“Money speaks all languages”, according to an old saying, though maybe money now goes – without saying…
English is the world’s most used first or second language, thanks to international business, technology and navigation.
Yet while most of us can recognise two languages – English and bad – some people and some countries are multilingual.
At multilingual Zurich airport back in 2022, four of us could only see signs in French, German or Italian, and none in English, for there is no actual Swiss language.
Reaching our connecting flight became a little awkward, and more awkward after we were all somehow separated.
Still, through a minor miracle, we reached the departure gate, just in time.
As an employment counselor, before training for ministry, I discovered a new language – of medicine – when I was promoted to assist people with widely diverse disabilities.
I enjoyed the work, though medical dictionaries could be challenging whenever they defined medical conditions by using unfamiliar medical terms.
Knowing a language will build our communication and shortcuts like slang or jargon can help, but unless we explain their meanings, we may shut people out.
For centuries, God’s name was an unpronounceable shortcut – YHWH.
It was meant to emphasise his holiness, but it sadly emphasised a spiritual gap between him and the world he had made.
This gap fed fears that seeing angels, or God’s messengers, could trigger instant death or long-term misery.
Jesus stepped into our world to reveal God’s language of absolute love, inviting people to follow him in the confidence that God understands how we tick.
He shut no one out, plunging into the deepest levels of human misery to release healing and hope, and he offered his life to bridge the fear-filled spiritual gap forever.
His teaching still liberates our minds and clarifies our values and relationships, and his love can reach us wherever we are.
As we respond to his love, we may grow with him towards our potential and towards bringing out the best in the people around us.
This love also distracts us from blindly pursuing goals that are unworthy at best, for he can see the negative effects these goals could have for us and for our world.
He also understands the language of our deepest pain and our highest hopes.
And he can even release changes we could never anticipate in the challenges that we find hard to understand.
Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you, inviting you to explore God’s love
