Wisdom: for us

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waterandspiritPlace in Our Tradition. The Book of Proverbs can make an important contribution to Christians and Jews today.

  • First, it places the pursuit of wisdom over the performance of individual wise acts. To seek wisdom above all things is a fundamental option and a way of life.
  • Second, it portrays the quest as filled with obstacles. There are men and women who offer a substitute for the real thing; discernment is required.
  • Third, the book teaches that acquiring wisdom is both a human task and a divine gift. One can make oneself ready to receive by discipline, but one cannot take so divine a gift.
  • Fourth, wisdom is in the world but it is not obvious to people entirely caught up with daily activities. The instructions and the aphorisms of the book can free the mind to see new things. Christians will see in personified Wisdom aspects of Jesus Christ, who they believe is divine wisdom sent to give human beings true and full life.
  • Yet there is a universal dimension to Proverbs, for in its attention to human experience it creates a link to all people of good will.

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Wisdom: seeking

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waterandspiritWisdom. In the ancient Near East (ANE), people assumed that wisdom belonged to the gods, who were wise by reason of their divinity; human beings needed to have wisdom granted them by the gods. Many of the “beginning of the world” accounts found in surrounding ANE cultures depict creation in two stages. In the first stage, human beings lived an animal-like existence, without clothes, writing, or kingship (seen as proper governance). Over time, the gods came to realize that such a low-grade of existence made the human race inadequate as their servants, so they endowed the race with “wisdom,” which consisted of culture (e.g., kingship) and crafts (e.g., knowledge of farming, ability to weave). Such wisdom elevated the race to a “human” level and made them effective servants of the gods. Furthermore, divine wisdom was mediated to human beings through earthly institutions—the king, scribes (who produced wise writings), and heads of families (fathers, sometimes mothers). These traditional mediators appear in Proverbs – in fact, the book is credited to King Solomon. Throughout the book kings are mentioned as pillars of society (e.g., 16:12–15); writings are a source of wisdom (1:1–7); the father instructing his son is the major paradigm of teaching. Proverbs differs, however, from other wisdom books in concentrating on wisdom itself, treating it as a virtually independent entity and personifying it as an attractive woman. Other books urge readers to perform wise acts, but Proverbs urges them to seek wisdom itself and portrays wisdom as a woman seeking human beings as disciples and companions. Continue reading →

Wisdom: context

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waterandspiritThe Spirit in Creation
22 “The LORD begot me, the first-born of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
23 From of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
25 Before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 While as yet the earth and the fields were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.
27 “When he established the heavens I was there,
when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
28 When he made firm the skies above,
when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;
29 When he set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
30 Then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
Playing before him all the while,
31 playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:22–31) Continue reading →

Never alone

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Pentecost3You know it is when it hasn’t rained in a long time and then it does.  Not a gully washer of a rain, but just a regular rain.  You know the roads can get a little slick when the accumulated road oil comes to the surface. Well that is what happened to this truck driver on a country road.  Came around this corner and the tires started to slip a little bit, then a lot, and he skidded right to the ditch. Continue reading →

On Fire

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Pentecost3Monday night I was called out to Tampa General for an emergency anointing for a patient preparing to pass into God’s bright glory. When I arrived at the room, a very familiar sight greeted me. Kumbe! There was a pair of religious sisters I recognized as Benedictine Sisters from Tanzania. I attended to the immediate family, greeting them and offering some words of comfort. When I came to the Sisters, it was their chance to be surprised when I greeted them in Kiswahili. Their eyes grew wide, surprised that another person in this small room shared some of the sounds and words of their home a half a world away. We all let the surprise pass and gave way to the woman for whom I had been called. Continue reading →

Pentscost

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Pentecost3John 20:19-31 :: 19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

If this Pentecost gospel reading “rings a bell”, it is because this was the gospel for the 2nd Sunday on Easter. That instance of the reading went on to include the misnamed account of “Doubting Thomas.”  Rather than repeat those materials during the course of the week, I will simply provide links to what I had already posted:

As the week progresses, perhaps I might find other odds and ends to post regarding Pentecost.

The Promise

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ascension-of-jesusWhen I was in seminary, our homiletics professor had lots of advice and pointers for the Sunday homily – I am about to ignore one of the pieces of advice. The professor was pretty adamant about not explaining theology. And I mostly agree with his point – it can make a homily really dry and fill it with language that needs its own explanation. The professor’s final point was that you are likely to give an inaccurate or heretical version of the theology in any case. Continue reading →

Ascension: witnesses

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ascension-of-jesus46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50  Then he led them (out) as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. 51 As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. 52 They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and they were continually in the temple praising God. (Luke 24:46-53) Continue reading →

Ascension: taken up

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ascension-of-jesusJesus taken up into heaven (1:6–11). Although we have entitled this section ‘The ascension’, it is doubtful whether the actual act of ascension is the central feature in the story. Luke is more concerned with what was said than with what happened. The vital question was the one posed by the disciples: now that Jesus had been raised from the dead, was God going to complete his purpose by finally establishing his rule? The answer given was twofold. First, the time of this event remained God’s secret; what was more important was the immediate task of the disciples which was to act as witnesses to Jesus from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. The spread of God’s rule was to take place by means of the disciples, empowered by the Spirit. This was the final command of Jesus before he left the disciples. Secondly, the departure of Jesus was interpreted as a pattern for his ultimate return to the earth to inaugurate the final establishment of the rule of God. These verses thus spell out God’s purpose and the place of the church in it. They postulate that the period of witness and mission must precede the return of Jesus. They were thus in effect a warning to the disciples not to expect a speedy winding up of history. For Luke’s readers some forty or more years later they were a reminder of an ongoing task: the gospel must still be taken to the end of the earth. At the same time the words contain a note of promise in that the departure of Jesus is compensated for by the coming of the Spirit, given by Jesus himself (2:33). Continue reading →