Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord 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. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” [Genesis 11:1-8]
Two weeks ago, I went to visit Ellie. During our visit, we talked about her experiences with her roommate. Ellie said “I didn’t think you could have a conversation with someone if you did not speak the same language, but it turns out you can.” Ellie went on to share about the conversation she experienced with her Spanish speaking roommate. She told me about the night she knew her roommate was in pain and was able to alert the staff. Ellie told me about their system for communicating about empty toilet paper rolls. Ellie also told me about an evening where she and her roommate had a 40 minute conversation with each other. She said, “My roommate came and sat next to my bed and started talking. I did not know exactly what she was saying, but I was able to understand how she was feeling. I caught some words. I could read her facial expressions and body language. This was enough. I was even able to respond to her story. We spoke for 40 minutes. I really felt like we were connecting. I think she understood me as much as I understood her.”
Ellie’s experiences seem to contradict the tower of Babel story. Ellie experienced two people speaking different languages communicating with each other. They probably could not communicate well enough to build a city, but they did form basic human connections of understanding and empathy. In my experience, the most important part of any conversation is the human connection. We tend to give priority to words, but there are so many other communication building blocks. Our body language, our facial expressions, our gestures, our rate of speech, our volume, and our tone are all important parts of communication. Communication is best when people are able to use all of these aspects of communication together, but there is much we can say with only a few communication building blocks. –Kate Byers
Connecting God, you draw us all together into beloved community. Help me communicate with everyone around me using my words, my body, and my presence. Help me listen deeply to others so that I can understand their meaning. Amen.