you're speaking my language

I am home from yet another choir rehearsal that makes me very, very bitter at the people in Genesis who thought the Tower of Babel was a good idea.

Remember that?  The Bible tells us that at this particular time, the whole earth had one language, and the same words (Gen. 11:1).  Over time, the people decided to build a city and a tower that would "make a name for themselves."  In other words, they wanted to bring glory to themselves and their accomplishments.  They wanted to be like God. 

And that did not go well with the Lord.

Ultimately, God confused the people and their language, so that they could not understand each other's speech (v. 7).

In Colla Voce, we regularly delve into musical lyrics that are written in languages foreign to me.  Latin, French, German, Italian, Slavic.  They're all (un)fair game.

It's frustrating in the beginning, when the words on the page mean nothing, and when you can sense the native speakers around the world collectively cringe.

I regularly feel the curse of the Tower of Babel.

But God is so gracious to slip me subtle reminders, even while I'm banging my head against the wall, repeating over and over the Slavic texts of Psalm 103.

See, the Holy Spirit is the universal language of believers.  But not everyone understands it.  It's frustrating, and foreign, and it makes people crazy while they learn to discern what it sounds like.

I'd be wise to remember that.  I was there once, struggling and learning to recognize the language that although I've come to know, I still wrestle mightily with from time to time.

And there's more.

In choir when we are fortunate enough to sing a piece in English, (and you can believe I do a happy dance), I'm reminded that the pronunciations of words in my native language are sometimes even harder than those of a foreign language.  We take it for granted that we all know the language.  We're lackadaisical in our execution of our native language.

And that's bad news, because did you know, that if all the voices don't sing the words with exactly the same diction, it is impossible to sing in tune?

It's why we spend hours perfecting our vowels, especially in English.  Aligning our voices to each other.  Otherwise, it's a lost cause.

Is that resonating with you?

As believers, too often we take for granted what we know as the language of the Spirit -- it should be, after all, familiar and recognizeable to us -- but we're just plain lazy when it comes to using it.

We might just barely be off in our execution, but we are severely out of tune with God and with his voice.

As it goes in Colla Voce, even when we're speaking a language that we use every day, we have to be intentional in its execution.  We have to work at alignment and diction.

We can't afford to take the Spirit's language lightly.  Too much is at stake.