June 12, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8[1]
A woman once went into the
marketplace, and looking around, saw a sign that read, “God’s Fruit Stand.”
“Thank goodness! It’s about time!” the woman said to herself. She went inside
and she said, “I would like a perfect banana, a perfect cantaloupe, a perfect
strawberry, and a perfect peach.” God, who was behind the counter, shrugged and
said, “I’m sorry. I only sell seeds.”
Who am I that God, the Creator of
heaven and earth, would be interested in me? I’m not royalty. I hold no elected
office. I’m not a movie star. I’m certainly no saint, spending all my days in
the poor places of the world, healing the sick or comforting the afflicted.
Well, who are any of us, really, in the grand scheme of things? We’re small
beings on a small blue ball orbiting a relatively small star on the edge of one
galaxy out of billions.
And yet, God is interested in us. The
Psalmist tells us that God cares about us. It might not feel that way when
things are not going our way, but it’s true. God crowns us with glory and honor
(touch head). I don’t feel anything
up there. Do you see anything? Maybe it’s meant to be metaphorical. We’re made
a little lower than God. Wow, that’s powerful stuff. I certainly don’t feel all
that powerful. Maybe my problem is that I mostly look at myself with my own
eyes. I see things from the perspective of my daily needs and issues, my
problems, memories, and hopes. I think if I’m going to understand what Psalm 8
is talking about, I need a new perspective.
If I step back from myself a bit, I
can see more. I can create. I can take objects, combine and shape them into new
things that serve a new purpose. I can create food from raw ingredients. I can
make a sandbox out of pieces of wood. I participated in creating other beings,
a family. I can create music with my voice, my hands, and instruments that
others have made. I can communicate with other beings and with them shape the
world around me.
If I move back further, I can see
other human beings. We have created cities, farms, monuments, and nations, and
even touched other worlds. If we move back even further, we can see the world
that we inhabit together, and here my perspective really changes.
“The Overview Effect” is a phrase
coined in the book of the same name by Frank White. It refers to the experience
of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space.[2]
From space we see that the Earth is “a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in
the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national
boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the
need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this ‘pale
blue dot’ becomes both obvious and imperative.
Even more so, many of them tell us that from the Overview perspective,
all of this seems imminently achievable, if only more people could have the
experience!”[3]
From space we can see some of the
impact that human beings have made upon the earth. It is obvious viewing the
nighttime side of the world, with all of the lights that shine. More subtle
effects can be seen, such as the Mississippi River Delta, where the brown
waters of the river mix with the blue of the Gulf of Mexico, and agricultural
runoff and industrial pollution are changing the ecosystem. More striking were
scenes in the early 1990s of burning oil wells in Kuwait, set on fire following
the first Gulf War.
God made us human beings with
incredible abilities and gave us dominion over the works of creation. In the
words of Carl Sagan from his novel Contact,
“[We’re] capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares.” And
without wisdom, we tend to drift more toward the nightmare side of our nature.
The mystery of God, sometimes called
“Wisdom” is the personification of God’s presence and activity in the Hebrew
scriptures, our Old Testament. The term used for her is feminine - hokmah in Hebrew, sophia in Greek, sapientia
in Latin. She is depicted as sister, mother, beloved, chef and hostess,
preacher, judge, liberator, establisher of justice, and a myriad of other roles
in which she symbolizes transcendent power ordering and delighting in the
universe. She is that presence which pervades the world, both nature and human
beings, interacting with them in an effort to lure them along the right path.[4]
“Does not wisdom call, and does not
understanding raise her voice?”[5]
Any astronomer can tell you what an incredible coincidence of factors have made
the Earth such an ideal place for life to develop and flourish. There is a
delicate balance in the distance from the Sun, the size of the planet and its
gravitational force, and even the moon which collects meteor impacts that might
otherwise hit us. Surely wisdom was at work in the act of Creation. The first
of God’s acts, according to Proverbs, even before the creation of light, was
the creation of wisdom. “Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the
beginning of the earth.”[6]
Wisdom was there, rejoicing in the creation of the master-builder. Yet it seems
that somewhere along the way, we lost her. The influence of wisdom on human
beings seems as fragile as the world itself.
We need a new perspective. We need
wisdom. We need the guidance of our Sovereign to keep us from going astray.
Bette Midler sang perhaps the best-known version of “From a Distance,” a song
about seeing the world from a different, perhaps wiser, perspective.
From a distance there is
harmony;
and it echoes through the land.
It’s the voice of hope; it’s the voice of peace;
it’s the voice of everyone.
It’s the voice of the wisdom of God. Wisdom
often requires distance. Wisdom can be defined as knowledge and experience tempered
by time. The distance of time can alter our perspective. When we have reflected
on our experiences, we gain deeper understanding. “Time heals all wounds,” the
saying goes. Though that may or may not be true, time does give us a different
view of things. Taking a step back from ourselves helps us to see a bigger
picture. And seeking the guidance and advice of others can give us a different
way of processing our world. And that is a vital task of the church, this
fellowship of beings on the journey of life together, sharing the wisdom gained
through generations of experience.
We need to recognize, however, that
transforming knowledge and experience into wisdom is not easy. It takes
openness to the idea that we might be wrong. It takes a willingness to learn,
and grow, and change.
Wisdom is a seed that is planted in
all of us. It is there, but it needs tending and nurturing in order to grow.
Like seeds in a garden, we need to devote time to tilling the soil of our life
experiences so that that wisdom can sprout and grow. It can’t be rushed.
Our mistake, like the woman looking
for “perfect fruit” is that too often we want something that is finished - a
completed project. But God is not finished with us and creation is far from
being complete. The divine energy of creation did not end with Genesis. Be patient,
God isn’t finished with you yet! We are called to grow, continually. There is
always a call forward. None of us is there yet. We are seeds swelling toward
ripeness; a ripeness never quite achieved but still in the process of becoming,
growing from the seeds of God’s fruit stand. In this moment, in every moment,
whether you know it or not, you are being lured into life. Give us wisdom, God,
and let it grow within us all of our days.
Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[3] Ibid.
[5] Proverbs
8:1.
[6] Proverbs
8:23.
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