October 04, 2026
• Rev. Dr. Rob Fuquay
St. Luke’s UMC
October 4, 2026
World Communion Sunday
Love One Another (Kindness Campaign)
“Loving in a Divided World”
Genesis 11:1,4-8; Acts 2:1-4
Two identical twin sisters were born on July 4, 1918. They were named Pauline Esther and Esther Pauline probably to confuse people even more! They were exceptionally close. They did and shared everything. In college they were roommates. They started a gossip column that was printed in the campus newspaper. When they got married, they made it a double ceremony! These sisters were close!
Then in 1955, Esther won a contest to take over the established Ask Ann Landers (Picture of both women) column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Shortly after, Pauline started a competing advice column in the San Francisco Chronicle under the pen name, Abigail Van Buren. She called it Dear Abby (Abigail Van Buren).
Esther felt betrayed, believing her sister was trying to copycat her success. Soon, the inseparable sisters became competing rivals. Pauline allegedly offered Dear Abby to their hometown paper, the Sioux City Journal, at a discounted rate on the condition that they drop Ann Landers.
The sisters stopped speaking for years, communicating only through occasional barbs and insults. Now think about this: America’s two most popular advice columns, read by tens of millions seeking help with relationship problems, were written by sisters bitterly divided from each other. Can you say ironic?
They eventually tried to make peace, basically agreeing not to trade insults anymore but also not able to return to the closeness they once had.
Could that be a description of current day America? People who were once close getting bitterly divided with each other mainly over politics? People who shared much in common now don’t speak. People who encouraged each other now tear each other down.
Alexandra Hudson says in her book, The Soul of Civility:
When politics is the primary lens through which we view the world—when our own political beliefs are the most important things in our lives—it makes it easier to dehumanize those who disagree with us, and to justify cutting people out of our lives and out of society…The result of too much politics is our modern public discourse, and a deteriorating public and private life. Friends are cutting off friends, and family members are cutting off one another over political differences. (pp337-338)
How did we get here?
Well, we aren’t the first to ask that question. Go all the way back to the start of civilization and you find people who are united becoming divided. This is what the biblical writers point out with the Tower of Babel story. There was a time, said the writer, that people all spoke the same language, but what united them in a deeper way was a common fear. People feared not being great; being scattered across the earth; being vulnerable, dependent…human.
So, “They said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 11:3-4)
That’s kind of a funny thought. “Make a name for ourselves.” If they are the only people on earth, just what does that mean? But, hey, at least they aren’t fighting each other or talking about whether we should have mail-in ballots. They are getting along, until
God gets involved. God said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” (v.6) So God confused their language so they couldn’t understand each other, and they became scattered over all the face of the earth.
Now I recognize this presents some disturbing images of God, that God is jealous, insecure and maybe even capricious, enough so, at least, to feel threatened by human ability and unity. But this is a good place to remember that not all scripture is written to describe God. It’s also written to describe humanity, and this is one of those occasions. This story was written much later in human history, at a time when people could probably see the fallacy of human technology and ingenuity. While much of human creations can be good, they also have a dangerous side. Technology can be turned into instruments of war or divisions between haves and have nots. People saw what happens when human beings start focusing on their greatness. They probably saw families that used to be very close until one member felt the need to be important. TYhey probably saw societies that got caught up in using their greatness as a reason to conquer others.
So rather than responding to this story by asking, “What is wrong with you God?” early readers would have said, “Thank God! Thank you God for saving us from ourselves.”
And so begins the story, God’s great story of rescuing humanity from our greatness impulses. It’s a story of God constantly getting involved in the stuff of human affairs to rescue us from what happens when we try to make our name great. It is a story that leads all the way to God coming in person in the form of his Son, Jesus, who came to show us what greatness looks like. And when his own followers got into an argument one time over who is the greatest, reminding us how hard it is to get rid of this greatness instinct, Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to be great among you, must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26)
Jesus disturbed our greatness instinct. And after he was crucified and resurrected and ascended into heaven, he left his work with his followers. But first, they must wait in Jerusalem until they receive the help they need. And on the Day of Pentecost that help came in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Because Pentecost was a Jewish pilgrimage festival, people came from many different countries, speaking their own separate languages. Suddenly there was the sound of a mighty wind. And then tongues of fire resting on each disciple. People in the city came to see what was going on. And what did they find?
The disciples began telling the story of God’s love for humanity in all the languages of the people gathered there. They told about God’s mighty acts in a way that other people could get it. In other words, what happened at Babel was reversed. God empowered these ordinary, uneducated followers, to speak people’s languages and bridge the divides between them.
And what we se here is God’s mission for the church—to unite people, to bring people together, to speak other people’s language. You never know where you might experience that hope.
The other day Pastor Mindie went to a unique coffee shop on Mass Ave. It’s called Niyyah. The word is Arabic for intention. As it says on their website, “It's our intention to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere where people of all backgrounds can come together…” What is unique about this coffee shop is that it is the only deaf-owned business in Indianapolis. So there’s no loud music playing. It’s silent. There are signs that teach sign language. There’s a video monitor that offers a lesson of the day.
When you order, you’re encouraged to try to order in sign. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but the baristas create an atmosphere that says, “that’s okay.” You can’t make a mistake. Don’t worry about being embarrassed. You will be helped. You are helped to speak someone’s language.
That’s what the Holy Spirit does. God helps us to speak other people’s language, and language of course goes beyond words. There’s emotional languages. There’s love languages. Language is simply a way to help people feel understood.
How might we speak the language of others?
15% of the population of greater Indianapolis is Hispanic or Latino. What if we offered more bilingual experiences at St. Luke’s? Spanish language bulletins. Maybe even songs or hymns occasionally in Spanish? Just something that lets our neighbors know we see you and you belong here.
Nearly 1/3 of our population is African-American. 4% is Asian. What are other ways we can help people know they belong here? Perhaps the foods we serve? Maybe those of us in the dominant culture learning what can be unintended deterrence.
This is why the church was created, to be used by God to bridge the divides of our world. Not to focus on our greatness, but to give greatness away. To make others feel understood and welcomed and important.
Maya Angelo quote
My friend, James Howell, is senior pastor of Myers Park UMC in Charlotte. In one of his blogs he tells about the harmony project, you can learn more at harmonyproject.com. The director David Brown puts on concerts but not with choirs of professional musicians watched by people listening to others’ greatness. Instead he goes to places and tacks up signs around town inviting people to come sing in a concert. He creates choirs out of these random groups. He invites anyone—passers-by, the checkout guy, the waitress. All kinds of people show up, old, young, white, black, conservative, liberal. They sing—together. And the joy and fun people have is palpable.
But music is just the connector. The powerful piece is the relationships that get formed and how those relationships change people. One example he tells is about their painting group. One ex-offender, teenager named Diego, joined in painting a mural on a building to bring beauty to others. Then, David Brown brought Tom, a significant philanthropist and politician in the community to pain with him. He just introduced them and walked away.
A few hours later, Tom came to him and said, “Who is that guy, Diego? Hearing his story made me realize we have to support funding for arts in the prisons. It’s too important.”
Closing…show video when Rob calls for it.