages? But we could agree on one thing: that God is love. Therefore, we are to love everything God created, which includes loving one another.
God asks us to have the same message, through the diversity of different languages. Through the various flavors, yet we all share common ancestors. Poetic biblical imagery, as seen in the Adam and Eve story, and scientifically, Lucy, discovered in the 1970s, walked this planet 32,000 years ago. We as humans, have most certainly evolved and have lost some of our traits, like the use of our appendix. I guess we can stand to lose that organ.
Yet, we share the same common ancestor. We also share ways to sustain life (along with our two- and four-legged friends). We all need water, food for nourishment, and sleep to thrive. We are interconnected and interdependent on one another. When we feel lost, all we need is love, right…according to the Beatles and Jesus.
All we need to eachother, according to Jesus’ New Commandment of loving God and loving one another. We know this not only from stories in the Bible, but also from scientific studies that prove that connection is the cure. The longest study on happiness conducted at Harvard showed that it isn’t the money or success you have in life, but rather the people you walk life with. They studied well-to-do men at Harvard, and men who grew up in rougher parts of society. Some rose to the top of the social and career ladder, while others fell downward.
Happiness doesn’t derive from where you were born, nor necessarily from the family you were born into; it is the deep relationships and well-being that you establish with the people in your inner circle. The question is, how does a person nurture those deep relationships?
One can argue that maybe all we need is spiritual nourishment to sustain these deep relationships. God helps us to create this nourishment of all the many blessings that God has provided for us, which not only gives us spiritual nourishment but also the food we eat. We don’t need to form bonds with our sisters and brothers only here at church; we also find deep connections outside of these walls. Sometimes our flock might be lost, because well, let’s be honest, life can be hard! Having a deep connection with each other helps us not feel lost.
Sometimes we don’t all speak the same language (of liking the same foods, the same TV shows, or even the places we worship), but that doesn’t mean we can’t hold space with one another to shape and form those deep bonds. What we might lose, we get to help bring it back to life through love.
We are called upon to understand one another, have faith, love, compassion, and shared fortitude towards justice, to live out God’s directive that God will be a savior of all nations. If we get tripped up on these concepts, Jesus showed us the way with his actions & his parables. The Samaritan woman at the well, the Prodical Son, the good Samaritan on the road.
He commanded his Apostles to take the message to the world. We are to find the lost sheep, the sheep outside the fold. We aim to help the most marginalized, those who are often left outside the margins. Jesus implores us to invite everyone to the banquet table, not just those that speak the same language as us. And let us not ever forget that we are all, all of us, all means all, are created in the image of God.
Let’s bring in the BCP to help guide as to close in prayer on page 40
7. For the Diversity of Races and Cultures
O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Christina Cernansky