The Presbyterian Outlook

News and Articles from the The Presbyterian Outlook

Register Login Donate Subscribe

Top Search/Contact Area

  • Be A Fan

  • Follow Us

  • Photos

  • Pin It!

    • Home
      • About us
      • Advertise with the Outlook
      • Submissions
    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Editor’s viewpoints
      • What’s right?
      • About People
      • Calendar Check
    • News +
      Current Affairs
      • Outlook Reporting
      • Presbyterian News Service
      • Religion News Service
      • News from other sources
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
      • Benedictory
      • Guest commentary
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Those with ears to hear (music reviews)
      • He/She Said
      • Movie Reviews
    • Ministry Resources
      • Outlook Standard Lessons
      • Outlook Horizons Studies
      • Looking into the lectionary
      • Bulletin Inserts
      • Webinars
      • Hymns
    • Outpost Blog
    • Classifieds
      • Classified advertising

    The church speaks in tongues

    May 18, 2018 by Andrew Taylor-Troutman Leave a Comment

    Guest commentary by Andrew Taylor-Troutman

    The church speaks in tongues.

    I know you immediately think of what’s known as glossolalia, the strange utterance of an unknown language made famous by Pentecostals. But all churches speak many languages.

    There is the Hello!-How-do-you-do? chit-chat in parking lots, whether paved or gravel, which are rhythmic exchanges between friends and strangers. This tongue spreads into the pews. (Hopefully, not during the prelude!) Perhaps topics such as sports are batted around. Surely the finer points of whether it has rained too much or too little are discussed. And– if we are honest – there is also gossip.Originally, the word was godsibb, which meant God and kin (like a sibling). But gossip has come to mean slander and the Bible warns against this speech for reasons painfully clear to anyone who has ever been shamed by a Christian brother or sister.

    Two of the holiest words from our tongues are: I’m sorry. Also: Help me.

    Yes, all churches speak in many tongues. There is the monotone of corporate prayer, its measured, somber (sometimes sleepy) cadence. Sometimes the speech uttered is the King James, which, verily, verily, is but a tongue unto itself thus saith I.

    And you never know what will come out of the mouths of children! Some of it is glossolalia, needing the interpretation of a loved one. Other times, children are so honest that, like a tongue of fire, their words burn away our pretentions and anxieties. A child of our church named River asked why I do not invite everyone to sit on the floor during the children’s time.

    “River” reminds me of the church’s language of water — how we are invited to lose ourselves through submergence into the Whole, only to emerge and breathe anew.

    But why do I not invite everyone to sit on the floor during children’s time? River’s question also reminds me of another tongue: the body’s aches and pains, its creaky joints and groaning backs. The New Testament was written in Greek, the same tongue spoken by your pulmonary cardiologist’s diagnostics for pathologies like mesothelioma. Arthritis and neuropathy are of the Greek tongue, along with agape and koinonia.

    Mass used to be sung in Latin. At Christmas, many English-speaking churches carol Stille Nacht. The bold attempt Swahili; more often, we try and fit the spirituals in our mouths. Music is a tongue capable of more meaning than you can almost bear.

    Amazement and awe, bewilderment and bafflement — a breathless Wow is a tongue of the church. Anne Lamott shares this very word is a contraction of “I vow!” And a gentleman from Germany I knew in my childhood church used to say, “Vow, look at zis” when something excited him in the Bible, like the idea that people from all corners of the world could not only understand one another, but do so peacefully. Peace that is not merely the absence of violence but a wholeness, a completeness, a harmony of hearts. Shalomin Hebrew, Salaamin Arabic, “Jerusalem” sounds like peace.

    Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, was found in the mouth of Jesus, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. We find the city that guns down unarmed protesters with Uzis. If the truth is not spoken in love, then the church is silent before the injustices of this world.

    So, grief is another tongue of the church. Lament is the mother tongue of Israel:

    O my son, Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!

    How deserted lies the city, that was once so full of people!

    My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?

    Jesus wept. And the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words, the tongues of creation groaning. Long ago, a wild-eyed prophet exclaimed: You shall see visions, you shall dream dreams! The sun shall turn to darkness and the moon to blood! Then, another was caught up in the Spirit and commanded to speak to dem dry bones, so those who had been slain would be resurrected to new life. Mary Oliver prophesies for the church when she says “the sun was the best preacher ever” for morning by morning new mercies I see.

    The church speaks in many, many tongues!

    Whoever speaks in church this Sunday, whether from pew or pulpit, is likely to be wearing red. Red ties and red dresses; red hats and red stoles. When my wife was ordained, she wore shiny red heels. She was eight-months-fully-pregnant and laughed with her head thrown way back in joy. The joke was that our son was ordained in utero.

    We absorb into our very blood and being the many, many tongues of the church — including what is not said. Yes, the church is complicit in its silence before injustices all around the world and those right outside our doors. But, here in church, there is the unspoken verb of broken bread. And, here, there is the dip and drip into the common cup. Right here, there are words of institution and the invitation to every person! For the Spirit is poured out upon all flesh.

    Even if the church doesn’t speak for you, may something here speak to you. And the only thing left to be said is Amen.

    Andrew Taylor-Troutman is pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church, a congregation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and has a certificate in narrative healthcare. His recent essays have been published online at Mockingbird and his poetry at Bearings. He and his wife, Ginny, have three children.

    ShareShare on Facebook
    Facebook
    Tweet about this on Twitter
    Twitter
    Email to someone
    email
    Tagged With: Pentecost

    Commentary Tags: More News - Homepage/ Pentecost

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Related Posts

    • A Czech Visitor Looks at the PC(USA)

      The mission-partner-in-residence, as the job developed for me, is an itinerant, wandering preacher and presenter. In the period of one year I have traveled more than 28,000 miles by air and approximately an additional 2,500 miles by land. I preached, taught and spoke in 14 states in more than 20…

    • The Pathway to Partnership

      However, another significant document was approved at the 212th General Assembly, a policy statement of the Worldwide Ministries Division entitled "Presbyterians Do Mission in Partnership." Partnership is intrinsic to God's trinitarian nature and incarnational mission. We participate in God's mission in partnership with God, with partner churches and agencies around…

    • John 3:16 and the Prodigal: (The Gospel and the Gospel)

      For centuries the Latin tradition has called the famous parable of the compassionate father (i.e., the Prodigal Son) Evangelium in Evangelio (the Gospel within the Gospel). Thus should not "the Gospel" (Luke 15) agree with "the Gospel" (John 3:16)? That is, shouldn’t the summaries of John and Paul agree with…

    Current Issue

    • February 11, 2019
    • January 21, 2019
    • January 7, 2019
    • December 17, 2018
    • Subscribe
    • Give a Gift
    • Read Online
    • Most Commented
    • Most Popular
    • PC(USA), A Corporation: Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask Confused, confused, confused. So many say they are confused by the octopus-like discussions involving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) corporate structure. (Others...
    • Vision before structure: Presbyterian Mission Agency Board scrutinizes recommendations from other groups CINCINNATI – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board is considering asking the 2018 General Assembly to take the next two years...
    • Presbyterian leaders clarify what’s at stake in debates over restructuring LOUISVILLE – While no blazing agreement was reached, participants in an April 8-9 conversation regarding the corporate structure of the...
    • Prayer for Pittsburgh Lord, we know your power, your promises and your presence, but on days like today when your chosen people are...
    • 2018 GA bulletin inserts What happened at the 223rd General Assembly? Post-GA bulletin inserts What will they hear? Who will tell them? Give your church members...
    • 2017 PC(USA) membership statistics released The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) continues to lose members — with a decline of 67,714 members and the loss of 147...

    Keep the Faith

    Sign Up for Updates and Breaking News in your inbox

    Facebook

    Tweets by presoutlook
    Follow Us

    View Stories From

    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Calendar Check
      • About People
        • Anniversaries
        • Ordinations
        • Retired
        • Deaths
        • Transitions
      • Archives
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Movie Reviews
      • He/She Said
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
        • For Church Leaders
        • Faith Matters
        • Multichannel Church Report
        • #amen
        • Commentary
        • Benedictory
      • Liturgical Year
        • Advent
        • Lent

    The Latest:

    Pope demands ‘concrete’ response to abuse crisis at Vatican summit

    February 21, 2019

    Church of England’s synod takes on Brexit divisions as zero hour approaches

    February 21, 2019

    PC(USA) leaders advocate for change for migrant families

    February 21, 2019

  • Tweet With Us
  • Be A Facebook Fan
  • Our World in Photos
  • Pin With Us
  • CONTACT US:

    1 N. 5th St., Suite 500

    Richmond, VA 23219

    T: 800-446-6008F: 804-353-6369

    [email protected]

    Or ▶ Fill Out Our Contact Form

    © Copyright 2019 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website Design by Poka Yoke Design

    • About us
    • Presbyterian Hub
    • Ministry Resources
    • Classifieds
    • Advertise with the Outlook
    • Submissions
    7ads6x98y