Sermon for May 26th, 2013 - Revision history

Iraneal: 10 revisions

2013-10-14T01:29:34Z

10 revisions

Iraneal at 04:26, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T04:26:40Z

Iraneal at 04:25, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T04:25:04Z

Iraneal at 04:23, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T04:23:59Z

Iraneal at 04:23, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T04:23:23Z

Iraneal at 03:29, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T03:29:51Z

Iraneal at 02:54, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T02:54:59Z

Iraneal at 01:29, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T01:29:02Z

Iraneal at 01:24, 26 May 2013

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Iraneal at 23:43, 25 May 2013

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 Five years ago, I could not have possibly understood this image of Wisdom, dancing and playing in the presence of God, but now...I have a five year old daughter.  I take her to preschool in the morning, and after listening to her favorite song on the drive to church (Neil Diamond's forever in Blue Jeans), when we arrive here she literally bursts out of the car and into my office, throwing open my shutters to let the sunlight in.  Then she runs around the corner to find Patty and tell her all about what she's wearing today, how her mother fixed her hair, or whether she's the snack leader for her class.  She takes my hand and we walk down the hall, only she's skipping down the hall, and I find it really hard to resist the temptation to skip, too.  All the while, she's singing "Forever in Blue Jeans."  When we get to her classroom she runs in to greet Miss Bettina and all of her friends, and right when I think she's about to forget me she comes flying into my arms for a goodbye hug and kiss, and I can tell you right now, there is NO better way to start the day, than what I've just described.
-It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, we must answer when she calls.  "Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?"
+It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps folly and despair at bay.  Wisdom is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls, everyone:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, we must answer when she calls.  "Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?"
 Wisdom is calling you.  God is calling you.  Will you answer God's call today?

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 Five years ago, I could not have possibly understood this image of Wisdom, dancing and playing in the presence of God, but now...I have a five year old daughter.  I take her to preschool in the morning, and after listening to her favorite song on the drive to church (Neil Diamond's forever in Blue Jeans), when we arrive here she literally bursts out of the car and into my office, throwing open my shutters to let the sunlight in.  Then she runs around the corner to find Patty and tell her all about what she's wearing today, how her mother fixed her hair, or whether she's the snack leader for her class.  She takes my hand and we walk down the hall, only she's skipping down the hall, and I find it really hard to resist the temptation to skip, too.  All the while, she's singing "Forever in Blue Jeans."  When we get to her classroom she runs in to greet Miss Bettina and all of her friends, and right when I think she's about to forget me she comes flying into my arms for a goodbye hug and kiss, and I can tell you right now, there is NO better way to start the day, than what I've just described.
-It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, we must answer her call.
+It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, we must answer when she calls.  "Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?"
 Wisdom is calling you.  God is calling you.  Will you answer God's call today?

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 Five years ago, I could not have possibly understood this image of Wisdom, dancing and playing in the presence of God, but now...I have a five year old daughter.  I take her to preschool in the morning, and after listening to her favorite song on the drive to church (Neil Diamond's forever in Blue Jeans), when we arrive here she literally bursts out of the car and into my office, throwing open my shutters to let the sunlight in.  Then she runs around the corner to find Patty and tell her all about what she's wearing today, how her mother fixed her hair, or whether she's the snack leader for her class.  She takes my hand and we walk down the hall, only she's skipping down the hall, and I find it really hard to resist the temptation to skip, too.  All the while, she's singing "Forever in Blue Jeans."  When we get to her classroom she runs in to greet Miss Bettina and all of her friends, and right when I think she's about to forget me she comes flying into my arms for a goodbye hug and kiss, and I can tell you right now, there is NO better way to start the day, than what I've just described.
-It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, answer her call.
+It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation.  And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical.  What is Wisdom?  It is not somber and serious, prim and proper.  Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same.  Where does Wisdom come from?  Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences.  Wisdom comes from God.  It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls:  "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live."  How do we get Wisdom?  The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child:  To get Wisdom, we must answer her call.
 Wisdom is calling you.  God is calling you.  Will you answer God's call today?

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:23, 26 May 2013
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	Lady Folly welcomed both her lover and her husband into her house. But Lady Wisdom stands at the crossroads--in other words, she is telling our young man, "you have to make a choice. You have to choose your path. You can't have us both."		Lady Folly welcomed both her lover and her husband into her house. But Lady Wisdom stands at the crossroads--in other words, she is telling our young man, "you have to make a choice. You have to choose your path. You can't have us both."
		+
		+	But the next contrast is the really important one--and the one where we need to remember that we're not just contrasting a good girl with a bad girl, but rather we are contrasting Wisdom and Foolishness. The next question raised is this: Where doe each of these Lady's come from? For Lady Folly, I'm really not sure. She's just kind of...everywhere: "now in the street, now in the squares, and at every corner she lies in wait." She comes from everywhere and nowhere at once. No one claims her.
		+
		+	But Lady Wisdom has a father: She tells us that "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago." She goes on to describe the amazing wonders of creation, of which she was first. Look at verse 30, because there's a translation issue there. The NRSV reads "then I was beside him, like a master worker." But if you look at the little letter next to "master worker" and follow it down to the footnote, it will give you another possible translation, what I think is a better one: "then I was beside him, like a little child (or even as "one brought up by him"), and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race." The word used twice for rejoice is שָׂחַק (sachaq), which also means to laugh, to dance, to play. Wisdom is not solemn and serious. Wisdom is playful.
		+
		+	Five years ago, I could not have possibly understood this image of Wisdom, dancing and playing in the presence of God, but now...I have a five year old daughter. I take her to preschool in the morning, and after listening to her favorite song on the drive to church (Neil Diamond's forever in Blue Jeans), when we arrive here she literally bursts out of the car and into my office, throwing open my shutters to let the sunlight in. Then she runs around the corner to find Patty and tell her all about what she's wearing today, how her mother fixed her hair, or whether she's the snack leader for her class. She takes my hand and we walk down the hall, only she's skipping down the hall, and I find it really hard to resist the temptation to skip, too. All the while, she's singing "Forever in Blue Jeans." When we get to her classroom she runs in to greet Miss Bettina and all of her friends, and right when I think she's about to forget me she comes flying into my arms for a goodbye hug and kiss, and I can tell you right now, there is NO better way to start the day, than what I've just described.
		+
		+	It is simple and profound the joy that a little girl can bring into the world, into God's creation. And there, by the way, I think we can find most of our answers about Wisdom--although they are still no less mysterious and paradoxical. What is Wisdom? It is not somber and serious, prim and proper. Wisdom is a joyful, childlike delight in God that follows where he leads and calls out to us to do the same. Where does Wisdom come from? Not from accumulated mistakes or even a lifetime of experiences. Wisdom comes from God. It is a lifelong closeness with God that keeps foolishness at bay. It is for the young and old, for men and women, boys and girls: "To you, O People I call, and my cry is to all that live." How do we get Wisdom? The answer is as profound and simple as the joy of a child: To get Wisdom, answer her call.
		+
		+	Wisdom is calling you. God is calling you. Will you answer God's call today?

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 ==The Call of Wisdom==
 Today is Trinity Sunday, so I'd like to start with two stories about the Trinity...and then we'll all move on to something we can actually understand.  The first story is from the NIV translation of the Bible.  You may remember that when I say NIV translation, that has nothing to do with the New International Version.   No, the NIV stands for "Neal's Improvised Version." And today it goes something like this:
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 Earlier, I asked the question "What is Wisdom?" But for Proverbs 8, the question is more appropriately, "Who is Wisdom?" Right from the beginning of the chapter, Wisdom is personified as a female voice:  "Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out."
-So Wisdom is a woman.  Several commentaries refer to her as "Lady Wisdom."  But I'm going to suggest that she's not just any kind of lady--she is actually "Young" Lady Wisdom, perhaps even "Young Girl" Wisdom.  And the reason I believe this is because Proverbs was written as a collection of wisdom addressed to...a young man.  A boy.  In the NRSV translation, many of the chapters of Proverbs begin with the phrase, "my child." But this is a translation of the Hebrew word  בְּ֭נִי  (bn'i) which literally means Son of me, or my son.  A lot of times, translating a word like that to be more inclusive is a good move, and I do think Proverbs has much to offer to people of all ages and genders.  But the authors of the Old Testament scriptures were very careful in other places to include both בְּ֭נִי (bn'i) and בִּתִּ֗י (bt'i) when they want to include both a young boy and a young girl.
+So Wisdom is a woman.  Several commentaries refer to her as "Lady Wisdom."  But I'm going to suggest that she's not just any kind of lady--she is actually "Young" Lady Wisdom, perhaps even "Young Girl" Wisdom.  And the reason I believe this is because Proverbs was written as a collection of wisdom addressed to...a young man.  A boy.  In the NRSV translation, many of the chapters of Proverbs begin with the phrase, "my child." But this is a translation of the Hebrew word  בְּ֭נִי  (bn'i) which literally means Son of me, or my son.  A lot of times, translating a word like that to be more inclusive is a good move, and I do think Proverbs has much to offer to people of all ages and genders.  But the authors of the Old Testament scriptures were very careful in other places to include both בְּ֭נִי (bn'i) and בִּתִּ֗י (bt'i) when they want make sure both genders are covered.

← Older revision	Revision as of 01:29, 14 October 2013
(No difference)

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 ==Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31==
-<poem>8Does not wisdom call,
+<poem>1Does not wisdom call,
     and does not understanding raise her voice?
 On the heights, beside the way,
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 The second story is about the early church father, Saint Augustin.  Agustin was a great philosopher and theologian who wanted so much to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and to be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this, he saw a little child all alone on the beach. The child made a hole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup, came and poured it into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. Augustin went up to her and said, "Little child, what are doing?" and she replied, "I am trying to empty the sea into this hole." "How do you think," Augustine asked her, "that you can empty this vast, immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?" To which she replied, "And you, how do you suppose that with this your small head you can comprehend the vast immensity of God?" With that the child disappeared.
-Today is Trinity Sunday, but thankfully, today's sermon is not about the Trinity.  Today's scripture passage has been used by ancient and modern theologians as a justification of the Trinity, and perhaps it is, but I prefer to take it for what it is at face value:  It is a poem on Wisdom, in the Book of Proverbs, which is one of the great Wisdom books in the Bible.
+Today is Trinity Sunday, but thankfully, today's sermon is not about the Trinity.  Today's scripture passage has been used by ancient and modern theologians as a justification of the Trinity, and perhaps it is, but I prefer to take it for what it is at face value:  It is a poem on Wisdom, in the Book of Proverbs, which (along with the books of Job and Ecclesiastes) is one of the three great Wisdom texts in the Bible.

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 ==The Call of Wisdom==
-There are ancient Origin stories, like Genesis and Exodus, that explain who we are, who God is, and how we came to be.
+Today is Trinity Sunday, so I'd like to start with two stories about the Trinity...and then we'll all move on to something we can actually understand.
-There are books of Law, like Deuteronomy and Leviticus, that teach us how to live.
-There are books of History, like 1st and 2nd Chronicles, 1st and 2nd Kings, that record victories and defeats, and reigns of kings -- they teach us through story, personality, and example...what to do, and often what not to do.
-There are the books of the Prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel -- they teach us to hear God's voice in unlikely places and times.
-There are books of poetry like Psalms and Lamentations, that teach us to sing out and cry out to God in times of joy and despair.
-And then, there are the books...three of them...that we call the books of Wisdom.  They are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job.
+The first story is from the NIV translation of the Bible.  You may remember that when I say NIV translation, that has nothing to do with the New International Version.   No, the NIV stands for "Neal's Improvised Version." And today it goes something like this:

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:43, 25 May 2013
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	==The Call of Wisdom==		==The Call of Wisdom==
		+	There are many different types of writings in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures.
		+
		+	There are ancient Origin stories, like Genesis and Exodus, that explain who we are, who God is, and how we came to be.
		+	There are books of Law, like Deuteronomy and Leviticus, that teach us how to live.
		+	There are books of History, like 1st and 2nd Chronicles, 1st and 2nd Kings, that record victories and defeats, and reigns of kings -- they teach us through story, personality, and example...what to do, and often what not to do.
		+	There are the books of the Prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel -- they teach us to hear God's voice in unlikely places and times.
		+	There are books of poetry like Psalms and Lamentations, that teach us to sing out and cry out to God in times of joy and despair.
		+
		+	And then, there are the books...three of them...that we call the books of Wisdom. They are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job.