Pentecost 11B 2006

Proverbs 9:1-6

Psalm 34:9-14

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

Well, we’re back. The college professors are gearing up for a new semester. The ISU students have arrived in full force. The local school teachers are gearing up to greet their students and those of us who are parents of young ones are checking and double checking the school supply list.

It is a time of excitement, of new beginnings, of an openness to new ideas and new learning. Here we are at worship in the midst of a town focused on education; book learning. I am sure we all know and have heard at some point that “you are never too old to learn” or “the more I know, the more I know I don’t know.”

We give thanks for learning this morning, for education.

And then we get the first lesson for today. The proverb that is all about wisdom.

Wisdom is different than education. Some of the most educated people I know can be a little short on wisdom. And some of the least educated folks I have met are the wisest.

I’m thinking of Joella. Never made it through high school but dropped out to have her first child. Her wisdom about life and living was profound. She knew when to reach out and when to be quiet. She had advice that was rooted in reality and filled with possibility. And she knew people. When I was a seminary student she asked me: “Now, did God call you or did you call yourself?”

Education is about doing the math, learning the science, parsing the verbs. It teaches us how to think about objects and study people’s behaviors. Education teaches us to think rationally and ask good questions, and where to find the answers. I looked “Educate” up in the old Webster’s dictionary in the office and learned that educate means “1: to provide schooling for 2a: to develop mentally and morally esp. by instruction b: train, instruct.”

So how about wisdom? The same dictionary uses words like “knowledge” “insight” “judgment” and “sense”.

How do you teach insight? Or judgment? Or good sense? Can you take a class across the street called “Insight 101?”

We can read about wisdom. We find wisdom in the works of philosophers and writers, in novels and biographies.

But it there isn’t a course to follow in gaining wisdom. It is a gift.

Wisdom figures large in Scripture. In today’s section from Proverbs we meet her. Wisdom, Sophia…personified. Wisdom is a female figure that provides hospitality. Wisdom builds her house with its seven pillars. She prepares a feast and set the table and invited folks in.

Who does she invite? The simple, the ones devoid of sense. She invites them in and offers them wisdom.

Wisdom herself dates back to creation. Proverbs 8 tells us that Wisdom was created at the beginning of God’s course…Jesus speaks in wisdom sayings…inviting the outcasts to the feast.

The apostle Paul continues by telling us that Christ is the wisdom of God. We should walk in the spirit of wisdom.

What does it mean, then, to sit at Wisdom’s table? To be present at the feast? How does one become wise in the ways of God?

How can we be wise in the ways of the heart?

There are always going to be wise people in our midst.

These are not necessarily the ones with the most degrees. But they are the ones with the most heart, the most insight into the world. There are some people gifted with knowing the ways of the world and knowing the gentlest ways to live in the world.

Wise people are gifted with patience and understanding and gentle guidance. They come quietly into our presence, into this gathering, “giving thanks to God [the Father] at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Wise people know that they need the feast. They know that they need God’s presence in their lives. More than that, they need the very sustenance of Christ in them. The bread and the wine, the body and the blood.

In the wisdom God gives us we may not understand just precisely how that works, the body into bread, the blood into wine. But we know that we need it: The strength and love and forgiveness and life.

Wisdom begins in relying on, trusting in God for all things.

“God so loves the world that God poured and pours out God’s very life, very self, for our sake---not because we were so good, but because we were hungry and thirsty and dying, and God made us to share God’s wholeness, love, and eternal life.” (www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2006/08proper_15_year_.html)

It is when we gather here, around this table, at Wisdom’s feast that we are given wisdom. When we gather to share our pain, our fears, our sorrow we lean on each other and share our wisdom in a hug or a handshake or a prayer. When we gather to share our joys, our dreams, our longings we hope with each other and share our wisdom in words of encouragement and patience and prayers.

When we sing our faith we are given wisdom. When we sit in silence, wisdom is there. When we eat the meal prepared, wisdom is the hostess.

Wisdom “is born of suffering as a woman bears a child. It shows a way through the darkness the way a woman stand at the window holding a lamp (Frederick Buechner).”

Wisdom is sharing the feast with those who need it as much as we do. It is inviting all people to join us at the table, to join us in this place. Wisdom is listening and sharing and inviting. Then receiving all that Christ has to give us with open hearts and minds.

So be wise