Love’s Story – In Every Language!

Recently Susan and I visited New Zealand and one of the places we enjoyed was the Sky Tower in 
Auckland. It is a 328 metre communications tower that offers a tourist experience of restaurant, café and 
observation decks high in the sky – a 360 degree view of the city, the harbour and surrounding region. 
There are also thrill-seeker activities – a walk around the observation decks… As I read the stories of the 
tower and its significance, I recognised a humble pride in the building of this tower. The tower transformed 
the city in both its skyline and self-understanding. There came with it a new confidence and sense of 
Auckland being an international city and tourist destination.
The tower was the tallest human structure in the Southern Hemisphere until 2022 and is the 28th tallest 
building in the world. As I read about other such towers and the comparisons made, many are accompanied 
by arrogant pride, a sense of outdoing other cities and glorying in the might, power, wealth and the capacity 
of particular nations, leaders or corporations. In many there is a sense of building something bigger than 
another city, outdoing them and proving that we are stronger, better etc than others. There is a sense of 
idolising these structures that symbolise raw power, control and might – greatness. In the many corporate 
and residential towers around the world there is a sense of the elite rising to the top, occupying the grandest, 
highest, best spaces and looking down upon others and the cities below that they believe they control. 
Donald Trump has his tower, his golf course and other edifices, boldly inscribed with his name, to honour 
him and his ‘greatness.’
As I pondered these stories I read another story this week – Genesis 11:1-9 – the so-called ‘Tower of 
Babel’ story from the primeval history of the Hebrew people. In it humans are described as gathering around 
a single voice, and acting together according to this voice, this one mind. They build a city with as tower 
into the heavens, the realm of the gods, to become like God. The story shifts to the heavenly counsel, where 
God recognises that humans are capable of great things, for good or evil, when there is one mind, one voice. 
These people are seeking to be in control, to be powerful and mighty in their own right, and to rise beyond 
their understanding or capacity. In this wonderful story, God confuses language and disperses people across 
the world.
This wonderful story has meant many different things to the many hearers over the centuries. For some, 
this has been an explanation of the rise of different language and cultures. For others it is about punishment 
when we get out of line or thwart God – we can’t be like God… For me, it speaks into our world where 
particular people, sometimes nations, control the story, the narrative under which people operate. The one 
mind is controlled by one voice who dictates what is true and false and seeks to control people through 
story and life, usually with violence. I look at the USA in this moment, where Trump seeks to control the 
narrative, his fiction and storytelling, his abusive actions and his seeking god-like status and adulation. 
Trump tries to silence differing or dissenting voices. Media are excluded, people are deported or arrested, 
others lose their jobs and there are Presidential rulings, pronouncements and irrational rhetoric seeking to 
control, dominate and be accepted as almost divine. Putin and other leaders across the world (Xi Jining, 
Kim Jong Un…) are even more brutal and controlling of the narrative. Putin has dissenting voices arrested, 
murdered, silenced. He controls the media and the narrative. China controls the flow of internet information 
in and out, the mind of people, and North Korea even more-so. This is the story of Babel’s Tower into the 
heavens where humans control the mind and voice and seek god-like status. 
In the story, God issues another way, where there is diversity of voice, language, culture and experience
and where the aim is to live together in community that is inclusive and life-giving. Such community is one 
where there is equality within the diversity and each voice offers something different out of their experience
and life, their unique perspective.
This is reflected in many other stories throughout the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, especially in 
another story from this week, that comes from Luke’s 2nd volume (Acts 2:1-20). It is the story of the Festival 
of Shavuot, Pentecost in the Greek, after Jesus was executed and raised into new being and life. Pentecost 
comes 50 days (7 weeks) after Passover and has celebrated different things in Jewish faith and life, for 
example, the receiving of the law on Mt Sinai or giving thanksgiving to God for the first harvest. 
In this story, the followers of Jesus were in Jerusalem waiting for the next thing God would do. They 
were told to wait for the Spirit, and they gathered to pray, read scriptures and wait. As they were praying 
together on the Day of Pentecost, Luke tells a fabulous story. Sound like rushing wind filled the room and 
Reflection Notes – 8/6/25
Pentecost Sunday – Geoff Stevenson
something like tongues of fire seemed to fall on the people. Each was filled with joy and wonder and spoke 
the good news of God’s grace and love in all the languages of their world. The many pilgrims gathered in 
Jerusalem from across the Empire, heard this good news in their own tongue. There were a range of 
responses to this outbreak of joyous proclamation. Some heard and were moved to join the group. Others 
heard them babbling on, presuming them to be drunk. 
Finally, Peter, he of ‘denial’ fame who had proven himself weak and afraid, stood before the gathered 
crowd of pilgrims and declared they were not drunk but filled with the Spirit of God. He spoke of his own 
experience of grace and love through Jesus. He drew on the Jewish prophets, especially Joel, to give 
substance and meaning to this event – this was of God! He courageously told the story of Jesus, of their 
own transformation through resurrection experiences and their openness to the power of God revealed as 
love. The other followers were equally courageous and began to live out this faith and way of Jesus. No 
longer afraid or confused, they had a purpose and life – to share God’s love and grace in the world. This is 
a story of Love proclaimed in many languages, so all the world could gather around this story and hear it, 
engage it and experience it through their own language and culture. Whilst there is one story, it has many 
forms and each person’s experience will vary and contribute to the whole. There are many voices who 
engage this story and live it, share it and trust it’s power to transform and bring new life to the world.
Whilst the story has often been constricted and controlled by powerful people and it has been used to 
restrict, exclude, judge and demonise, this is not the story of Jesus. The true story has no ownership – it 
belongs to God but is entrusted to people as we engage, experience, grow and share the life it offers. It is a 
story that opens us up and builds bridges of hope and life in the world and resists violence, hatred and 
greed. It is a story of reconciliation in the world, between people and people, people and creation, and 
people and God. It is a story of Love that is for all people and is told in every language and culture.