This sermon contrasts alienation and exclusion with belonging. It explores what it means to have a Common Language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiUVhFWh6NM
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“Becoming and Belonging”
by Rev. “Twinkle” Marie Manning
This message is 2 parts homily and 1 part sermon 😉
I always cry when Taps is played.
It always brings tears to my eyes,
and Emotion to my chest.
There are a great number of
patriotic music and rituals
that generate the same reactions in me.
Perhaps it was because, while American-born,
I was raised in Canada for much of my childhood.
And while for the most part we look the same,
the culture there is very different from here.
The subtleties in the language.
Even letters of the alphabet pronounced differently.
My first car, for example, was a metallic blue Zed 24!
I had assimilated my language for the most part
by the time I could buy my first car!
I’d like to say it took only a few weeks
in early elementary school
for me to grasp that our Zee was their Zed…
….yet American Sesame Street and my home environment
fully inculcated in me the alphabet as we say it here.
When I moved there, I knew what I knew.
And, it was – subjectively – wrong.
Teachers would correct.
Children would laugh.
My mind would blur in confusion.
Cognitive dissonance was real.
It often still is when it comes to language differences
here, there and other where’s.
Don’t even get me started about the letter
“H” (“Hheighhh”) – seriously!
I thought it was so cool the first time I heard it.
Then I tried it at home, and my mother didn’t think it was cool at all.
Or, how they spell many,
but not all,
of their words old-English-style,
adding in errant “u”s like decorations to various words:
Harbour
Behaviour
Colour
Honour
Favour
Flavour
Neighbour
Labour
Armour
Humour
Rumour
Everyone one of them has a “u” in Canada.
Then their is the “ue” that gets added on to words like:
Catalogue and Dialogue
There are additional “me”s added on randomly:
Programme, for example.
Inverted letter arrangements of “re” instead of “er” in:
Centre
Fibre
Metre
Litre
Sceptre
Manoeuvre
And the rare but nevertheless intrusive
“que” tagged on to ends of words,
deleting out a simple “ck”
and completely respells words like:
“Cheque”
And the occasional, but not always
change out of Z’s for S’s
Organise
Realise
For example, and entirely depended on author or even textbook year.
It truly was hard to organise thoughts
or spell and say region-specific dialects correctly
until you realised that you didn’t know what you didn’t know.
And the only was through was to
memorize the best you could.
Which they did, like us, spell “memorize” with a Zee.
Or Zed.
Spelling Bees were not my strong suit.
I struggled with pronunciation, too.
Even now, with a brain trained to do
regional mental olympics
with spelling and slight pronunciation differences…
I see a word.
Hear in my mind –
what it is supposed to sound like perfectly –
And, then, my brain-to-mouth translation
– more often than I’d like –
says something different.
These days, I just push through it….back then,
in my childhood, I was mortified.
On the regular.
And there was ample opportunity for such mortification
to make itself manifest.
We would sing their patriotic songs:
“O Canada” (in English and in French)
“God Save the Queen” (now would be King)
There were even Canadian adaptations for folk songs.
I have to say…living in a foreign culture
…especially at a young age and often feeling
out-of-the-loop – – even outcast – –
because there were simply things
I didn’t know or understand…
When a familiar tune would begin
in music class and in choir,
I would silently sigh with relief
and begin singing the words robustly that
I had known it seemed from infancy…
…..only to have the lyrics ripped out beneath
the elementary school floor I was standing on
at the sharp lyrical V in the road:
“This land is made for you and me…
From Bonavista, to Vancouver Island,
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters.…”
Mmmhhhmmm…ha..
Yeah….those when I’m robustly singing our American version at the same time the whole class and choir is singing the “correct” lyrics ….those lessons sank in instantly, even as I sank into the ground.
Apparently, Pete Seeger encouraged
The Travellers (a folk band based in Toronto)
he encouraged them to create
a Canadian version of the song claiming
Woody Guthrie (original songwriter) would like it.
I, for one, struggled.
All this to say that spending 8 hours
in a culture I didn’t understand,
with a language that sounded familiar
but was not fully the same,
that “on the regular” exchanged in their own version
of music and literature as common place,
and even frequently spoke “English” words
that exist
nowhere outside of their borders…
I played a lot of catch up as I navigated their
linguistic backroads:
((Next Part Fast))……
For instance:
It’s gonna be “slippy” out there ; dirt coming.
Make sure you pack your “pencil crayons” in your “kit bag.”
It’s snowing; put on your (tuke) toque.
Pick up a double-double for me at Timmy’s.
(Coffee with double cream and double sugar)
Just Sit and Keep Your Stick on the Ice
(be patient)
You Hoser,
Stay where you’re to
in the Parkade
My cousin has to stop
and get a Two-Four to bring to the party
(that’s a case of 24 beers)
Then we can Beat Feet, (hurry)
Up West
Eh?!
It took a minute to figure it all out.
But now, for the most part, I am bilingual in Canadian.
When I returned home in summers
to visit my grandparents
and extended family in Boston and throughout Massachusetts,
I would grasp at any and every inkling that was
U.S.A. – American!
The television in Canada would offer glimpses of it when
we were in Canada, like when
the United States anthem came on
when dad watched the Red Sox games.
Instantly, a feeling of happiness
and something akin to sadness
would enter when that song played.
On occasion, Dad’s eyes would get teary,
when the anthem came on during a game.
Now, sure, it could’ve been because,
faithful as he was to the Red Sox,
he went his whole life without them winning the series.
He even missed Game 7 in 2004 when they won against the Yankees.
But, I know he missed the U.S.
And, “The Star-Spangled Banner” brought with it
a swell of nostalgia every time for him.
And, for me.
Nostalgia – the sensation – reminds us what is important to us.
The good we remember.
The regret, too.
Both with yearning.
As time moved forward I came to understand that
Nostalgia fosters a sense of meaning
and authenticity in life;
it offers testament to our experiences.
It can serve as comfort during uncertain times.
Yet, it can also, if leaning into feelings of regret,
can manifest in difficulty adapting to
current situations or life changes.
Humans have long sought answers to what is of primary importance to us.
Some put them into categories of:
Power
Pleasure
&
Purpose
Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud determined
that a key motivation for humans
is that of seeking pleasure,
and that it is driven by
- unconscious motives,
- repressed memories,
- and unresolved childhood conflicts.
Psychotherapist, Alfred Adler,
who coined the term “inferiority complex,”
argued gaining power
is what drives human behavior
and success is attained when goal-directed.
Psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl,
comparatively concluded that the primary human drive
is not pleasure,
it is not even power,
it is meaning-centered.
He reasoned that meaning cannot be removed by external circumstances.
It can only be abandoned from within.
He promotes freedom of will, of choice:
because, while we cannot control all circumstances
we always retain the ultimate freedom
to choose our attitude and response in any given situation.
His observations stemmed from
his time in concentration camps during World War II.
He noted that those who remained psychologically intact, were the ones who maintained a sense of meaning.
Most often, this meaning, it is discovered as an awakening.
Our Christian foreparents – both Unitarian and Universalist – recognized Pentecost. Many even celebrated Pentecost.
Christians around the world still celebrate it.
In fact, many Christian congregations are celebrating Pentecost this Sunday.
The Bible’s New Testament in the Book of Acts,
records one particular Pentecost as being particularly special –
just after the death of Jesus. On the 50th day after of what we now recognize as Easter.
As the story goes,
while the apostles were praying among the people,
the Holy Spirit descended on them,
bequeathing them
the “gift of tongues.”
As with all ancient stories, over time,
History becomes legend;
Legend becomes myth.
There are various understandings in regards to
what “speaking in tongues” meant for the apostles.
My understanding is different from some
modern Pentecostal iterations:
is that this gift
allowed them to speak and understand
human languages that they had not learned but acquired solely through this gift of spirit.
Thus, overcoming language barriers
that were present for them.
This miraculous spiritual awakening of language enabled these emissaries of Christ
to be able to communicate with a wider audience
and reach the hearts and minds
of people they otherwise, and up until then, could not have.
And, it wasn’t just the leaders – the apostles – who received the gift of tongues.
All 120 people assembled received this miracle on that Day of Pentecost.
The Acts of the Apostles (and I know we rarely read from the Bible here, but I am going to today.)
The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1 verses 1-4 says:
“AND when • the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The record goes on to explain that in Jerusalem at that time there were people “from every nation under heaven.”
A diverse group gathered.
All speaking different dialects.
And, upon the sound of the Holy Spirit, that
rushing mighty wind
everyone began to hear each other
as if they were all speaking
in a mother tongue they could understand.
They were amazed – and confused.
Verse 8 of the same chapter describes their reaction,
as they said to each other,
“And how hear we,
every man in our own language wherein we were born?”
What an awakening!
Of spirit and of understanding – each other.
Now, what they actually experienced in that collective moment of ecstatic awareness we will never know.
But, as myths go, we can assess that “why”
it may have occurred
was to break down barriers
and create a sense of belonging.
More than that, the Bible asserts that there are
12 fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Namely:
Charity
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Generosity
Gentleness
Faithfulness
Modesty
Self-control
and
Virtue.
These would also have been made manifest in the receivers of the gift of tongues.
Each activated along with the blessing of understanding each other.
In a world where “othering” and “outcasting” is commonplace.
And, where confusion and misunderstanding lead to so many conflicts:
What a blessing the gift of a Common Language could be.
May we strive to embody the gifts of the spirit.
May we seek to better understand each other
in meaningful ways.
May we aspire to become
the best versions of ourselves
we can be.
Even if we misspell and mispronounce a few words along the way.
Amen.