For those who enjoy British humor, I highly recommend comedian Diane Morgan, best known for portraying the fictional and gloriously dim-witted journalist Philomena Cunk. To the uninitiated, she can seem alarmingly real. Her specialty is interviewing legitimate experts who often appear blissfully unaware that they are being gently lured into absurdity. The result? Brilliant “mockumentaries.”

One of Morgan’s productions takes aim at arguably the greatest wordsmith in the English language: William Shakespeare. Depending on the source, the writer is credited with introducing or popularizing somewhere between 1,700 and 3,000 words and phrases in English.

In Cunk on Shakespeare, Philomena awkwardly critiques the master writer with her usual misplaced confidence. She mangles the famous Hamlet line, “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” reworking it into something like: “To be or not to be… or not to be… that it is not.”

She also questions Shakespeare’s educational rigor, observing, “School in Shakespeare’s day was vastly different to our own. In fact, it was far easier because he didn’t have to study Shakespeare.”

That perfectly clueless charm brings us to another Shakespearean phrase: “It’s Greek to me.” The line comes from Julius Caesar and has become shorthand for something utterly incomprehensible.

Which brings us—naturally, of course—to Pentecost.

This Sunday, we celebrate the dramatic arrival of the Holy Spirit, descending upon the disciples like tongues of fire in the Book of Acts. Empowered by the Spirit, they begin speaking in various languages so that pilgrims from across the known world hear the good news in their own native tongues.

And yet… many were still confused.

So yes, Greek may very well have been among the languages heard that day, but apparently even hearing your own language doesn’t guarantee understanding!

This Sunday, May 24, at 9:30 AM, our Pentecost worship at St. John’s will feature Scripture proclaimed in multiple languages, including Italian, Hebrew, German, and Spanish.

It may not be Greek to you.

But either way, you’ll get the Spirit.

Blessings,

Pastor Marc