speaking in tongues... and the language of love

I played the Bible game this morning... sometimes it really amazes me. The Bible fell open to a passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul is writing about speaking in unknown tongues... the charismatic gift of verbal prayer in an unrecognizable language. Paul defines the gift, ranks it, and then offers a discourse on the pros and cons of this type of religious language. What fascinates me is how this passage coincides with a discussion our worship committee is having (again) about language used in worship. Which pronouns do we use... are we slipping in our vigilance to root out all offensive language in hymns and Bible passages... how do we honor the different voices and accents and languages of the soul in our community? Must we always use only inclusive language or is there a place to read the words from our history... King James Version... Greek version... Hebrew version... Cotton Patch version... Good News Version... Revised Standard Version... Paul nails it, as he often does, to my dismay. I would rather dismiss him as a male supremacist but I can’t, dadgum it!
He begins by saying "Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts"... first things first... pursue love... chase it down and hold it fast while you work on your spiritual gifts. If you don’t have love for God, for your companions on the journey, for yourself, there is no hope of acquiring your highest spiritual gifts.
This one really punches my buttons. After our journey through the wilderness of living with Baptist religious fundamentalism, I am acutely aware of language that requires orthodoxy of any kind before I can be accepted and affirmed. In our congregation we are often in the middle of a discussion of acceptable language and theology. It makes me laugh sometimes when I watch us be open and affirming of other very different religious traditions and language... bring on the Muslims, Jews, Pagans, Ba’hai and Hindu...then see how we struggle to find a common descriptive language for ourselves when we are more alike than not. The key to the use of unknown tongues... Lord, Father, Master, Goddess, Mother, Savior, Buddha... is first of all love... not judgement or even affirmation... just love.
Paul goes on to say "Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? It is the same with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played... If I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me".
Here it is... unless we know each others’ stories and voices and language... where do you come from... who were and are your people... where are you going... where have you been... the language can never be correct enough to be understood. We are searching for the language of the heart... the language of the Holy... listening for the sound of Love coming among us like a rushing wind, blowing all our differences away and helping us see each other as we really are... children of the Spirit all needing the same God, whatever names we use to describe the Infinite Loving One who holds us in arms of tender, loving care.