Intro
There are so many times when readings from the Bible, especially those readings from the Old Testament, appear to have absolutely no connection with the world of which we are now a part. The names of the individuals and towns can be difficult to pronounce, the government and culture are different then what we live under let alone understand, and the way these stories were written live us feeling like we’re on the outside looking in. My guess is that there are many folks who have felt that way about this particular passage.
It is with this understanding firmly in place, that I want you to try and be open to what is being articulated, because what is being said is full of practical meaning for each and every one of our lives.
The first thing that we are able to notice in this passage is that we are dealing with “wisdom.” When I looked this word up at Webster’s, the first definition that is given for this word is, “the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based of knowledge, experience and understanding.”
With that definition in mind, there is really no surprise that right after we hear about wisdom’s call we are also told about understanding’s voice. The two seem to go hand in hand. So much so, that they are no longer two separate entities, but one united force reaching out to envelop us into some all encompassing truth.
The second thing that we notice is that wisdom has been personified. Wisdom is no longer some abstract concept, but instead a particular someone who is making a stand in the midst of all of our lives, trying with all her heart to garner our attention. (Oh yeah, and that’s another thing. “Wisdom,” in the limited way in which we are able to describe the indescribable, is feminine. I’m sure that none of the women in my life would debate this fact. They would simply nod their heads in complete agreement.) Wisdom is reaching out. She is reaching out as someone who is trying to guide us to a greater understanding of the world around us and to a greater understanding of who we are as individuals in relationship with one another and with God. As is so often the case, this call comes whether we are in the mood to listen or not. God’s Spirit of wisdom; She is calling YOU.
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
8 Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? 2 On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: 4 “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.
22 The Lord
created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long
ago. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of
the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when
there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains
had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth— 26 when he
had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. 27 When
he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of
the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established
the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the
foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master
worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing
in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.
Romans 5:1-5
5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
“The Guide”
Anyone who has driven by my home with any sort of
regularity during the last few weeks has probably seen at least one member of
my family outside doing some sort of yard work.
Obviously, there has been the lawn mowing, but the last several weeks
have seen a flurry of activity right around the immediate perimeter of the
house as we’ve transplanted several bushes and a whole lot of bulbs, planted
other bushes, hacked out lawn so as to create clean flower bed and in Jen’s
case, spread so much mulch that you’d wonder if her green thumb had been
tarnished brown. It’s been fun, tiring,
but fun as projects go from an idea and move toward some level of
completion. That, and it’s just nice to
get outside.
However, at least up till this point, most of the time that
I have spent out in the yard is used to mow.
Now, what I am about to say may get me some strange looks, but I
actually enjoy mowing. This does not
mean that I am soliciting for some sort of a new lawn service that I am
providing: I am not. But I do enjoy
it.
However, this enjoyment of working with a mower is not
something that has always been there. It
is an acquired taste that I developed as I worked for Mr. John Imre up on
Quaker Hill in Pawling, NY for at least 8 summers of my life. Mr. Imre has been the caretaker of a 200-acre
property for what seems like forever.
Everyone in the area seems to know him, know of him or know someone who
knows him. He is a living legend in the
area of property care and upkeep. It was
under his care that I learned who to take care of a yard.
This did not always go smoothly. There were many a day when he would simply
have to shake his head and let loose a string of words that few people could
put together in the same way. He could
bring vulgarity to an art form. But, he
knew how things were supposed to be in that yard and I needed him to be my
guide. Sometimes he guided me in a very
caring way.
However, there were also those times when he needed to
holler a little bit. Whatever it took,
he lead me, like a guide, to discover how to help a yard to look good and in
doing so, I ended up finding an activity, in a lot of ways, a way of life, that
I truly enjoyed.
Both of the scriptures
that we heard this morning talk about a particular sort of guide. This is all well and good, but when we think
of the word ‘guide,’ there may be several different images that come to mind.
You may be thinking of a guide in terms of one of those guide
books that contains maps of the area that you are heading into and different
points of interests which are “must sees” and those areas that are told to be
avoided. In this case, all the choices
are up to you. You decided where to go,
where not to go, what to see, what not to see and how long you decide to spend
in each particular area. The guide book
can help, but it may not be able to answer the questions that you end up having
along the way.
Another image of a guide is when you are led into an unknown
area by someone who is very familiar with all of the surroundings that you are
about to experience. This guide is able
to tell you this and that, tell you where the best route to take is and is able
to answer all of the questions that You may have. However, in this particular case, you need to
realize that you are in need of some help, and then ask for that help from
someone who can lead you safely through all of the traps and pitfalls that may
lie ahead of you. You need to be in
relationship with that person and place your trust in the one who has been
there before.
The guide that emerges in these two passages appears to be
of the second variety. That is, if we
put our pride away and say that we are in need of someone who has been there
before, wherever “there” ultimately ends up being. As we heard in the passage from Proverbs, the
Spirit is calling out. The question is,
are we willing to listen, let alone open up the dialogue that allows our lives
to be enriched to the point of being blessed beyond measure? Said another way, how connected to God are
you? Do you wish that connection was
better? And then beyond that, how might
that connection improve?
Well, my guess is that many, if not most us would say that
we did wish that our connection, our relationship with the Divine was
better. So let me try and answer the
next question by having you think about your other relationships. When things are not going well with a co-worker,
what should take place? Or, when the
only sort of communication that is taking place with your child or your spouse
is of the negative variety, how should you respond?
Many of us have tried to pretend like the problem and
sometimes even the other person doesn’t exist, acting as if we can pretend the
issue away. I have yet to see that work
in the long term. You can quit, but
again that doesn’t deal with the problem, you’re just walking away.
The only way to actually improve the connection is through
communication: both sides talking and both sides listening and then responding
in a way that allows the other person to know that they were heard. Basically, you’ve got to work at it, and you
got to work at it every day, and if it’s important enough, then you will. Will there be days where the connection
through communication seems effortless?
Absolutely. Will there be days
where it seems like things may never get better. Yup.
But if you are willing to commit to the hard work that needs to take
place, then the better days will come and understanding, not necessarily agreement,
but understanding can and will take place.
It’s the same with our connection to God through the guide
of the Holy Spirit. You have to work are
developing that communication with the Divine so that not only are you able to
call out in your need, but you are able to hear God when God calls to you.
Remember that in our passage from Proverbs, the Spirit is ‘crying
out’ and ‘raising her voice’ to be heard. Why?
Because people weren’t listening, which correspondingly means they
weren’t reaching out to the Guide who was there all along: they were trying to
take care of life’s issues themselves (and I’m sure that’s something that none
of us have ever done before).
However, when we begin to improve our connection with God
by talking about where we are and then listening for where the Guide would have
us be (and that’s what a prayer life is), then we begin to experience the
blessings of God in new and different ways, ways that remind us that we are
blessed even when the trials come. But
it all starts with communication: offering up to God where you are and
listening for where the Guide would have us be.
We have a God, in the person of the Holy Spirit that is
ready and willing to guide us throughout our lives. This Spirit is even calling out to us to get
our attention, reminding us of the fact that we need to improve our connection
with God through constant communication with God. If we are willing to take this step, then we
will be led throughout the journeys of our lives, allowing us to understand
just how special we are to the Creator of all.
Your guide is waiting: are you ready to talk? Are you willing to listen?
After Sermon Prayer
God, through the voice of the Holy
Spirit, you are out there in the midst of our lives calling to us. God, work in us in such a way that we truly
work at our connection with You. Help us
to offer up all of our joys and concerns.
Help us to open all of our senses to the ways that You would have us be
blessed. Lord, help us to be in
communication with our Guide. We pray
these things in the name of Christ Jesus.
Amen.