So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel-because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.  (Genesis 11:8-9)

Language is one of the God-given skills that set humans apart from other creatures.

Most people's language skills are sufficient to satisfy at least their basic needs. A few are fortunate enough to have an extraordinary gift for language.

We describe some individuals as language-gifted because they command their native tongue so well that they can evoke emotion in others. We call other individuals language-gifted because of their ability to learn new languages.

Often, people suggest that immigrants who don't know the language of their adopted country are simply lazy. I recognize that people who make this claim usually don't have a formal background in language acquisition, and so I can forgive them for perhaps not understanding that God has placed some constraints on the brain that make learning language different from learning mathematics or memorizing rote facts.

One of these constraints appears during our teens in a time that language researchers call the critical period. Researchers don't know exactly why, but they've noticed that language learning becomes more difficult during this period in one's life..

Someone who hasn't started learning a second language by their mid-teens is likely to learn it much slower than a child would and will probably always have an accent and imperfect grammar. This isn't just my opinion: It's something language acquisitionists have observed for years through careful scientific study. As I mentioned, a few people have a true God-given gift for language that helps them to compensate for this God-conceived constraint more easily than others, but scientists don't really know for certain what this talent is or whether it is something one just "has" or something one can acquire.

Other researchers have suggested that language learning efforts in general are more successful when people have opportunities to practice it through real, social interaction. This kind of interaction could be a loving parent reading to a child for a few minutes every day, or it could be someone interacting with an immigrant neighbor to offer a helping hand, ask how they are doing, or just say hello..

The corollary of this is, of course, when we exclude people instead of treating them as neighbors, we actually make it less likely that they'll learn our language.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for all of your gifts that make us human. Help us to remember that your kingdom has no official language. Help us to see that you called upon each of us to use our individual strengths to fill our roles in your plan. Help us to love our neighbors in our communities, who are also just trying to make their way in your world, no matter what language they speak or where they come from. Amen.

Contributed by Jeff
Sunday October 26, 2008
Liturgical Year A Week 48
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 30 (Proper 25)
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost