Arrival: Learning the Language of the Other (Acts 2:1-11)

In Arrival, linguist Louise Banks must learn to communicate with aliens whose language fundamentally alters how time is perceived. Rather than weapons or displays of force, humanity's survival depends on patient, vulnerable learning. At Pentecost, the Spirit enabled communication across languages—not to eliminate difference but to bridge it. Louise does not demand the heptapods speak English; she enters their world, learns their symbols, allows their language to change her. The church at Pentecost did not homogenize; each heard in their own tongue. True communication requires this same humility: not forcing others into our categories but learning theirs, allowing encounter to transform both parties. The gift of tongues is not dominance but surrender to relationship.