Sunday, September 13, 2009

Wisdom vs. Fear

Today's sermon at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN
the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly

Texts: Proverbs 1:20-33 and Psalm 19

Before we get into the wisdom of the bible as found in Proverbs, here’s some conventional wisdom—or contemporary proverbs—you may have heard before:

1. If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.

2. Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

6. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

7. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

8. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

9. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

10. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

11. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

12. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

13. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand. (that’s my favorite!)

14. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

15. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

16. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

17. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

18. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

19. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

20. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world. AND …

21. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

What wisdom do you pay attention to? What guides your life and your decisions? In today’s reading from the first chapter of Proverbs, we can gather that not very many people are paying much attention to God’s wisdom. This passage seems, to me, to be particularly appropriate this week.

At seminary we were urged to always preach with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. These days it might be more appropriate to say we should preach with the bible in one hand and the internet in the other if we want to relate biblical messages to the world around us.

Some things that happened in the past few days have led me to feel I could be in agreement with Wisdom who is crying out in the streets, intersections and at the city gates.

What utter craziness we had this week when many, many school districts refused to air the President’s speech to the nation’s school children and youth! How vividly I recall sitting on the floor of the El Dorado school auditorium watching John F. Kenney’s inauguration! It made an impression on me that I remember almost 50 years later! Why in the world wouldn’t people want their children to hear the President of the United States encouraging them to do well and stay in school?

One of my facebook friends posted an article telling of a school district in Texas that refused to show President Obama’s speech on Tuesday and then 2 days later loaded all the students up and took them on a field trip to hear a speech by former President Bush. Which one disrupted their schedule more? Do you think there’s some prejudice going on here? What about disrespecting the office of the President?

There was an exchange between another 2 facebook friends—one of whom used to live here and the other still does. The first one wrote, “My favorite quote from Texas (so far) is ‘You talk smart, you’re not from around here.’” The other friend replied that her son had had something very similar said to him in Kentucky recently.

Wisdom, who is always portrayed in the bible as a female figure, lives the calling of a prophetess, carrying her message—that is Yahweh/God’s message—into the very heart of the city of the people of God—in the squares and at the busiest corners. And the word that she delivers is one of distress. The people, it seems, have committed offenses particularly heinous to the practitioners of wisdom. Those offenses are: “being simple,” “scoffing,” and “hat(ing) knowledge.”[i]

Israel’s wisdom teachers have a deeply held conviction that a gracious God has placed at the people’s disposal the ability to understand what God wants them to be and to do. “God has created a world of order and coherence” and by studying nature and human nature in that world it is “possible to understand God.”[ii]

But it seems there are still people who are afraid of knowledge; afraid of anything or anyone different from them; afraid to learn; afraid to grow; afraid to get to know people they’ve been taught to fear. I’ve even heard it here. Some people are afraid of having homeless people in our building. Good heavens! This is a small town, it’s possible we might even know them!

The President’s address to Congress Wednesday evening concerning his health care plan is another crazy thing that happened this week. The speech wasn’t crazy, I thought it was excellent and intelligent! But the fact that he had to debunk a whole list of wild rumors was sad. I actually know at least one person who believes that there will be a panel of “non-medical people” who will make decisions that will prevent the elderly from getting health care if this plan is approved. Fear has been spread by those who want to prevent any health care reform from passing.

Why we wouldn’t want affordable health insurance for ALL the people is beyond me, but fear often trumps wisdom.

In Proverbs, the prophetess Wisdom has arisen to declare a word from God to which the people need to pay attention! “But the gist of that word is that the people are already closed to and ignorant of God’s will for their lives.”

What follows sounds like punishment from God for not paying attention, but really what happens is “that having had no use for God in their prosperous times, the people have no idea how to turn to God now that they are in great need.” [iii]

Our God is gracious and loving and that love extends to ALL the people, not just a few of us. Psalm 19 reminds us of that graciousness, compassion and generosity. God has created this incredible universe and “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.”[iv]

The psalmist also tells us that God’s law is perfect, reviving the soul, and the decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple. There’s that wisdom again. We have no need to fear because God’s wisdom is right there in front of us. God calls us to choose wisdom over fear, and to open our eyes to the goodness of God’s people and God’s creation.

Fear calls us to hunker down while wisdom calls us to embrace change and grow in love. When we accept our role and identity as God’s creatures and live in trustful response to the gift of God, we can thrive in the glorious liberty of unencumbered creatures, loved and empowered by our Creator.[v]

God’s great wisdom calls us to give up fear and choose life and love—for self, for others and for God, who truly is our rock and our redeemer. AMEN.



[i] Texts for Preaching, Brueggemann, COusar, Gaventa, McCann and Newsome Jr., Westminster John Knox Press, p. 505.

[ii] Op. cit., p. 506.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Psalm 19:1, NRSV.

[v] Adapted from Texts for Preaching, p. 508.

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