The Principal Thing
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For August 19, 2018:
The Principal Thing
by Dean Feldmeyer
Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-56
In the News
The President of the United States has, according to the Washington Post Fact Checker, made an average of 7.6 false or misleading statements per day since he took office. (That’s 4,229 lies or untruths in 558 days as of July 31).1
We are, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, living in a “post truth” era when “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”2
An absurd, irrational, far right conspiracy theory purported to be leaked from deep within the bowels of the government by someone referred to as QAnon, is given credence by hundreds if not thousands of cheering, tee-shirted participants at Trump campaign rallies.
How absurd and irrational? Well, according to this so called deeply placed source, John Kennedy Jr. did not die and has secretly joined forces with President Trump, who isn’t really under investigation but is only pretending to be, as part of a countercoup to restore power to the people after more than a century of governmental control by a globalist cabal. They are being opposed by a ring of pedophiles that includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood.3
Further, it was liberals who killed President Kennedy!
Of course, Q was not the first person to see a conspiracy behind Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. But in a February post, Q revealed that Trump and his allies recite a daily prayer to JFK in the Oval Office. “Rest in peace Mr. President,” it goes. “Since your tragic death, Patriots have planned, installed, and by the grace of God, activated, the beam of LIGHT.” The “beam of LIGHT” refers to the secret organization to which Trump and Q belong, which formed in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination, and is now finally strong enough to begin dismantling the cabal. Q claims to be a high-level intelligence official within this organization, and obviously he must be -- or how would he know about Trump’s secret prayer, right?
Then, somehow, JFK Jr. was killed to make way for Hillary Clinton’s political ambition.
It’s all very confusing but no less convincing to those who wish to be convinced.
And then there’s Alex Jones, he of the “Info Wars” and the “Alex Jones Show,” podcasts which tend to crop up on the internet from time to time and are so absurd that the mainstream media can’t help but comment. It’s like being a reporter who witnesses a train wreck and refuses to report it.
Jones specializes in the absurd.
According to him, 9/11 was a hoax, the government was behind the Sandy Hook shooting, and the Parkland kids are “crisis actors.” “White genocide” is a real threat and chemtrails are used for population control. The “New World Order” is bent on corralling us all into prison camps and the “Deep State” is manipulating everyone (except Jones, presumably) through mind control.
Absurd urban legends refuse to die:
Mr. Rogers, the popular children’s show host, was, supposedly, once a Navy SEAL sniper in Vietnam responsible for numerous deaths and the only reason he always wore a sweater was to cover up all of his tattoos. Absolutely untrue, of course.
A kindly motorist stops to help a guy with a flat tire and a clueless expression. The hapless motorist thanks the good Samaritan and asks for his name and address. A few weeks later the helper receives an envelope with $10,000 in cash from Donald Trump whom (and this is the good part) he had not recognized.
Urban legends persist, old scams still cheat people out of their hard-earned money, blatant untruths are passed off as hard-hitting news, “truthiness” has become an acceptable substitute for truth, and the word “hoax” has come to define anything that insists on being true no matter how badly we don’t want it to be.
We have come to admire our political leaders not for their character, their integrity, or their leadership skills, but for their cleverness, for their guts, their toughness, their ability to “shake things up,” and for their willingness to insult, cajole, and blame other leaders for the consequences of their own decisions.
So, where, in all of this, is the place of wisdom?
In the Scripture
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Shortly after his father, David’s, funeral, Solomon went to Gibeon, one of the customary “high places,” to make a sacrifice to YHWH and ask for the Lord’s help.
He looked out over the vast and seemingly endless vista of that land that would, someday, become Israel. He tried to imagine how many Hebrew people dwelled in that land, people for whom he was now, as king, responsible. It had to feel overwhelming.
That night YHWH appeared to Solomon in a dream:
“You are a good man,” he said. “You have lived a good life and striven to keep all of my statutes, from the biggest to the smallest. So tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you. I want to see you get started on the right foot.”
Solomon took a deep breath and responded: “Well, Lord, it’s like this. I don’t really feel up to the task you have set before. So what I really need, if I’m going to do this job well, is an understanding mind to discern the difference between good and evil.”
“That’s it?” God asks.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Solomon replies.
“Well,” says God, “What you’re talking about, here, is wisdom. You’re asking for wisdom.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“You could have asked for money, you know,” God says. “You could have asked for wealth or fame or power. You could have asked for victory over your enemies or a long life, but you didn’t. You asked for wisdom.”
Long pause.
“So,” says YHWH, “I’m going to give you wisdom. And I’m going to give you all the other stuff, as well.”
Psalm 111
The psalmist (presumably, David, Solomon’s father) begins the psalm with a litany of God’s great attributes and mighty deeds. Then he concludes the hymn by offering a definition of wisdom: The “fear” of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is to say, the first step to wisdom is to understand that God is awesome and we are not.
We may be good but only God is great.
We may be creative but only God is the creator.
Those who would have wisdom would begin by having an appropriate relationship with God.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In his letter to Ephesus, Paul begins to unpack what it looks like to live life as a wise person. Wise people make the most of time. They put their effort into discerning the will of the Lord. They strive to live sober lives, free of debauchery and drunkenness and filled with thankfulness to God.
John 6:51-58
Finally, John takes the concept of wisdom to an entirely different level. He takes the story of the manna which saved the lives of the Hebrew children crossing the wilderness and sees in it a metaphor for the relationship of Jesus to those who follow him. For John, wisdom has naught to do with knowledge or even experience. It’s not about acting like Jesus or admiring Jesus or being a fan of Jesus. For John, wise people are those who seek to “abide in” Jesus every moment of every day of their lives.
It is out of this kind of relationship that we achieve true discernment, true knowledge of right and wrong, and true wisdom.
In the Sermon
So what makes for a good leader?
Solomon believed it was wisdom that made a leader a good leader.
A quick look around contemporary American culture, however, shows just how archaic Solomon’s ideas are. Do an internet search for “characteristics of a good leader” and you will be overwhelmed with lists. Ten here, five there, three, six, a hundred. And on and on. Confidence, sense of humor, positivity, the ability to learn from failures, ability to listen, knowing how to delegate responsibility, etc.
The website, lifehack.org says that, “Good leadership is about acquiring and honing skills.” Specifically, they list 10 skills that, if practiced and honed, can, allegedly turn anyone into a great leader.
Others talk about attitudes.
Still others talk about values.
They are all what we might refer to as practical guides to leadership and none of them spend a great deal of time on such vague and complex topics as wisdom. And on that rare occasion when the topic of wisdom is broached it’s only in a trite and clichéd way: Wisdom is almost always identified with advanced age. It is more philosophical than practical, interesting but hardly useful.
On those rare occasions when leadership articles do speak of wisdom their definition of it is fairly pedestrian. Wisdom usually involves the ability to discern or judge what is true, right and/or lasting. The most common synonyms are “insight” and “discernment.”
Not until we begin to look at the subject of leadership through theological eyes does the issue of wisdom come to the front of the line.
The leader who wishes to lead with wisdom understands that the first step in that direction is an appropriate relationship with God, a relationship that knows that only God is great, that only God is the creator and we are God’s creations.
1 President Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in 558 days, Washington Post. August 1, 2018 by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly (Washington Post)
2 'Post-truth' named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. November 15, 2016 by Alison Flood (The Guardian)
3 QAnon is terrifying. This is why. August 2, 2018 by Molly Roberts (Washington Post)
In Praise of Wisdom
by Tom Willadsen
Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-56 Psalm 34: 9-14, Proverbs 9:1-6
Looking at the emphasis on wisdom in this collection of readings isn’t especially enlightening on the first reading. Of course wisdom is better than foolishness. As most communities in the US are gearing up for the start of the school year, it’s tempting to equate education with wisdom. There is a profound difference between wisdom and education.
For years, the only bit of scripture I could cite “chapter and verse” was Proverbs 26:11, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit / Is a fool who repeats his folly.”
Even now, whenever I see a Bible sitting out on a pedestal, I turn to Proverbs 26:11 and leave it that way, hoping that someone will come along and conclude, “Gosh, the Bible says, ‘Don’t make the same mistake twice!’ I guess I’ll do that.”
I know the Proverbs reading from the Vanderbilt lectionary is 9:1-6, not 26:11, but they get at the same idea -- stop being foolish, grow in faith and leave behind foolishness.
Vanderbilt’s other lesson is Psalm 34:9-14. Like Psalm 111 it is an acrostic. Typically, acrostics do not yield much of a narrative, still, it’s unfortunate that the reading is divided as it is. The first ten verses of Psalm 34 are a call for thanksgiving and praise, while the balance of the psalm is an appeal shunning evil and virtuous living. The reward of a long life awaits those who are faithful and righteous.
I also regret that verse 8 is not part of this week’s readings. “O taste and see that Lord is good,” has been my justification for taking a second piece of pecan pie at church potlucks since the late ’80s. In verse 10, the reference to young lions which is out of place is probably a scribal error, which should instead be read as “the unrighteous.”
Verse 14b is easily overlooked, “seek peace, and pursue it.” Note that those are commands, not invitations. Also, note that peace is something that is pursued, not something that will find you when you have finally managed to clear the clutter from your life and polished off all the tasks on your “to do” list. Pursue peace; it’s a journey, not a destination.
Psalm 111 is another ode to wisdom, and it echoes the notion found elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The sense of reverence or respect is a more palatable rendering of “fear” to 21st century Americans. The sense is that it is wise to acknowledge the majesty of the Lord and to live with the understanding that the Lord is far greater, more majestic, more worthy of worship and praise than oneself. Don’t forget, that we are made in God’s image and “crowned with glory,” (Psalm 8:5) but keep that in perspective. Wisdom is keeping a sense of perspective.
Wisdom is not cleverness, nor knowledge, and not only something one gains by experience, such that older people, who have presumably had more experience, must be wiser. In Job 32, Elihu says, “It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.”
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” I know this is true; I just saw it on a t-shirt.
As a freshman in college, a wise upper classman told me, “Don’t let your classes get in the way of your education.” I find myself giving this advice at this time of year -- to other people’s children. My kids are going to go to class and wring every bit of knowledge they can out of this costly experience we call “higher education.” Still, there is something to be said for wisdom. And Ephesians says it pretty well. Making productive use of one’s time is wisdom. Filling oneself with the spirit of Christian community, rather than liquid spirits is wisdom. Giving thanks to God, the Creator, in all situations is wisdom.
The reading from John’s gospel does not mention wisdom. While it is certainly not opposed to wisdom, the reading is part of a larger dialogue that Jesus is having in the synagogue in Capernaum. He had just fed 5,000 and was discussing the bread of heaven. Having just met their physical needs miraculously, he attends to their spiritual needs. It is hard for them to grasp what he is saying. They know him as Joseph’s son, now he’s come down from heaven? And eating his body will unite them with God the Father? It’s a difficult concept for them to embrace.
Finally, there’s the transfer of the kingship from David to Solomon. There is a lot of intrigue and revenge in the portions that the lectionary omits. Solomon walked into a family and kingdom riddled with factions and turmoil. He was quite young when he assumed the throne. While some historians equate his declaration in verse 7 that he was “only a little child,” with Jeremiah’s resistance to God’s call in Jeremiah 1:6, it is unclear exactly how young Solomon was. He likely self-deprecated out of humility. Still, he chose wisely when selecting what he should ask God for. His request put the needs of the nation he ruled before his own desire for power, wealth or prestige. Solomon recognized his human limitation. Solomon recognized the magnitude of the task of governing God’s chosen people, a people that had too numerous to count. Solomon put the people first. In so doing, the Lord rewarded Solomon and promised to make him a king whose wisdom and kingdom would be beyond compare throughout history.
And after all that a little bit of Deuteronomy sneaked in “If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” It is not clear why David was considered such a model of obedience. And the placement of this verse at the end makes God’s promise to Solomon conditional on his continued obedience.
We know of “the riches of Solomon” and “the wisdom of Solomon.” Solomon received both from the Lord when the Lord appeared in a dream and, essentially, told Solomon to make a wish.
Was he wise to choose wisdom? Was he shrewd?
What would Solomon’s wisdom look like in a modern context? Solomon asked for wisdom so that he might govern well. He knew the enormity of the challenge, and wanted to rise to the challenge. He knew he could not do that alone. Solomon knew he had to rely on God. Knowing his limitations (to paraphrase “Cool Hand Luke”) was the beginning of wisdom.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Ephesians 5:15-20
Wisdom
“Be careful how you live,” the author of Ephesians writes to the early church, with advice that still inspires us. The story is told of a wise woman who was traveling in the mountains. She found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone. [Author Unknown] From MirthandMotivation.com
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Ephesians 5:15-20 and Psalm 111
Giving Away our Wisdom
“The beginning of wisdom,” the Psalmist writes, making us wonder where wisdom might end. For many of us, it could all come to a stop in our time-grabbing phones. We start out to think about world peace and end up playing Letris for an hour. Tristan Harris, who has been the "Product Philosopher" at Google, says we can seek wisdom by using our technology better. He suggests that we think about the things on our phone in three categories: Tools, which help us do specific tasks. (Notes, camera, ride apps.) Second, he asks, “Which are Bottomless Bowls or Slot Machines? Specifically, I mean apps with either bottomless lists to go through (Email messages, Facebook stories) or bottomless excuses to check (Email or social media notifications).” The third group is “Aspirations.” These are things that “represent things that you realistically want to spend more time on in your life (for me, listening to certain Podcasts, and an app to book classes at my local yoga studio). But not unrealistic aspirations. For example, I like to meditate but meditation apps don’t tend to work for me, so I don’t include them.”
Our home screen, he says, should include only tools and realistic aspirations, cutting down on our mindless use of our phones and tablets.
We can find extra time and motivation, if we use our technology with wisdom and purpose.
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Ephesians 5:15-20
Making Wisdom Conscious
“Be careful how you live,” Ephesians reminds us, “not as unwise people, but as wise.” If it doesn’t come naturally, we can trick ourselves into making wise choices. Tristan Harris tells about an experiment at the Google headquarters, where the company is well-known for giving employees free snacks. “As part of its generous employee perks and benefits, Google stocks its micro-kitchens with seductive snacks and candy so its employees can keep snacking during work. But they ran into a problem: employees found themselves eating more unhealthy snacks than they wanted.” When M&M’s were put out on shelves, in bowls, people took them without thinking. So the company made a switch. “They put the candy into opaque, white porcelain jars with a lid (while putting alternatives like healthy fruit in see-through glass jars.) They replaced the candy’s visual packaging with a neutral white placard and neutral font (e.g. “Peanut M&M’s”.) The first change created a brief gap, a moment of conscious choice, between the impulse and people’s actions. The second change dismantled the millions of dollars spent on advertising and conditioning M&M’s wrappers into our lives, and instead let employees choose for themselves.” People deliberately picked what they wanted, instead of slipping into unwise choices.
If we create ways to stop and think, we can create more wisdom for ourselves.
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Psalm 111
The Wisdom of the Crowd
“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation,” the psalmist declares. It turns out that there is wisdom to be found in the company of the crowd. Author James Surowiecki notes that the combined intelligence in a group of people can solve problems. Surowiecki is a financial writer, and he wondered why the stock market often does better than people who are paid to beat it. “And yet Surowiecki noticed that, often, markets -- or other forms of collective thought -- were "smarter" than the individuals who participated in them. Markets weed out the weak, the poor ideas, the faltering processes -- and they're also capable of assembling the diverse information of their participants into the right answer.” He cites the example of the fair, where people are attempting to guess the weight of a large animal. The collective guesses, from experts and amateurs, averaged together, will come close to the right answer. The same is true when trying to guess how many jelly beans are in a jar. The average of all the guesses will be very close to the truth.
Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds also tells the story of the submarine Scorpion, which went down in the north Atlantic. At the time, the navy had only a vague idea of where it was. “Yet, using the expertise of various experts in diverse disciplines, and combining them through mathematical formulas, a naval officer managed to determine its resting place within 220 yards.”
Our collective knowledge can take us further than our own individual wisdom.
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From team member Ron Love:
Wisdom
In his 84 years, Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1,093 patents. One of which was the invention of the electric light bulb. Prior to Edison, there were a number of attempts to create the light bulb, but they all proved impractical.
In 1860, English chemist Joseph Swan developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of ones made of platinum. Like earlier renditions of the light bulb, Swan's filaments were placed in a vacuum tube to minimize the filament’s exposure to oxygen, extending its lifespan.
Edison realized that the problem with Swan's design was the filament. A thin filament with high electrical resistance would make a lamp practical because it would require only a little current to make it glow. Edison experimented with hundreds of different types of filaments, until he found one that was reliable. He demonstrated his light bulb in December 1879.
Several months after the 1879 patent was granted, Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could burn for more than 1,200 hours. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879. The bulb burned for 13.5 hours, and during that entire time Edison sat and watched it.
On being asked how he felt about repeatedly failing to design a working light bulb, Edison replied, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
* * *
Wisdom
Orville and Wilbur Wright had a major problem in the development of their airplane, and that is they could not maneuver their plane. To understand flight the Wright Brothers spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight. They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver. The Wrights believed that they could use this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing.
To learn more, they read scientific books and papers. One of the most influential was James Bell Pettigrew's Animal Locomotion, or Walking, Swimming, and Flying, With a Dissertation on Aeronautics. In his book Pettigrew wrote, “The wing is jointed to the upper part of the body by a universal joint which admits every variety of motion...” He went on to describe how the wings of birds twisted along their long dimension “like a screw.” He was mostly concerned about describing how wings produce thrust and lift, but Wilbur reasoned that the same motions could also be used for aerodynamic control.
Wilbur, upon reading the book, wrote, “The thought came to me that possibly a bird adjusted the tips of its wings…so as to present one tip at a positive angle and the other at a negative angle, thus…turning itself into an animated windmill, and that when its body had revolved…as far as it wished, it reversed the process.”
In July of 1899, Wilbur was in his bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, when he picked up a long, slender cardboard box that had once held an inner tube. He idly began to toy with it. He happened to place the thumb and forefinger of one hand on diagonal corners at one end of the box, and the other thumb and forefinger on the opposite diagonal corners at the other end. He noticed that when he squeezed his thumbs and forefingers together, the box twisted. The surfaces at each end rotated in opposite directions. He realized that with a set of cables, he could twist the wings just as he twisted the box. When one wing tip turned up, this would increase the lift at that end, while the other wing tip turned down, the lift would decrease. The difference in lift would cause the biplane to roll to the right or left.
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Wisdom
Eli Whitney, after graduating from Yale College, headed to the south. He originally planned to work as a private tutor, but instead accepted an invitation to stay with Catherine Greene, the widow of an American Revolutionary War general, on her plantation known as Mulberry Grove, near Savannah, Georgia. While there, Whitney learned about cotton production, and especially the difficulty raising and selling of cotton as a profitable business.
Greene and her plantation manager, Phineas Miller, explained to Whitney the problem with short-staple cotton. Whitney, who understood the problem and had a mechanical mind, built a machine that could effectively and efficiently remove the seeds from cotton plants.
The invention, called the cotton gin, with the word “gin” being derived from the word “engine.” The cotton gin worked something like a strainer or sieve: Cotton was run through a wooden drum embedded with a series of hooks that caught the fibers and dragged them through a mesh. The mesh was too fine to let the seeds through but the hooks pulled the cotton fibers through with ease. Whitney’s hand-cranked machine could remove the seeds from 50 pounds of cotton in a single day.
Eli Whitney applied for a patient for his cotton gin on October 28, 1793. The patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. Before then, farmers broke into Whitney’s garage and stole his plans, and because of its simple design they were able to duplicate the machine. Because of the lengthy approval process of the patent, Whitney had no legal recourse. For a machine that made cotton profitable and prolonged slavery, the inventor received no income from his invention.
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Wisdom
John Deere grew up in Rutland, Vermont. He spent his youth assisting his father in his tailor’s shop. During this time, he helped sharpen and polish needles that were used for sewing soft leather.
After relocating to Grand Detour, Illinois, in 1825, he began his career as a blacksmith. As a blacksmith, Deere realized that cast-iron plows were not working very well in the tough prairie sod of the mid-western plains. Deere began to seek a solution.
One day, he was making repairs at a saw mill and he noticed a shiny, circular saw blade that self-polished itself from the friction created by the wood. He then recalled the needles he had previously polished at his father’s tailor shop by running them through sand. From these two insights he made a prototype plow which with a highly polished steel blade that proved to be surprisingly efficient. Deere concluded that a plow made out of highly polished steel and a correctly shaped moldboard would be better able to handle the soil conditions of the prairie, especially its sticky clay.
These large plows made for cutting prairie dirt were called “grasshopper plows.” They were made of iron and a steel blade that cut through soil without clogging. These first steel plows were made in 1837.
* * *
Wisdom
Thomas Alva Edison, who was born in Milan, Ohio, was always an entrepreneur and inventor. In 1859, at the age of twelve, he left school and entered business of life as a salesman. He took a job as a “candy butcher” on the Grand Trunk Railroad, selling newspapers, fruit, vegetables and snacks.
In 1862, at the age of 14, he assembled a printing press in the baggage car. He called his paper The Grand Trunk Herald. At first, he was publisher, editor, writer, marketing director, printer and performed deliveries. Later, he hired his friends to work with him on specific tasks that he delegated.
On days when important battles of the Civil War were being viciously fought, Edison made large sums of money by cleverly baiting the passengers with teasing snippets of information about the battle news. He accomplished this by arranging snippets of news to be telegraphed ahead to the next station. Then he would sell his freshly printed papers at inflated prices to passengers on board the train who were anxious to read about the latest battlefield developments.
The Grand Trunk Herald was immediately popular and circulated to both passengers and four hundred railroad employees as the Grand Trunk Railroad ran between Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan.
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Wisdom
Albert Einstein had a very simple procedure of welcoming or dismissing a guest who unexpectedly came to his home. He would go and sit at the dining room table, and invite his guest to take a seat. His wife would then bring Einstein a bowl of soup. If he took a spoonful of soup, it was an indication he wanted the guest to stay. If he pushed the bowl away, it was an indication that his wife should invite the guest to leave.
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Wisdom
Henry Bessemer, of Sheffield, England, described the origin of his invention of the Bessemer Furnace in his autobiography written in 1890. His invention was inspired by a conversation with Napoleon III in 1854. The conversation pertained to the steel required for better artillery during the Crimean War. Bessemer claimed that the conversation “was the spark which kindled one of the greatest revolutions that the present century had to record, for during my solitary ride in a cab that night from Vincennes to Paris, I made up my mind to try what I could to improve the quality of iron in the manufacture of guns.”
At the time steel was used to make only small weapons like swords and rifles, but the production of large cannons was too expensive and difficult. Starting in January 1855, Bessemer began working on a way to produce steel in the massive quantities required for artillery, and secured a patent in 1856.
Bessemer modeled his invention from the work of William Kelly, a businessman-scientist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kelly began experiments aimed at developing a revolutionary means of removing impurities from pig iron by an air blast. Kelly theorized that not only would the air, injected into the molten iron, supply oxygen to react with the impurities, converting them into oxides separable as slag, but that the heat evolved in these reactions would increase the temperature of the mass, keeping it from solidifying during the operation. After several failures, he succeeded in proving his theory and rapidly producing steel ingots.
William Kelly, initially held a patent for “a system of air blowing the carbon out of pig iron,” a method of steel production known as the pneumatic process. Air was blown through molten pig iron to oxidize and remove unwanted impurities. When Kelly went bankrupt, Bessemer bought his patent. Bessemer patented "a decarbonization process utilizing a blast of air" in 1855.
The Bessemer converter is a cylindrical steel pot approximately 20 feet high, and was originally lined with a siliceous refractory. Air is blown in through openings, called tuyeres, near the bottom, creating oxides of silicon and manganese, which become part of the slag, and of carbon, which are carried out in the stream of air. Within a few minutes an ingot of steel can be produced, ready for the forge or rolling mill.
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Wisdom
Francis Spellman was the Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. As a strong advocate of Roman Catholic doctrine and an outspoken critic on social issues, serving one of the most influential dioceses in the United States gave him a very visible and public platform. He became known as “the Powerhouse.”
He was born in Whitman, Massachusetts to William Spellman and Ellen, both immigrants from Ireland. As a young boy he worked in his father’s grocery store. His father gave him one piece of advice that stayed with him throughout his life. William Spellman told Francis, “Always associate with people smarter than yourself.”
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Wisdom
Sherwood Schwarrtz was the writer for the two television programs Gilligan’s Island, which went on the air in 1967, and The Brady Bunch, which went on the air in 1969. The shows did what sitcoms were supposed to do, and that is, make people laugh. But, Schwartz had a political agenda for the program Gilligan’s Island. This sitcom represented the confidence that people had in the United States during the Cold War. The program showed that a group of Americans could be dropped down anywhere on the planet and survive by creating a rule of law. Each character represented an American attribute. Gilligan was the perfect example of democracy, since he made no claims to superiority. The Professor was American wisdom. The Millionaire showed American success. The Skipper sowed American military authority and might.
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Wisdom
Though his words were directed against marriage equality, and though he was a Mormon, his wisdom should not be dismissed. Mormon apostle Boyd Packer, addressing the Church of Latter-day Saints 183rd Annual Conference, which was held in April 2013, said, “Tolerance is a virtue, but, like all virtues, when exaggerated it transforms itself into a vice.” He went on to say, “We need to be careful of the ‘tolerance trap’ so that we are not swallowed up in it.”
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From team member Chris Keating:
2 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
A perennial wooden-headness
God is pleased with Solomon’s prayer for wisdom in governance -- perhaps even a bit surprised. There’s a hint in God’s reply to Solomon which indicates just how unusual it was to have a king seek wisdom and guidance in governing. As Peter Starr writes in Inside Higher Ed, there continues to be a certain unwillingness from politicians to use wisdom in governing.
Starr argues that educators (and, perhaps pastors) need to do the heavy lifting of teaching wisdom. He quotes an intriguing and stunningly relevant lecture by historian Barbara Tuchman in 1979. Tuchman’s words to the students and faculty of the United States Military Academy at West Point seem prescient to this moment. Bemoaning the “perennial wooden-headedness of politicians,” Tuchman observed:
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Psalm 111
The beginning of wisdom
Writer and business consultant Paul Boynton encourages clients to begin searching for wisdom by first paying close attention to what they already know, believe, and value. He quotes a bumper sticker he once saw, “What do you know that you’re not letting yourself see?” (Boynton, Begin With Yes, p. 30.). For Boynton, this is a breakthrough question that can lead to great personal insight. The psalmist suggests much of the same by suggesting that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” What do we know that we are not allowing ourselves to see? Wisdom begins with noticing.
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Ephesians 5:15-20
Making melodies in the heart
The 2018 film, “I Can Only Imagine,” starring Dennis Quaid, is a recent Christian bio-pic detailing the life and struggles of singer/songwriter Bart Millard, of the contemporary Christian band “Mercy Me.” The movie is far from perfect, but does an admirable job chronicling the sort of abuse and difficulty Millard endured. He was routinely abused by his father and abandoned by his mother. Yet the difficulties Millard faces provide him with inspiration and sources for writing music. Millard and his father reconcile shortly before the elder Millard dies. It is a tenuous process, to be sure, but one guided by God’s grace. After his father dies, Millard is inspired to write his blockbuster hit, “I Can Only Imagine” in less than 10 minutes.
In response, however, singer Amy Grant tells Millard “you didn’t write this song in ten minutes. You wrote it over your entire life.” In that sense, “I Can Only Imagine” had become Millard’s life-changing “melody in the heart,” which Paul calls the Ephesians to sing.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Praise God! Let us give thanks to God with our whole heart.
People: Great are the works of our God, studied by all who delight in them.
Leader: The works of God’s hands are faithful and just.
People: All of God’s precepts are trustworthy.
Leader: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
People: God’s praise endures forever.
OR
Leader: Come and learn the wisdom of our God.
People: We are in need of God’s wisdom.
Leader: The first part of wisdom is the worship of God.
People: We lift our hearts and voices in praise.
Leader: Let us open our hearts to all that God teaches.
People: We are ready to receive the wisdom of our God.
Hymns and Songs:
All Creatures of Our God and King
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELA: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
When in Our Music God is Glorified
UMH: 68
H82: 420
PH: 264
AAHH: 112
NCH: 561
CH: 7
LBW: 555
ELA: 850/851
W&P: 7
STLT: 36
Renew: 62
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies
UMH: 173
H82: 6/7
PH: 462/463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Sanctuary
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is Wisdom:
Grant us the grace to seek your wisdom
as we worship you and follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are wisdom. Open our minds and hearts to seek you and your wisdom. Centered in our worship of you, help us to faithfully follow Jesus. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we choose the foolishness of this world over the wisdom of God.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forsaken your wisdom for the foolishness of this world. We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the soft words of false wisdom. We have put ourselves in your place and declared what is truth and what is not. Forgive us our foolish ways and open us once again to your presence and wisdom. Amen.
Leader: God grants wisdom to all who seek it. Receive God’s grace and wisdom and speak God’s truth to all.
Prayers of the People
We worship you, O God, the fount of all wisdom. You are the true wisdom that brings life and light to all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forsaken your wisdom for the foolishness of this world. We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the soft words of false wisdom. We have put ourselves in your place and declared what is truth and what is not. Forgive us our foolish ways and open us once again to your presence and wisdom.
We give you thanks for all the blessings of this life. We thank you that you have created us in your image and have granted us your wisdom. We thank you for those who have listened to you and your Christ and have taught us to seek wisdom.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all of us who need to be filled with your wisdom. We pray for those who are used by others who do not operate in your ways.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about how helpful knowledge is. It is very good to know how to put on your helmet when your ride your bike. It is wisdom to always wear it when riding. Knowledge is good. Wisdom is what helps us do our best.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Inviting the Foolish to the Party
by Bethany Peerbolte
Proverbs 9:1-6
We don’t like to identify with the foolish when we read scripture, but this week we might want to. The foolish are the ones who get invited to the party! This great party is not reserved for the rich, cool, smart crowd. Wisdom invites the foolish. Wisdom wants to make an impact with her event and improve lives. Her preparation for the party parallels the preparation teachers are making right now for school to start. Decorating beige walls with fun posters, planning lessons that will engage, inspire, and teach, and preparing to make the environment inviting to every child. Help children see the start of school not as the end of summer but the beginning of a party where they will become smarter and better people.
Say something like:
There is a big event coming up. Right now there are people preparing colorfully decorated rooms for this event. They are planning activities you will remember for your whole life! They are putting together a list of kids to be invited, too. You, of course, are on the list along with some of your friends, but there are also kids you don’t know yet on the list. Kids who these planners think you will become friends with quickly. Sounds like a party, right!?
The person preparing the party in the Bible lesson today is named “Wisdom” and she is putting together a great party. She has prepared a fun room with great food. She has games and things planned for her guests. It is going to be the best party anyone has ever seen. You would think Wisdom would invite the rich, popular, smartest people in town. But you know what…she invites the foolish. You see Wisdom wants this party to make a difference in people’s lives. If she invites people who are already smart they won’t learn anything new at her party. If she invites foolish people, she knows she can help them live a better life.
How many of you think you are a little foolish and would be invited to Wisdom’s party? It’s a great thing to know we are foolish and still have more to learn. Think of how much smarter you are now than you were last year. You might say last year you were foolish compared to now. Now you are smarter, but probably have some more to learn, right?
Remember that big event I said is happening soon, I was talking about going back to school. Colorful rooms, memorable activities, a room full of old and new friends sounds like a party but it also is your next year school room. Wisdom isn’t the one preparing this party -- it’s your teachers. Just like Wisdom your teachers are excited to teach you new things. They know you are coming in a little foolish but that’s how they like it. They want you to come to school ready to learn new things and get some new wisdom.
Let’s say a prayer asking for wisdom and a great school year.
Wise God, You have so much to teach us. Thank you for giving us teachers to teach us this year. Help us focus on what we need to learn. Remind us that no matter how smart we get, we always have something more to learn. Let this school year be a party celebrating the new things we learn everyday. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, August 19, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- The Principal Thing by Dean Feldmeyer -- “Wisdom is the principal thing,” says the proverb. “Therefore, get wisdom.” (4:7) And a significant part of this wisdom we are advised to get is the ability to discern what to believe and what not to believe, what is true and what isn’t.
- Second Thoughts: In Praise of Wisdom by Tom Willadsen -- In praise of wisdom
- Sermon illustrations by Chris Keating, Ron Love, and Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Inviting the Foolish to the Party Children’s sermon by Bethany Peerbolte -- School is fast approaching and the groans of kids are getting louder. The Proverb lesson this week can help them see school as a celebration of the wisdom they will gain this year. This children’s sermon will connect the learning they will do to God’s plan for their lives. Showing that even outside church God is still working.
The Principal Thing
by Dean Feldmeyer
Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-56
In the News
The President of the United States has, according to the Washington Post Fact Checker, made an average of 7.6 false or misleading statements per day since he took office. (That’s 4,229 lies or untruths in 558 days as of July 31).1
We are, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, living in a “post truth” era when “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”2
An absurd, irrational, far right conspiracy theory purported to be leaked from deep within the bowels of the government by someone referred to as QAnon, is given credence by hundreds if not thousands of cheering, tee-shirted participants at Trump campaign rallies.
How absurd and irrational? Well, according to this so called deeply placed source, John Kennedy Jr. did not die and has secretly joined forces with President Trump, who isn’t really under investigation but is only pretending to be, as part of a countercoup to restore power to the people after more than a century of governmental control by a globalist cabal. They are being opposed by a ring of pedophiles that includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood.3
Further, it was liberals who killed President Kennedy!
Of course, Q was not the first person to see a conspiracy behind Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. But in a February post, Q revealed that Trump and his allies recite a daily prayer to JFK in the Oval Office. “Rest in peace Mr. President,” it goes. “Since your tragic death, Patriots have planned, installed, and by the grace of God, activated, the beam of LIGHT.” The “beam of LIGHT” refers to the secret organization to which Trump and Q belong, which formed in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination, and is now finally strong enough to begin dismantling the cabal. Q claims to be a high-level intelligence official within this organization, and obviously he must be -- or how would he know about Trump’s secret prayer, right?
Then, somehow, JFK Jr. was killed to make way for Hillary Clinton’s political ambition.
It’s all very confusing but no less convincing to those who wish to be convinced.
And then there’s Alex Jones, he of the “Info Wars” and the “Alex Jones Show,” podcasts which tend to crop up on the internet from time to time and are so absurd that the mainstream media can’t help but comment. It’s like being a reporter who witnesses a train wreck and refuses to report it.
Jones specializes in the absurd.
According to him, 9/11 was a hoax, the government was behind the Sandy Hook shooting, and the Parkland kids are “crisis actors.” “White genocide” is a real threat and chemtrails are used for population control. The “New World Order” is bent on corralling us all into prison camps and the “Deep State” is manipulating everyone (except Jones, presumably) through mind control.
Absurd urban legends refuse to die:
Mr. Rogers, the popular children’s show host, was, supposedly, once a Navy SEAL sniper in Vietnam responsible for numerous deaths and the only reason he always wore a sweater was to cover up all of his tattoos. Absolutely untrue, of course.
A kindly motorist stops to help a guy with a flat tire and a clueless expression. The hapless motorist thanks the good Samaritan and asks for his name and address. A few weeks later the helper receives an envelope with $10,000 in cash from Donald Trump whom (and this is the good part) he had not recognized.
Urban legends persist, old scams still cheat people out of their hard-earned money, blatant untruths are passed off as hard-hitting news, “truthiness” has become an acceptable substitute for truth, and the word “hoax” has come to define anything that insists on being true no matter how badly we don’t want it to be.
We have come to admire our political leaders not for their character, their integrity, or their leadership skills, but for their cleverness, for their guts, their toughness, their ability to “shake things up,” and for their willingness to insult, cajole, and blame other leaders for the consequences of their own decisions.
So, where, in all of this, is the place of wisdom?
In the Scripture
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Shortly after his father, David’s, funeral, Solomon went to Gibeon, one of the customary “high places,” to make a sacrifice to YHWH and ask for the Lord’s help.
He looked out over the vast and seemingly endless vista of that land that would, someday, become Israel. He tried to imagine how many Hebrew people dwelled in that land, people for whom he was now, as king, responsible. It had to feel overwhelming.
That night YHWH appeared to Solomon in a dream:
“You are a good man,” he said. “You have lived a good life and striven to keep all of my statutes, from the biggest to the smallest. So tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you. I want to see you get started on the right foot.”
Solomon took a deep breath and responded: “Well, Lord, it’s like this. I don’t really feel up to the task you have set before. So what I really need, if I’m going to do this job well, is an understanding mind to discern the difference between good and evil.”
“That’s it?” God asks.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Solomon replies.
“Well,” says God, “What you’re talking about, here, is wisdom. You’re asking for wisdom.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“You could have asked for money, you know,” God says. “You could have asked for wealth or fame or power. You could have asked for victory over your enemies or a long life, but you didn’t. You asked for wisdom.”
Long pause.
“So,” says YHWH, “I’m going to give you wisdom. And I’m going to give you all the other stuff, as well.”
Psalm 111
The psalmist (presumably, David, Solomon’s father) begins the psalm with a litany of God’s great attributes and mighty deeds. Then he concludes the hymn by offering a definition of wisdom: The “fear” of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is to say, the first step to wisdom is to understand that God is awesome and we are not.
We may be good but only God is great.
We may be creative but only God is the creator.
Those who would have wisdom would begin by having an appropriate relationship with God.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In his letter to Ephesus, Paul begins to unpack what it looks like to live life as a wise person. Wise people make the most of time. They put their effort into discerning the will of the Lord. They strive to live sober lives, free of debauchery and drunkenness and filled with thankfulness to God.
John 6:51-58
Finally, John takes the concept of wisdom to an entirely different level. He takes the story of the manna which saved the lives of the Hebrew children crossing the wilderness and sees in it a metaphor for the relationship of Jesus to those who follow him. For John, wisdom has naught to do with knowledge or even experience. It’s not about acting like Jesus or admiring Jesus or being a fan of Jesus. For John, wise people are those who seek to “abide in” Jesus every moment of every day of their lives.
It is out of this kind of relationship that we achieve true discernment, true knowledge of right and wrong, and true wisdom.
In the Sermon
So what makes for a good leader?
Solomon believed it was wisdom that made a leader a good leader.
A quick look around contemporary American culture, however, shows just how archaic Solomon’s ideas are. Do an internet search for “characteristics of a good leader” and you will be overwhelmed with lists. Ten here, five there, three, six, a hundred. And on and on. Confidence, sense of humor, positivity, the ability to learn from failures, ability to listen, knowing how to delegate responsibility, etc.
The website, lifehack.org says that, “Good leadership is about acquiring and honing skills.” Specifically, they list 10 skills that, if practiced and honed, can, allegedly turn anyone into a great leader.
Others talk about attitudes.
Still others talk about values.
They are all what we might refer to as practical guides to leadership and none of them spend a great deal of time on such vague and complex topics as wisdom. And on that rare occasion when the topic of wisdom is broached it’s only in a trite and clichéd way: Wisdom is almost always identified with advanced age. It is more philosophical than practical, interesting but hardly useful.
On those rare occasions when leadership articles do speak of wisdom their definition of it is fairly pedestrian. Wisdom usually involves the ability to discern or judge what is true, right and/or lasting. The most common synonyms are “insight” and “discernment.”
Not until we begin to look at the subject of leadership through theological eyes does the issue of wisdom come to the front of the line.
The leader who wishes to lead with wisdom understands that the first step in that direction is an appropriate relationship with God, a relationship that knows that only God is great, that only God is the creator and we are God’s creations.
1 President Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in 558 days, Washington Post. August 1, 2018 by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly (Washington Post)
2 'Post-truth' named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. November 15, 2016 by Alison Flood (The Guardian)
3 QAnon is terrifying. This is why. August 2, 2018 by Molly Roberts (Washington Post)
In Praise of Wisdom
by Tom Willadsen
Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-56 Psalm 34: 9-14, Proverbs 9:1-6
Looking at the emphasis on wisdom in this collection of readings isn’t especially enlightening on the first reading. Of course wisdom is better than foolishness. As most communities in the US are gearing up for the start of the school year, it’s tempting to equate education with wisdom. There is a profound difference between wisdom and education.
For years, the only bit of scripture I could cite “chapter and verse” was Proverbs 26:11, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit / Is a fool who repeats his folly.”
Even now, whenever I see a Bible sitting out on a pedestal, I turn to Proverbs 26:11 and leave it that way, hoping that someone will come along and conclude, “Gosh, the Bible says, ‘Don’t make the same mistake twice!’ I guess I’ll do that.”
I know the Proverbs reading from the Vanderbilt lectionary is 9:1-6, not 26:11, but they get at the same idea -- stop being foolish, grow in faith and leave behind foolishness.
Vanderbilt’s other lesson is Psalm 34:9-14. Like Psalm 111 it is an acrostic. Typically, acrostics do not yield much of a narrative, still, it’s unfortunate that the reading is divided as it is. The first ten verses of Psalm 34 are a call for thanksgiving and praise, while the balance of the psalm is an appeal shunning evil and virtuous living. The reward of a long life awaits those who are faithful and righteous.
I also regret that verse 8 is not part of this week’s readings. “O taste and see that Lord is good,” has been my justification for taking a second piece of pecan pie at church potlucks since the late ’80s. In verse 10, the reference to young lions which is out of place is probably a scribal error, which should instead be read as “the unrighteous.”
Verse 14b is easily overlooked, “seek peace, and pursue it.” Note that those are commands, not invitations. Also, note that peace is something that is pursued, not something that will find you when you have finally managed to clear the clutter from your life and polished off all the tasks on your “to do” list. Pursue peace; it’s a journey, not a destination.
Psalm 111 is another ode to wisdom, and it echoes the notion found elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The sense of reverence or respect is a more palatable rendering of “fear” to 21st century Americans. The sense is that it is wise to acknowledge the majesty of the Lord and to live with the understanding that the Lord is far greater, more majestic, more worthy of worship and praise than oneself. Don’t forget, that we are made in God’s image and “crowned with glory,” (Psalm 8:5) but keep that in perspective. Wisdom is keeping a sense of perspective.
Wisdom is not cleverness, nor knowledge, and not only something one gains by experience, such that older people, who have presumably had more experience, must be wiser. In Job 32, Elihu says, “It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.”
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” I know this is true; I just saw it on a t-shirt.
As a freshman in college, a wise upper classman told me, “Don’t let your classes get in the way of your education.” I find myself giving this advice at this time of year -- to other people’s children. My kids are going to go to class and wring every bit of knowledge they can out of this costly experience we call “higher education.” Still, there is something to be said for wisdom. And Ephesians says it pretty well. Making productive use of one’s time is wisdom. Filling oneself with the spirit of Christian community, rather than liquid spirits is wisdom. Giving thanks to God, the Creator, in all situations is wisdom.
The reading from John’s gospel does not mention wisdom. While it is certainly not opposed to wisdom, the reading is part of a larger dialogue that Jesus is having in the synagogue in Capernaum. He had just fed 5,000 and was discussing the bread of heaven. Having just met their physical needs miraculously, he attends to their spiritual needs. It is hard for them to grasp what he is saying. They know him as Joseph’s son, now he’s come down from heaven? And eating his body will unite them with God the Father? It’s a difficult concept for them to embrace.
Finally, there’s the transfer of the kingship from David to Solomon. There is a lot of intrigue and revenge in the portions that the lectionary omits. Solomon walked into a family and kingdom riddled with factions and turmoil. He was quite young when he assumed the throne. While some historians equate his declaration in verse 7 that he was “only a little child,” with Jeremiah’s resistance to God’s call in Jeremiah 1:6, it is unclear exactly how young Solomon was. He likely self-deprecated out of humility. Still, he chose wisely when selecting what he should ask God for. His request put the needs of the nation he ruled before his own desire for power, wealth or prestige. Solomon recognized his human limitation. Solomon recognized the magnitude of the task of governing God’s chosen people, a people that had too numerous to count. Solomon put the people first. In so doing, the Lord rewarded Solomon and promised to make him a king whose wisdom and kingdom would be beyond compare throughout history.
And after all that a little bit of Deuteronomy sneaked in “If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” It is not clear why David was considered such a model of obedience. And the placement of this verse at the end makes God’s promise to Solomon conditional on his continued obedience.
We know of “the riches of Solomon” and “the wisdom of Solomon.” Solomon received both from the Lord when the Lord appeared in a dream and, essentially, told Solomon to make a wish.
Was he wise to choose wisdom? Was he shrewd?
What would Solomon’s wisdom look like in a modern context? Solomon asked for wisdom so that he might govern well. He knew the enormity of the challenge, and wanted to rise to the challenge. He knew he could not do that alone. Solomon knew he had to rely on God. Knowing his limitations (to paraphrase “Cool Hand Luke”) was the beginning of wisdom.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Ephesians 5:15-20
Wisdom
“Be careful how you live,” the author of Ephesians writes to the early church, with advice that still inspires us. The story is told of a wise woman who was traveling in the mountains. She found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone. [Author Unknown] From MirthandMotivation.com
* * *
Ephesians 5:15-20 and Psalm 111
Giving Away our Wisdom
“The beginning of wisdom,” the Psalmist writes, making us wonder where wisdom might end. For many of us, it could all come to a stop in our time-grabbing phones. We start out to think about world peace and end up playing Letris for an hour. Tristan Harris, who has been the "Product Philosopher" at Google, says we can seek wisdom by using our technology better. He suggests that we think about the things on our phone in three categories: Tools, which help us do specific tasks. (Notes, camera, ride apps.) Second, he asks, “Which are Bottomless Bowls or Slot Machines? Specifically, I mean apps with either bottomless lists to go through (Email messages, Facebook stories) or bottomless excuses to check (Email or social media notifications).” The third group is “Aspirations.” These are things that “represent things that you realistically want to spend more time on in your life (for me, listening to certain Podcasts, and an app to book classes at my local yoga studio). But not unrealistic aspirations. For example, I like to meditate but meditation apps don’t tend to work for me, so I don’t include them.”
Our home screen, he says, should include only tools and realistic aspirations, cutting down on our mindless use of our phones and tablets.
We can find extra time and motivation, if we use our technology with wisdom and purpose.
* * *
Ephesians 5:15-20
Making Wisdom Conscious
“Be careful how you live,” Ephesians reminds us, “not as unwise people, but as wise.” If it doesn’t come naturally, we can trick ourselves into making wise choices. Tristan Harris tells about an experiment at the Google headquarters, where the company is well-known for giving employees free snacks. “As part of its generous employee perks and benefits, Google stocks its micro-kitchens with seductive snacks and candy so its employees can keep snacking during work. But they ran into a problem: employees found themselves eating more unhealthy snacks than they wanted.” When M&M’s were put out on shelves, in bowls, people took them without thinking. So the company made a switch. “They put the candy into opaque, white porcelain jars with a lid (while putting alternatives like healthy fruit in see-through glass jars.) They replaced the candy’s visual packaging with a neutral white placard and neutral font (e.g. “Peanut M&M’s”.) The first change created a brief gap, a moment of conscious choice, between the impulse and people’s actions. The second change dismantled the millions of dollars spent on advertising and conditioning M&M’s wrappers into our lives, and instead let employees choose for themselves.” People deliberately picked what they wanted, instead of slipping into unwise choices.
If we create ways to stop and think, we can create more wisdom for ourselves.
* * *
Psalm 111
The Wisdom of the Crowd
“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation,” the psalmist declares. It turns out that there is wisdom to be found in the company of the crowd. Author James Surowiecki notes that the combined intelligence in a group of people can solve problems. Surowiecki is a financial writer, and he wondered why the stock market often does better than people who are paid to beat it. “And yet Surowiecki noticed that, often, markets -- or other forms of collective thought -- were "smarter" than the individuals who participated in them. Markets weed out the weak, the poor ideas, the faltering processes -- and they're also capable of assembling the diverse information of their participants into the right answer.” He cites the example of the fair, where people are attempting to guess the weight of a large animal. The collective guesses, from experts and amateurs, averaged together, will come close to the right answer. The same is true when trying to guess how many jelly beans are in a jar. The average of all the guesses will be very close to the truth.
Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds also tells the story of the submarine Scorpion, which went down in the north Atlantic. At the time, the navy had only a vague idea of where it was. “Yet, using the expertise of various experts in diverse disciplines, and combining them through mathematical formulas, a naval officer managed to determine its resting place within 220 yards.”
Our collective knowledge can take us further than our own individual wisdom.
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From team member Ron Love:
Wisdom
In his 84 years, Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1,093 patents. One of which was the invention of the electric light bulb. Prior to Edison, there were a number of attempts to create the light bulb, but they all proved impractical.
In 1860, English chemist Joseph Swan developed a light bulb that used carbonized paper filaments in place of ones made of platinum. Like earlier renditions of the light bulb, Swan's filaments were placed in a vacuum tube to minimize the filament’s exposure to oxygen, extending its lifespan.
Edison realized that the problem with Swan's design was the filament. A thin filament with high electrical resistance would make a lamp practical because it would require only a little current to make it glow. Edison experimented with hundreds of different types of filaments, until he found one that was reliable. He demonstrated his light bulb in December 1879.
Several months after the 1879 patent was granted, Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could burn for more than 1,200 hours. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879. The bulb burned for 13.5 hours, and during that entire time Edison sat and watched it.
On being asked how he felt about repeatedly failing to design a working light bulb, Edison replied, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
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Wisdom
Orville and Wilbur Wright had a major problem in the development of their airplane, and that is they could not maneuver their plane. To understand flight the Wright Brothers spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight. They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver. The Wrights believed that they could use this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing.
To learn more, they read scientific books and papers. One of the most influential was James Bell Pettigrew's Animal Locomotion, or Walking, Swimming, and Flying, With a Dissertation on Aeronautics. In his book Pettigrew wrote, “The wing is jointed to the upper part of the body by a universal joint which admits every variety of motion...” He went on to describe how the wings of birds twisted along their long dimension “like a screw.” He was mostly concerned about describing how wings produce thrust and lift, but Wilbur reasoned that the same motions could also be used for aerodynamic control.
Wilbur, upon reading the book, wrote, “The thought came to me that possibly a bird adjusted the tips of its wings…so as to present one tip at a positive angle and the other at a negative angle, thus…turning itself into an animated windmill, and that when its body had revolved…as far as it wished, it reversed the process.”
In July of 1899, Wilbur was in his bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, when he picked up a long, slender cardboard box that had once held an inner tube. He idly began to toy with it. He happened to place the thumb and forefinger of one hand on diagonal corners at one end of the box, and the other thumb and forefinger on the opposite diagonal corners at the other end. He noticed that when he squeezed his thumbs and forefingers together, the box twisted. The surfaces at each end rotated in opposite directions. He realized that with a set of cables, he could twist the wings just as he twisted the box. When one wing tip turned up, this would increase the lift at that end, while the other wing tip turned down, the lift would decrease. The difference in lift would cause the biplane to roll to the right or left.
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Wisdom
Eli Whitney, after graduating from Yale College, headed to the south. He originally planned to work as a private tutor, but instead accepted an invitation to stay with Catherine Greene, the widow of an American Revolutionary War general, on her plantation known as Mulberry Grove, near Savannah, Georgia. While there, Whitney learned about cotton production, and especially the difficulty raising and selling of cotton as a profitable business.
Greene and her plantation manager, Phineas Miller, explained to Whitney the problem with short-staple cotton. Whitney, who understood the problem and had a mechanical mind, built a machine that could effectively and efficiently remove the seeds from cotton plants.
The invention, called the cotton gin, with the word “gin” being derived from the word “engine.” The cotton gin worked something like a strainer or sieve: Cotton was run through a wooden drum embedded with a series of hooks that caught the fibers and dragged them through a mesh. The mesh was too fine to let the seeds through but the hooks pulled the cotton fibers through with ease. Whitney’s hand-cranked machine could remove the seeds from 50 pounds of cotton in a single day.
Eli Whitney applied for a patient for his cotton gin on October 28, 1793. The patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. Before then, farmers broke into Whitney’s garage and stole his plans, and because of its simple design they were able to duplicate the machine. Because of the lengthy approval process of the patent, Whitney had no legal recourse. For a machine that made cotton profitable and prolonged slavery, the inventor received no income from his invention.
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Wisdom
John Deere grew up in Rutland, Vermont. He spent his youth assisting his father in his tailor’s shop. During this time, he helped sharpen and polish needles that were used for sewing soft leather.
After relocating to Grand Detour, Illinois, in 1825, he began his career as a blacksmith. As a blacksmith, Deere realized that cast-iron plows were not working very well in the tough prairie sod of the mid-western plains. Deere began to seek a solution.
One day, he was making repairs at a saw mill and he noticed a shiny, circular saw blade that self-polished itself from the friction created by the wood. He then recalled the needles he had previously polished at his father’s tailor shop by running them through sand. From these two insights he made a prototype plow which with a highly polished steel blade that proved to be surprisingly efficient. Deere concluded that a plow made out of highly polished steel and a correctly shaped moldboard would be better able to handle the soil conditions of the prairie, especially its sticky clay.
These large plows made for cutting prairie dirt were called “grasshopper plows.” They were made of iron and a steel blade that cut through soil without clogging. These first steel plows were made in 1837.
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Wisdom
Thomas Alva Edison, who was born in Milan, Ohio, was always an entrepreneur and inventor. In 1859, at the age of twelve, he left school and entered business of life as a salesman. He took a job as a “candy butcher” on the Grand Trunk Railroad, selling newspapers, fruit, vegetables and snacks.
In 1862, at the age of 14, he assembled a printing press in the baggage car. He called his paper The Grand Trunk Herald. At first, he was publisher, editor, writer, marketing director, printer and performed deliveries. Later, he hired his friends to work with him on specific tasks that he delegated.
On days when important battles of the Civil War were being viciously fought, Edison made large sums of money by cleverly baiting the passengers with teasing snippets of information about the battle news. He accomplished this by arranging snippets of news to be telegraphed ahead to the next station. Then he would sell his freshly printed papers at inflated prices to passengers on board the train who were anxious to read about the latest battlefield developments.
The Grand Trunk Herald was immediately popular and circulated to both passengers and four hundred railroad employees as the Grand Trunk Railroad ran between Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan.
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Wisdom
Albert Einstein had a very simple procedure of welcoming or dismissing a guest who unexpectedly came to his home. He would go and sit at the dining room table, and invite his guest to take a seat. His wife would then bring Einstein a bowl of soup. If he took a spoonful of soup, it was an indication he wanted the guest to stay. If he pushed the bowl away, it was an indication that his wife should invite the guest to leave.
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Wisdom
Henry Bessemer, of Sheffield, England, described the origin of his invention of the Bessemer Furnace in his autobiography written in 1890. His invention was inspired by a conversation with Napoleon III in 1854. The conversation pertained to the steel required for better artillery during the Crimean War. Bessemer claimed that the conversation “was the spark which kindled one of the greatest revolutions that the present century had to record, for during my solitary ride in a cab that night from Vincennes to Paris, I made up my mind to try what I could to improve the quality of iron in the manufacture of guns.”
At the time steel was used to make only small weapons like swords and rifles, but the production of large cannons was too expensive and difficult. Starting in January 1855, Bessemer began working on a way to produce steel in the massive quantities required for artillery, and secured a patent in 1856.
Bessemer modeled his invention from the work of William Kelly, a businessman-scientist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kelly began experiments aimed at developing a revolutionary means of removing impurities from pig iron by an air blast. Kelly theorized that not only would the air, injected into the molten iron, supply oxygen to react with the impurities, converting them into oxides separable as slag, but that the heat evolved in these reactions would increase the temperature of the mass, keeping it from solidifying during the operation. After several failures, he succeeded in proving his theory and rapidly producing steel ingots.
William Kelly, initially held a patent for “a system of air blowing the carbon out of pig iron,” a method of steel production known as the pneumatic process. Air was blown through molten pig iron to oxidize and remove unwanted impurities. When Kelly went bankrupt, Bessemer bought his patent. Bessemer patented "a decarbonization process utilizing a blast of air" in 1855.
The Bessemer converter is a cylindrical steel pot approximately 20 feet high, and was originally lined with a siliceous refractory. Air is blown in through openings, called tuyeres, near the bottom, creating oxides of silicon and manganese, which become part of the slag, and of carbon, which are carried out in the stream of air. Within a few minutes an ingot of steel can be produced, ready for the forge or rolling mill.
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Wisdom
Francis Spellman was the Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. As a strong advocate of Roman Catholic doctrine and an outspoken critic on social issues, serving one of the most influential dioceses in the United States gave him a very visible and public platform. He became known as “the Powerhouse.”
He was born in Whitman, Massachusetts to William Spellman and Ellen, both immigrants from Ireland. As a young boy he worked in his father’s grocery store. His father gave him one piece of advice that stayed with him throughout his life. William Spellman told Francis, “Always associate with people smarter than yourself.”
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Wisdom
Sherwood Schwarrtz was the writer for the two television programs Gilligan’s Island, which went on the air in 1967, and The Brady Bunch, which went on the air in 1969. The shows did what sitcoms were supposed to do, and that is, make people laugh. But, Schwartz had a political agenda for the program Gilligan’s Island. This sitcom represented the confidence that people had in the United States during the Cold War. The program showed that a group of Americans could be dropped down anywhere on the planet and survive by creating a rule of law. Each character represented an American attribute. Gilligan was the perfect example of democracy, since he made no claims to superiority. The Professor was American wisdom. The Millionaire showed American success. The Skipper sowed American military authority and might.
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Wisdom
Though his words were directed against marriage equality, and though he was a Mormon, his wisdom should not be dismissed. Mormon apostle Boyd Packer, addressing the Church of Latter-day Saints 183rd Annual Conference, which was held in April 2013, said, “Tolerance is a virtue, but, like all virtues, when exaggerated it transforms itself into a vice.” He went on to say, “We need to be careful of the ‘tolerance trap’ so that we are not swallowed up in it.”
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From team member Chris Keating:
2 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
A perennial wooden-headness
God is pleased with Solomon’s prayer for wisdom in governance -- perhaps even a bit surprised. There’s a hint in God’s reply to Solomon which indicates just how unusual it was to have a king seek wisdom and guidance in governing. As Peter Starr writes in Inside Higher Ed, there continues to be a certain unwillingness from politicians to use wisdom in governing.
Starr argues that educators (and, perhaps pastors) need to do the heavy lifting of teaching wisdom. He quotes an intriguing and stunningly relevant lecture by historian Barbara Tuchman in 1979. Tuchman’s words to the students and faculty of the United States Military Academy at West Point seem prescient to this moment. Bemoaning the “perennial wooden-headedness of politicians,” Tuchman observed:
What frustrates the working of intellect are the passions and the emotions, ambition, greed, fear, face-saving, the instinct to dominate, the needs of the ego, the whole bundle of personal vanities and anxieties.Tuchman contended that the inability to govern wisely is a peculiarly male phenomenon. Writing about the United States’ involvement in Vietnam and the inability of presidents to admit defeat, she notes:
Males, who so far in history have managed government, are obsessed with potency, which is the reason, I suspect, why it is difficult for them to admit error. I have never known a man who, with a smile and a shrug, could easily acknowledge being wrong. Why not? I can, without any damage to self-respect. I can only suppose the difference is that deep in their psyches, men somehow equate being wrong with being impotent. For a chief of state it is almost out of the question, and especially so for Johnson and Nixon who both seem to me to have had shaky self-images. Johnson showed this in his deliberate coarseness and compulsion to humiliate others in crude physical ways. No self-confident man would have needed to do that. Nixon was a bundle of inferiorities compounded by a sense of persecution.
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Psalm 111
The beginning of wisdom
Writer and business consultant Paul Boynton encourages clients to begin searching for wisdom by first paying close attention to what they already know, believe, and value. He quotes a bumper sticker he once saw, “What do you know that you’re not letting yourself see?” (Boynton, Begin With Yes, p. 30.). For Boynton, this is a breakthrough question that can lead to great personal insight. The psalmist suggests much of the same by suggesting that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” What do we know that we are not allowing ourselves to see? Wisdom begins with noticing.
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Ephesians 5:15-20
Making melodies in the heart
The 2018 film, “I Can Only Imagine,” starring Dennis Quaid, is a recent Christian bio-pic detailing the life and struggles of singer/songwriter Bart Millard, of the contemporary Christian band “Mercy Me.” The movie is far from perfect, but does an admirable job chronicling the sort of abuse and difficulty Millard endured. He was routinely abused by his father and abandoned by his mother. Yet the difficulties Millard faces provide him with inspiration and sources for writing music. Millard and his father reconcile shortly before the elder Millard dies. It is a tenuous process, to be sure, but one guided by God’s grace. After his father dies, Millard is inspired to write his blockbuster hit, “I Can Only Imagine” in less than 10 minutes.
In response, however, singer Amy Grant tells Millard “you didn’t write this song in ten minutes. You wrote it over your entire life.” In that sense, “I Can Only Imagine” had become Millard’s life-changing “melody in the heart,” which Paul calls the Ephesians to sing.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Praise God! Let us give thanks to God with our whole heart.
People: Great are the works of our God, studied by all who delight in them.
Leader: The works of God’s hands are faithful and just.
People: All of God’s precepts are trustworthy.
Leader: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
People: God’s praise endures forever.
OR
Leader: Come and learn the wisdom of our God.
People: We are in need of God’s wisdom.
Leader: The first part of wisdom is the worship of God.
People: We lift our hearts and voices in praise.
Leader: Let us open our hearts to all that God teaches.
People: We are ready to receive the wisdom of our God.
Hymns and Songs:
All Creatures of Our God and King
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELA: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
When in Our Music God is Glorified
UMH: 68
H82: 420
PH: 264
AAHH: 112
NCH: 561
CH: 7
LBW: 555
ELA: 850/851
W&P: 7
STLT: 36
Renew: 62
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies
UMH: 173
H82: 6/7
PH: 462/463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Sanctuary
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is Wisdom:
Grant us the grace to seek your wisdom
as we worship you and follow Jesus;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are wisdom. Open our minds and hearts to seek you and your wisdom. Centered in our worship of you, help us to faithfully follow Jesus. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we choose the foolishness of this world over the wisdom of God.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forsaken your wisdom for the foolishness of this world. We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the soft words of false wisdom. We have put ourselves in your place and declared what is truth and what is not. Forgive us our foolish ways and open us once again to your presence and wisdom. Amen.
Leader: God grants wisdom to all who seek it. Receive God’s grace and wisdom and speak God’s truth to all.
Prayers of the People
We worship you, O God, the fount of all wisdom. You are the true wisdom that brings life and light to all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forsaken your wisdom for the foolishness of this world. We have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the soft words of false wisdom. We have put ourselves in your place and declared what is truth and what is not. Forgive us our foolish ways and open us once again to your presence and wisdom.
We give you thanks for all the blessings of this life. We thank you that you have created us in your image and have granted us your wisdom. We thank you for those who have listened to you and your Christ and have taught us to seek wisdom.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all of us who need to be filled with your wisdom. We pray for those who are used by others who do not operate in your ways.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about how helpful knowledge is. It is very good to know how to put on your helmet when your ride your bike. It is wisdom to always wear it when riding. Knowledge is good. Wisdom is what helps us do our best.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Inviting the Foolish to the Party
by Bethany Peerbolte
Proverbs 9:1-6
We don’t like to identify with the foolish when we read scripture, but this week we might want to. The foolish are the ones who get invited to the party! This great party is not reserved for the rich, cool, smart crowd. Wisdom invites the foolish. Wisdom wants to make an impact with her event and improve lives. Her preparation for the party parallels the preparation teachers are making right now for school to start. Decorating beige walls with fun posters, planning lessons that will engage, inspire, and teach, and preparing to make the environment inviting to every child. Help children see the start of school not as the end of summer but the beginning of a party where they will become smarter and better people.
Say something like:
There is a big event coming up. Right now there are people preparing colorfully decorated rooms for this event. They are planning activities you will remember for your whole life! They are putting together a list of kids to be invited, too. You, of course, are on the list along with some of your friends, but there are also kids you don’t know yet on the list. Kids who these planners think you will become friends with quickly. Sounds like a party, right!?
The person preparing the party in the Bible lesson today is named “Wisdom” and she is putting together a great party. She has prepared a fun room with great food. She has games and things planned for her guests. It is going to be the best party anyone has ever seen. You would think Wisdom would invite the rich, popular, smartest people in town. But you know what…she invites the foolish. You see Wisdom wants this party to make a difference in people’s lives. If she invites people who are already smart they won’t learn anything new at her party. If she invites foolish people, she knows she can help them live a better life.
How many of you think you are a little foolish and would be invited to Wisdom’s party? It’s a great thing to know we are foolish and still have more to learn. Think of how much smarter you are now than you were last year. You might say last year you were foolish compared to now. Now you are smarter, but probably have some more to learn, right?
Remember that big event I said is happening soon, I was talking about going back to school. Colorful rooms, memorable activities, a room full of old and new friends sounds like a party but it also is your next year school room. Wisdom isn’t the one preparing this party -- it’s your teachers. Just like Wisdom your teachers are excited to teach you new things. They know you are coming in a little foolish but that’s how they like it. They want you to come to school ready to learn new things and get some new wisdom.
Let’s say a prayer asking for wisdom and a great school year.
Wise God, You have so much to teach us. Thank you for giving us teachers to teach us this year. Help us focus on what we need to learn. Remind us that no matter how smart we get, we always have something more to learn. Let this school year be a party celebrating the new things we learn everyday. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, August 19, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
