Introduction.. The famous Roman Empire, which flourished over 2,000 years ago, was successful in no small part because it nurtured, even mandated, a sense of unity. It did this by: pushing Greek as the common language of the empire; building a system of roads that all led to Rome; and developing Rome’s political and cultural buildings in a way that made that city the superior centerpiece of the empire. For example, Rome was home to the Circus Maximus, the famous oval-shaped track used primarily for horse and chariot racing, with an incredible 300,000 seats, including special ones for the Emperor, senators, and those who financially backed the races. Rome’s future, however, was foreshadowed by disasters at Circus Maximus, which was twice destroyed by fire, and the seats of which collapsed on at least two occasions, killing many people. Rome itself was eventually overrun, and the empire collapsed in the middle part of the first millennium.

Move 1.. Though attempts at unity sometimes fail, people have come together for common visions for thousands of years. Human being have come together to make big plans, to map out unified agendas.

Just a few weeks ago, at the Circus Maximus in fact, celebrities from Israel, Palestine and Pakistan joined American artists Alicia Keys, Carlos Santana, Norah Jones, and many, many others. They came together to perform a "We Are the Future" concert to raise money for children in war zones, in particular to benefit child-care centers in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, the West Bank, and more. They did the concert for free, but proceeds from broadcast rights and related sales went to fund the child-care centers (Nicole Winfield, "Stars Dazzle Rome for Children’s Benefit, AP newswire, 5/17/04). The musicians turned the ruins of Circus Maximus into a beacon of hope.

Over 200 years ago, men of good will, with differing religious and national backgrounds, sat down and hashed out a constitution, with hope that the new document would provide firm foundation for a new nation. And so they helped form the United States of America, and since then, people have fought to protect and defend that constitution and the ideal of freedom for all that it represents.

Over 2,000 years ago, Jews, from many different nations, came together at the sound of a violent windstorm in Jerusalem.. They all spoke different languages, but to their amazement, when they arrived at the scene from where the noise came, they could all understand each other, because of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t even plan on coming together. And yet when they came, they spoke with one another. They heard one another, despite their different backgrounds.

In all of these cases, the people involved did not let their diversity divide them. Instead, they shared, if only for a moment, their common humanity, and at least in the last example, shared it because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Move. 2. But how often does this happen? C’mon now, really.

People don’t usually create a common agenda unless, as in ancient Rome, money or self-seeking power is involved. People don’t even try…it’s too much of a hassle. "Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and cat in a cage together as an experiment, to see if they could get along. They did, so he put in a bird, pig, and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic; soon there was not a living thing left." (Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? 1997, p. 33).

Look at some of the people in our story from Acts today. In particular, look at the ones standing on the sidelines and sneering…"Those folks are drunk! They can’t understand each other…they don’t even speak the same language!" These people are the hecklers, the doubters, the naysayers.

They are like the people in the 19^th century who first gather to hear Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The people gather to see these now famous women who travel around the country, to small towns and big cities, fighting for women’s right to vote. Many of them ask, "Give women the vote? Women have never had the vote!" And so some of them are more interested in calling Anthony and Stanton freaks and throwing rotten vegetables at them, than they are in listening to them. They simply don’t understand the appeal for unity despite the differences between men and women.

Anyway, why bother? Why can’t people just know their places and be happy in life? People are different, and that’s that. Human beings from different backgrounds who have different ideas simply don’t get together or agree about anything very often.

Move 3.. But in all fairness, we know that creating a common vision is a difficult task. We know that it is not easy.

We speak different languages, and not just English, French and Spanish. Our feelings and ideas clash, honestly clash. The liberals and conservatives, the blacks and whites, labor and management–we all have different agendas, strong opinions, not just for opinion’s sake but because we really believe certain things.

We aren’t surprised at all about wars and conflicts caused by religion, and the one that occurred in Ahmedabad, India several years ago is unfortunately not an uncommon scenario. Here, we see the Muslims and the Hindus clash over some controversy, and riots and looting and burning break out throughout the town. We see women and men and children–they are Muslim, Hindu, and Christian--flock to a center run by the Catholic Church called St. Mary’s. We see 6,000 of them crowd into the center’s maternity ward, embroidery factory, chapel, and outdoor courtyards, hoping to be protected from the fighting–and we see hundreds remain even after the end of the battle, unable to leave until their destroyed homes are rebuilt.

The odd thing, from our story from Genesis today, is that, apparently, we are hindered by God from creating a common vision. We see people with a common language, a common vision, begin to build a city and a tower. Indeed, we see from the text today that they build the tower to keep from being scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth, to keep from being divided. We see that they want unity, but we see them get scattered anyway, by a God who comes down, confuses their language, and keeps them from completing their project, which becomes known as the Tower of Babel, or the Tower of Confusion. We see not just their common speech confused, but their unity utterly shattered.

Well, no wonder we can’t understand each other. We desire commonality, we desire unity, but we wonder if God wants the same thing that we do. We wonder if our divisiveness is divinely ordained, if political and religious battles are simply the way God wants things.

Move 4. But then, there’s this thing that happens on the Day of Pentecost, this day that Christians around the world celebrate every year, with an importance comparable to Christmas and Easter. The situation arises that God, the God who confuses languages at Babel, is the same God who, through the Holy Spirit, creates the situation on Pentecost–people from different backgrounds and languages talking and listening to one another.

So what’s the deal? Is a cruel joke being played here? Let’s go back to the Tower of Babel. The situation there, some believe, is that the people building the tower have too much pride–that’s why God confuses them. The situation there, others believe, is that the people are building the tower to try and reach God, and because God doesn’t want humans to make such attempts, God foils their plan. These are valid interpretations.

Allow me to offer another one, though. What God does at Babel, possibly, God does because the people are trying to create unity without diversity. They want everyone to think and act as they do. They are so concerned with preserving unity, with stopping divisiveness, that–maybe like the leaders of the Roman Empire, they completely disregard the beauty of diversity.

And yet, this world of God’s, this one world, is a world of difference. It is a world that God would like to see united, not in spite of our differences, but because of them, because we love and appreciate each other’s diverse visions and dreams. It is a world in which difference is not a thing to be feared, but something in which to rejoice, because it is created by God.

Listen again to what Peter says on the Day of Pentecost, not about all being the same, at least from a human perspective, but about the power of the Holy Spirit in everyone’s lives: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people"…not just Americans, not just Jews, not just those who have the right beliefs... "all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy," and they will see visions, and they shall dream dreams.

Conclusion. I don’t believe that God goes around destroying Rome or the Circus Maximus or any other institutions that try to create a unity without respecting diversity. I do, however, believe that the Holy Spirit works miracles for those people and places that celebrate differences. St. Mary’s, which gave refuge to the Muslim, Hindu, and Christian people from the destruction a few years ago in Ahmedabad, India, is home to an embroidery factory and distribution center. St. Mary’s draws women from around the region, primarily Hindu and Muslim women, who aren’t allowed to speak about religious matters in their homes or society–that’s just for the men–and there they can come together with their hand-crafted items and are allowed to speak with women of their own and of different faiths about religion and many other matters. And St. Mary’s was not damaged at all by the fighting and looting.

Who knows for sure? But I am sure that, from a woman I don’t know, who is associated with St. Mary’s, and then finally from our 10,000 Villages store here in Logan, I recently purchased this beautiful stoll, fairly traded, to help remind me that the Holy Spirit is out and about, seeking and transforming, and helping humanity to feel God’s presence in and love for all the different people and places and things of this one world.