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Friends United Meeting |
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Quaker Life
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| Valiant for Truth | Contents |
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By Patricia Edwards-Konic Communication. When you hear the word “communication,” what images come to your mind? Is it parents and children talking, teens huddled together at the mall, your pastor preaching or teachers teaching? Or is your image one of technology? Computers and the internet, cell phones and text messaging, TV news or even print newspapers and magazines? All of these images and more are bundled together under “communication,” one of the four priorities of FUM. For the Christian church, communication began at Pentecost, the event when the Holy Spirit descended upon those gathered in the Upper Room. (Acts 2:1-7) Eric H.F. Law calls it the “miracle of communication” which involves two other miracles: the “miracle of the tongue” and the “miracle of the ear.” The “miracle of the tongue” has been the focus of my preaching and all others I’ve heard. The way I understood it was that once the Holy Spirit descended, those gathered began to speak in tongues which were really just other known languages. Somehow I missed verses 7 and 8: “And they were amazed and wondered, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?’” The multitudes knew the Galileans were speaking their own language but they were hearing their own language. This “miracle of the ear,” of listening and receiving information in a format that is easily understood, is as essential to communication as the “miracle of the tongue.” Since reading this article, Pentecost: Miracle of Ear and Tongue” in The Other Side, I have been pondering the implications for communication of the gospel message in the 21st century. The disciples of Jesus should have been in hiding, fearful of persecution and death like their leader. Yet, despite their powerless status, they were given the power to proclaim the good news through the Holy Spirit. In their weakness, they found strength to speak out—“the miracle of the tongue was for the powerless.” The Jews from many nations who were not at risk for persecution could be seen as the powerful, those of importance. To them was given the “miracle of the ear,” the gift of listening and understanding. The miracle of communication from Pentecost challenges us all. For those in power, we must learn to stop doing and start being; to stop trying to fix the problems but instead to listen and receive. For others, they must through their faith find the power to endure and speak the truth. Both approaches must be taken simultaneously for both groups to meet on equal ground. For the priority of communication to function among FUM Friends, we must take seriously these two miracles of tongue and ear in order to find the whole of communication. We must open ourselves equally to speak and to hear on a daily basis in order to communicate the wonderful story of Jesus to the 21st world. It may take a number of differing forms from personal interaction to using technology. But in the end, the miracles of tongue and ear will move us toward the vision of the miracle of communication found at Pentecost. |
8 Quakers in the
News: 10
Margaret Fell: Still Stirring Up Trouble in 2005 12 Risking Reality--Honest,
Humble and Transparent Communication 13 Entering the Quaker
Blogosphere _______________________________ 4 Commitments 4 News from Friends United Meeting 16 Soul Food 17 News 20 Peace Notes 22 Reviews 26 Passages 28 Classifieds 30 Meeting Directory 33 Friends United
Meeting 34 Viewpoints 35 Centering
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