One language, The Holy Spirit
Have you ever learned a second language? I have been learning English, French, and Japanese. Even though I can speak English only nowadays, I know it’s hard and challenging to learn a different language. I complained to God sometimes when it’s hard to learn English. “Why did you separate so many languages?” To speak different languages is connected to having different cultures. When we know the different cultures we can learn that language fully. Even though we speak the same languages, we have different cultures, still, it’s hard to communicate like a new couple after marriage, a new generation with teenage children. However, I had a great experience that even though we had different cultures and languages, we had the same language, the Holy Spirit, we could still communicate on the Cambodia mission trip, the first Anglican church in Dalton, and at the beginning of Houlton and Hodgdon ministry. It was powerful and wonderful to speak a different language in one language, the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, many people spoke different languages. There was a woman who spoke demon language once, there was a disciple who spoke “I don’t know Jesus” three times, There was another disciple who couldn’t say anything and fled naked, and there were so many people who spoke different languages, but they didn’t know what language they spoke. God divided tongues for them to show they had been speaking different languages. However, it was not the same before they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit became their one language they felt they were one. That was prophesied in Joel, and God kept His promises! In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!
* 6.7-10.23 New England Annual Conference
Photo by Rev. Yunki Kim
While I had been at the annual conference, Friday morning prayer time was the one of best moments for me. Especially when 14 churches were disaffiliated on Thursday night, we all hurt, were struggled, and exhausted. However, 4 different languages (Korean, Tongan, Kannada, and Tagalog) were spoken in one language, the Holy Spirit, and many people join the prayer in their own languages. Bishop Peggy Johnson joined with sign language, too! I felt Pentecost
strongly! It was my first experience listening to so many languages as Tongsung
Kido. I will never forget the moment.
I would like to introduce “Tongsung Kido”. It’s one way to pray in the Book of Discipline. It’s a unique Korean prayer. Tongsung means to cry out together loudly in unison, and Kido means prayer in Korean. It’s simultaneous prayer out loud in Pentecostal style, and practice of praying one’s own prayers aloud at the same time as others. It’s passionately, spontaneously, disorderly in the middle of chaos or out of desperation, cry for help like the Israelites in Egypt (Exodus 2:23-25) or in the battle (1 Chronicles 5:20) This prayer has a strong connection with the idea of “HAN” a term used an unresolved resentment or emotional pain that is carried by a person.
There are many factors people, especially Korean people have “HAN” I am sure that one of the reasons is the war. Today is 73 anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War which resulted in the deaths of about 3 million North and South Korean, including civilians, about 500,000 Chinese soldiers, and about 50,000 American and UM forces. There will be a large-scale rally for the 70 anniversary of an armistice agreement this July 27, 2023, in Washington DC with 22 UN forces who participated in the Korean War. The UMC has consistently adopted resolutions for peace on the Korean Peninsula at every General Assembly since 1988 for replacing the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a Peace Treaty. Please pray for peace in Korea.
I would like to invite you to write down your prayers on the blank under the title Our prayers for our churches, New England Conference, UMC, and the whole world for unity and peace. Frankly, it was hard for me to have peace in my mind after the children started the vacation. Still, I am struggling with LGBTQ issues. I am grieving about the separation of churches, and some churches don’t have pastors, especially 8 churches in our district. When we cry out to God He will answer, and He fills us with one language, the Holy Spirit.
Now I would like to invite all of us to pray out loud. There are 5 languages spoken in this room; French, Korean, Tagalog, Spanish, and English. When I start to read “The Lord's Prayer” in English, please join the prayer in English. After reading the Lord’s prayer, please read your own prayers out loud. May God let us feel the day of Pentecost here and now.
The Lord's Prayer in Korean 주기도문
- Han Family
하늘에 계신 우리 아버지여
이름이 거룩히 여김을 받으시오며
오늘날 우리에게 일용할 양식을 주옵시고
우리를 시험에 들게 하지 마옵시고,
영원히 있사옵나이다. 아멘.
- The Laurence Family
Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
Que ton nom soit sanctifié,
Que ton règne vienne,
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences Comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation, mais délivre-nous du
mal, car c'est à toi qu'appartiennent le règne, la puissance et
la gloire, aux siècles des siècles. Amen.
– Lydia Han
Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos
Santificado sea tu Nombre Venga tu reino
Hágase tu voluntad En la tierra como en el cielo
Danos hoy el pan de este día y perdona nuestras
deudas como nosotros perdonamos nuestros
deudores y no nos dejes caer en la tentación sino
que líbranos del malo. Amen.
– Linda Meraya
Ama namin, sumasalangit Ka
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