Vox Dei // Rev. Matt Kennedy // June 8 2025

Recent decades of brain research has discovered something fascinating: learning a new language can literally rewire your neural pathways. Language is elemental to our thoughts. How we speak influences how we think. So while smart-phones might offer new tools for instant translation, communicating across different languages can still leave us struggling to understand one another. On a biological and neurological level, different cultures can literally experience the world in different ways.This discovery illuminates one of the miracles that took place on the day we call Pentecost. Fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus the disciples experienced a mighty rushing wind,  "something like tongues of fire", and the phenomenon of dozens of different nationalities suddenly hearing each other speak in their own language (Acts 2:1-21). Pentecost tells us there is no "language of heaven", but rather the voice of God speaks every language.As our congregation thinks critically about how we will thrive in an increasingly multi-ethnic world that is 21st century America, the day of Pentecost is a good place to ponder a deep theological truth: The diversity of humanity is not a bug, it's a feature. The gospel calls us to unity that is not uniformity. A oneness that doesn't erase our distinctiveness but by way of contrast makes God's work in the world even more beautiful.