Welcome to the Summer Wisdom Journey at The Cottage.
The text this week is Proverbs 8:1-31, from the Robert Alter translation:
Look Wisdom calls out,
and Discernment lifts her voice.
At the top of the heights, on the way,
at the crossroads, she takes her stand,
by the gates, at the city’s entrance,
at the approach to the portals, she shouts:
To you, people, I call out,
and my voice, to humankind.
Understand shrewdness, you dupes,
and fools, make your heart understand.
Listen, for I speak noble things,
my mouth’s utterance—uprightness.
For my tongue declares truth
and my lips loathe wickedness.
In the right are all my mouth’s sayings,
nothing in them is twisted or crooked.
They are all plain to the discerning
and straightforward for those who find knowledge.
Take my reproof rather than silver,
and knowledge is choicer than fine gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies,
all precious things can’t match her worth.
I, Wisdom, dwell in shrewdness,
and cunning knowledge I find.
Fear of the Lord is hating evil.
Pride, haughtiness, an evil way,
and perverse speech I do hate.
Mine is counsel and prudence,
I am Discernment, mine is might.
Through me kings reign,
and rulers decree righteous laws.
Through me princes hold sway,
and nobles, all the judges of earth.
I, all my lovers I love,
and my seekers do find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
long lasting wealth and righteousness.
My fruit is better than all fine gold,
and my yield, than the choicest silver.
On the path of righteousness I walk,
within the ways of justice,
to pass substance on to my lovers,
and their storehouses to fill.
The Lord created me at the outset of His way,
the very first of His works of old.
In remote eons I was shaped,
at the start of the first things of earth.
When there were no deeps I was spawned,
when there were no wellsprings, water-sources.
Before mountains were anchored down,
before hills I was spawned.
He had yet not made earth and open land,
and the worlds’ first clods of soil.
When He founded the heavens, I was there,
when He traced a circle on the face of the deep,
when He set to the sea its limit,
that the waters not flout His command,
when He strengthened the earth’s foundations.
And I was by Him, an intimate,
I was His delight day after day,
playing before Him at all times,
playing in the world, His earth,
and my delight with humankind.
I spent this past weekend in western North Carolina celebrating a friend’s wedding. It was in a beautiful garden where we were surrounded by hydrangeas, roses, and lush grapevines. After the bride walked down the grassy center aisle, the priest began the ceremony in a most unexpected way.
“These are difficult and painful times.” He looked out over the congregation, acknowledging that many of us might feel awkward given the crises, challenges, and fears of these days. I certainly felt guilty about it, wondering how I might enjoy a wedding with so much bad news in the world. “And yet,” he said, “God blesses the love that has brought this couple here. No matter what, God still calls us to delight.
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