On Sunday, September 28th, 2025, Shelby Boese spoke on "Non-Prosecutable Speech of Resistance". Of the two types of "speaking in tongues", he spoke more on the type with "ecstatic spiritual speech" that no one but God understands, as opposed to the type where people spoke in an existing language that they did not know. The tongue-speaking worship has a function, as those from a Pentecostal context might attest, but what exactly is that function? What's the point of speaking in words without meaning?

Though these worshippers use words without meanings, they are able to nonetheless convey meanings without words. The people weeped and lamented together. They spoke in resistance against the empire with words that the empire could not ban. There was empowerment: the obscure, marginalized, and voiceless were able to speak and be heard. And, there was the letting go of control, so that one can encounter the Spirit directly. In the West, we are privileged to have so little to grieve and resist that the Pentecostal form of worship is foreign to many of us. We can still have empathy towards those with different forms of worship, and we should recognize that being different from us isn't a sign that they are wrong or inferior. [JL]
 

Passage: Romans 8:26-27; 1 Cor 14:13-19,39
Communion: No
Ecumenical or Event:
Potluck Lunch: No
Congregational Meeting: No

Speaker: Shelby Boese
Worship Leader: Rosie Perera
Song Leader:
Pianist: Zach Kuepfer
Usher:
Zoom Coordinator: John Lee
Children's Feature Leader:

Bring Flowers:
Coffee Helper:
Sound Helper:

Child Care Volunteer: