Proverbs 8
May 30, 2010
Patrick Preheim
Sophia Sunday
Why this lengthy reading about wisdom from Proverbs 8 on May 30? In liturgical traditions the Sunday after Pentecost is always trinity Sunday—a Sunday in which the Holy Spirit receives equal attention to the Father and Son. Sophia is the Greek word which literally translated means “wisdom”. “Sophia is the name that used to be given to the third component of the “Holy Trinity” in the early Christian Church. Therefore, in early Christian terms, the Trinity could be defined as “The father, The Son and Sophia” (or wisdom), in place of the more common and modern “Holy Spirit” (Alan butler and Stephen Dafoe, The Knights Templar Revealed, p. 202). Some scholars postulate that this Trinitarian formulation provided a bit of gender balance to historic Christianity. Gender debates aside, wisdom seems like a pretty sweet deal, doesn’t it?
Verse 12 says that with wisdom comes prudence, knowledge and discretion;
riches and enduring wealth also come with wisdom (v. 18, 21); and not to be
outdone we hear in verse 35 that life comes with wisdom. Knowledge, wealth, and
life-- not a bad trio. Where do we sign up for this wisdom thing? Good news—v.17
says that wisdom loves those who love her, and that those who seek diligently
will find her. This is not so different than James 1:5 which reads that God
gives wisdom to all who ask, and gives it generously. Can it be that easy to
become wise?; simply ask God for wisdom which will lead to wealth, knowledge and
life? I used to think so, but not anymore. Wisdom, in all actuality, often only
comes after hard painful work. But God wants to make us wise. God loves us,
wants to save us, and wants to heal us. There are things that keep us all from
trusting more deeply. There are things that keep us from wisdom. Sophia, the
Holy Spirit, calls us to abandon the fear, insecurity, and false gods that keep
us stuck. So let us consider wisdom. This morning I will reflect briefly on the
pursuit of wisdom in our personal and communal lives, and I will begin with the
personal.
At one time in my life I thought of wisdom as a nicely wrapped package which God
gives to worthy individuals. I took James 1:5 and Proverbs 8:17 seriously and
literally. To become wise all I had to do was ask God for wisdom with a sincere
heart. The formula was simple: pray to God for wisdom before bed and expect that
by morning I might be a wiser guy than a wise guy. I didn’t pray for wisdom so
that I might become knowledgeable, wealthy, or full of life. I wanted wisdom so
that I might do more good than harm in this world. And then tragedy struck, God
started answering my prayer for wisdom.
Instead of an instructional CD on wisdom which I could download onto my hard
drive, however, I found myself increasingly surrounded by people focused on
active reflection. At first these people annoyed me. You see, I wanted to gain
wisdom through study, divine revelation and application of principles. And while
intellectual study is one significant way to grow in wisdom it leaves a whole
other area of wisdom untouched. These annoying others kept prodding me to look
at the wisdom found in the emotional realm, not just the intellectual. It is
true that wisdom begins with respect (fear) for the Lord, but that really only
means something when we lay before God those things which cause us joy and pain
and open ourselves to grow spiritually.
If you have never tried religious reflection on the words and encounters of the
day, let me warn you that it can be painful. In this quest for wisdom a person
not only identifies those yucky feelings from the day (a type of re-traumatisation),
but the wisdom seeker must further ask why it stings so. The low mark from the
professor or the low earnings in the first quarter report hurts because to a
certain degree some of us place our self worth not on who we are but on the
achievements we accomplish. The unsettling report from the doctor hurts because
to a certain degree some of us are so attached to our lives on earth that we
can’t stand to lose our independence or, even worse, someone we love. The
intentional or unintentional unkind word hurts because some of us have low self
esteem. And let me tell you friends, it stings to own up to the fact that we
have low self esteem, that we fear aging and death, that we think our worth is
based upon accomplishments. Those acquainted with the history of Christian
spirituality will recognize this exercise as the Jesuit practice of Examen.
Active reflection on the emotions of the day, good and difficult, brings
knowledge. Knowledge itself, however, is not wisdom. From a Biblical perspective
wisdom is knowledge put into action.
In Matthew’s gospel it is the difference between doing and not doing which
makes a person wise. In Matthew 7 it is the wise person hears and does the words
of Jesus; the foolish person is the one who hears but does not do the words of
Jesus (Matthew 7:24-27). This understanding of wisdom is thoroughly Jewish. The
Greek understanding of wisdom was that knowledge was virtue in itself, but the
Hebrews linked wisdom with action. Quoting now from the Theological Wordbook of
the Old Testament. “Hebrew wisdom was not theoretical and speculative. It was
practical, based on revealed principles of right and wrong, to be lived out in
daily life” (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (volume 1); ed. By
Harris, Gleason and Waltke, p.283). Biblical wisdom is not something we get
through passive reception. Wisdom comes through active reflection and is
reflected in right action.
So you want to be wise? Here is the formula-- note the feelings you have in the
course of a day or week; listen to the words of Jesus in relationship to your
experiences; and then do the words of Jesus—accept the gift of the Sophia / Holy
Spirit, give praise to God, pray for your persecutor, give alms, bear good
fruit. Receiving and doing the words of Jesus will bring knowledge; it will
bring wealth the world does not understand; it will bring life; it will bring
peace. And even as Jesus, Sophia and God wish for our individual well being, so
too they long for our institutional well being. On to wisdom in our communal
life.
Wisdom calls to us in a variety of ways. John Wesley identified four key areas
that guide us as we seek to make wise choices. I want to look at each and apply
it to the discernment topic of the small group revitalization we have scheduled
for our congregational meeting this afternoon.
- Scripture: Particularly for Mennonite congregations, the Bible has been a primary access to the wisdom of God. What does the bible say about small groups? Not much really, and yet the idea is pervasive. In the Old Testament family groups and clans served as the primary means of belonging. The post-exilic Jewish tradition established a system of synagogues which bound people together on account of geography rather than family pedigree. The house churches of the early Christianity closely paralleled the synagogue model. Jesus calls a group of 12 disciples together in which teaching happens, support is given, and ministry commissioned. A cursory review of the biblical material suggests that small groups provide a point of entry, belonging, and a certain amount of support. Remember, now, that wisdom is applied knowledge. From the biblical perspective it would be Sophia (wisdom) for people of congregations to prioritize a commitment to a group in which belonging, teaching and support can happen for them and those new to the faith community.
- Tradition: In our denominational and religious history we have a chronicle of things that have worked and things that have not worked. In the making of wise decisions it is a good idea to look at the tradition. What does tradition say about small groups? It did not take long after Christianity became mainstream for monastic communities to crop up. In these monastic settings people covenanted with each other for a worship life and to assist one another live a faithful life. During the reformation years the illegal house churches of our Mennonite ancestors served a similar role to the monastic communities the middle ages as well as a similar role to the house churches of early Christianity. Mennonites could go from region to region and use the house church as a place to connect. Klassen and Klaassen’s book on Pilgrim Marpeck highlights this phenomena. More recently, a decade ago Nutana Park Mennonite Church had Care Groups. The 10 Care Groups were reduced to 5 some years back, and of the 5 groups 1 meets with any frequency. The proposal for revitalizing small groups at NPMC which will be discussed at our meeting builds upon elements which has kept Care Group one vital. Things like regularly scheduled meetings, invitations to guests and new attendees, leadership responsibilities that do not burn out the leaders. Tradition has been consulted in the proposal for small group revitalization, and perhaps additional nuggets from tradition will come out in our table group conversations. Tradition would affirm that it is wise to have a structure by which relationships can form.
- Reason: This source of wisdom refers to what we can know about God and God’s purposes from disciplines not dependent on special revelation that comes from interpreting scripture or religious experiences. For example: philosophy, biology, medicine, literature, art, and so on. Pertinent to our topic is the theory of proxemics from the discipline of sociology. Edward Hall proposed four special references which can be applied to understanding how we experience belonging (Joseph Myers, Organic Community, pp, 42-45). There are public belonging, social belonging, personal belonging, and intimate belonging. Sunday morning worship is an example of a public space: we come for worship but there is no expectation that attenders will know all the other people here let alone have relationship with them. That is fine for some, but others desire a sense of belonging that goes beyond the public space. A noon potluck group, as the plan proposes, is an additional social space for people at NPMC. A social space is one in which we learn to describe ourselves and tell our story. The people of a social network are those with whom small favours are exchanged. It is the place from which potential personal and intimate relationships may form. Organizations need ways to connect people socially. Currently, there is a dearth of avenues for new people to Nutana Park to make the kind of social, personal, or intimate connections which will keep them rooted here. Sociology would suggest that revitalized small groups are a wise thing, and if not small groups then some other socializing structure.
- Experience: Experience is another source of wisdom. We know that a socializing mechanism is important because of the experience of people. One of the members from the group who put the proposal together testified to the importance of Care Group One in their willingness to stick it out at Nutana Park Mennonite. They had no family in the congregation; they did not attend RJC; they did not have friends who attended. On account of the connections made in Care Group One this person continues to worship here. Will there be similar testimonies in the future?? It will depend, in part, on our ability to translate our knowledge into wisdom.
Well, that is a short example of John Wesley’s steps of tapping communal wisdom in decision making. It would be thoroughly Mennonite if we would take the time to go through these steps together in table groups so that everyone has a chance to voice Sophia’s prompting. This morning you have only seen how one person, the preacher, has interpreted Sophia’s voice.
Trust the scriptures. Trust the mentors God has provided. Trust the community
in our collective discernment. As we do this in our personal and communal lives
may God bless our desire for wisdom and truly make us a wise people. Amen.