Do we still speak in tongues?

Matthew 10:16-22 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
²⁰ For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.  (Authorized Version/KJV) [emphasis mine]

The verses above stuck out to me from today's Morning Prayer readings for the Feast of St. James of Jerusalem.  They were even more striking to me because I was reading them en español, a language wherein I have only a basic ability and very limited vocabulary.
[See, I had stated when I began this ministry, that I would offer the Morning Prayer office in English, Spanish or as a bilingual service, depending on who came.  More and more often, we have people who speak no English and everybody else speaks at least some Spanish.  So, by default, we've had a Spanish service most days.]

Mind you, I am not without linguistic abilities.  I did major in German at Austin College (Go 'Roos Go!  Homecoming is this weekend).  I also learned French while an undergrad, and considered adding it as a minor.  [For the record, I did not graduate and still have not completed my BA; this is, however, in progress.  More on the complications that kept me from graduating after Homecoming.]

However, I have had no formal education in Spanish.  I have simply participated in services and Masses at Christ Church that were either bilingual or in Spanish.  As well as trying to speak Spanish with those who speak only Spanish.

I have, for as long as I can remember, found accents and languages interesting.  In elementary school, I could fake a convincingly charming English accent, or at least my family thought so.  When I began my learning a second language the first day of high school, I found my passion.  I soaked it up like a sponge.  I excelled.  I was Frau Munford's star pupil.  I did so well, in fact, that I was one of 60 prizewinners in the 1993 American Association of Teachers of German / Pädagogischer Austauschdienst's exchange program.  This honor offered me the privilege of spending a month in Germany with a host family during my 16th summer, free of charge, other than round-trip airfare to New York City.

While a student at Austin College, I generally lived in one of the language houses and during the week sat at the German/French table at lunch, depending on which language was my focus at the time.  I distinctly remember a conversation with the late Dr. Jim Knowlton, PhD, assistant professor of German, that occurred during Homecoming of my freshman year.

You see, Jim (Yes, we AC Kangaroos called our professors by their first names!) knew a bit about my religious upbringing, which up to that point had been in a very charismatic, pentecostal tradition, complete with lots of speaking in unknown tongues.  A friend of mine (C.S.) who was a senior that year, also seemed to be Sprachbegabt (gifted in languages).  C.S. was focusing on Norse languages and would go on to win a Fullbright Scholarship to study runestones throughout Scandinavia the year after his graduation.  C.S.'s grandparents were members of the church where I'd grown up.  Jim posited that C.S. and I were so Sprachbegabt because we'd grown up speaking in tongues.  Now, if you'd known Jim Knowlton, and what an absolute cynic he was, about everything, you'd understand how it was easy at first to brush off his remarks as Jim being Jim.

But that conversation stuck with me.  I would remember it later when having conversations with Christian friends at AC who had grown up in different traditions, who had never witnessed speaking in unknown tongues.  They argued that, based on the Pentecostal experience of the Apostles (Acts 2), the purpose of the gift of tongues was to share the Gospel (Good News) of Christ to those with whom one does not share a common language.  Scripture certainly seems to point out that that was the outcome of the gift on the day of Pentecost.  My friends, who visited my home church, found the chaos of a congregation of believers all muttering in unknown languages -- unknown even to the speakers -- to be distracting and serve no edifying purpose.  Until then, I had never questioned speaking in tongues.  It was just something we did.

But I often find myself going back to Jim's off-hand comment meant to be some sort of joke, and I find it amazing how God uses a professed cynical agnostic to speak His truth.  I believe I was given the gift of speaking in tongues, that is a unique ability to learn and communicate in other languages; especially for the purpose of sharing Christ.

Which brings me back to today's reading.  So, even though I don't always understand the words I read aloud during the office of Oración Matutina, and stumble through the Spanish that isn't written; I believe it is indeed the Holy Spirit giving me the words to say and speaking through me, just as Christ promised His disciples.