A "lovely" gong?!?
"If I speak in tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."
(1 Corinthians 13:1)
In Hawaii, Chinese New Year festivities are abundant near the end of January/early February. Even if you're not Chinese, everyone participates and enjoys the celebrations. From specific foods to eat, to fireworks, to dancing dragons (and "feeding" the dragon w/ money donations for good luck), we're all aware in the islands of what transpires.
The dancing dragon, especially, is a sight to behold! A group of young men (usually), each holding a section of the dragon body above their heads, move the dragon up and down in coordination with the other members. Often times it takes two very energetic people to "work" the dragon head (and these two often get switched out during the dance, because it's so strenuous). It's truly amazing.
The only "music" that's played during the dragon dance is the rhythmic beat of a gong. Played in repeated patterns to drive the dragon's movements through a room full of people (or other performance space). At first it's quite captivating. But if you happen to be in an especially large banquet room, the dragon takes a long time to "snake" through the crowd. And that gonging sound can become quite incessant... and (with apologies to my Chinese brothers and sisters), even annoying. The same sound over and over... non-stop. I'd feel exactly the same about car honking, alarms, or any other sound that gets repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated...
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul recognize that there's all kinds of languages - both on earth and in the spiritual realm. And being able to speak multiple dilates means absolutely NOTHING if the one who's speaking doesn't do it with LOVE. In fact, it becomes like the incessant sound of a clanging gong, he says. Yikes.
I didn't think of it in terms of being multi-lingual (although I genuinely admire those who are!). As a pastor, I speak for a living. Virtually every week I stand in front of people and speak. Id' like to think what I say beings value to others. However, Paul reminds me that without love behind what I say, it becomes just a clanging gong. Annoying. Irritating. Driving people away. Ouch.
Fill my words with love, O LORD! AMEN.