Today is the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.
The readings this week come from Proverbs and James. My reflection is inspired by Karl Barth who once famously quipped that theology should be done with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.
Occasionally, the lectionary writes its own sermon and the news provides the commentary. This is one of those times.
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Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”
James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
I’m furious.
During this week’s debate, Donald Trump repeated an outright fabrication by a neo-Nazi group about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. This city of 60,000 has been struggling with the arrival of some 15,000 Haitians who fled violence in the island nation and came to the United States as legal refugees.
Most of the Haitians are Christians. Christianity Today reports that local churches are generally supportive of the Haitians refugees. Despite that, conservative media, internet rumor mills, and some angry residents continue to insist that the newcomers are dangerous and have destroyed their town. Journalist Emily Belz writes,
Local pastors, in interviews with Christianity Today, said the social fabric of the community has been ripped apart, with real-world consequences for locals and immigrant neighbors in their own churches. Some schools and government buildings shuttered on Thursday over unspecified threats, and officials who spoke against the rumors were doxxed online. On Friday, two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated and another school was closed.
“Words matter,” said Viles Dorsainvil [a former pastor and a community leader]. “What you say can unite people, or it can create great division in a community. This is what we are experiencing now.”
Words matter.
People lives are being upended. The parents of a boy killed in an accident caused by a Haitian driver have begged the media and their fellow citizens to stop defaming the memory of their son. Haitians are terrified and panicked, afraid to leave their homes.
“It’s like a tornado right now, politically and socially,” said Jeremy Hudson, pastor of one of the largest churches in town, Fellowship Church. “We don’t know what direction it’s going to go, what it’s going to take out, what the devastation is going to be.”
Words matter.
This week’s lectionary readings speak directly to this miserable episode. Proverbs seems downright prophetic:
Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
It is as if the author specifically described Donald Trump, his followers, and allies, warning that those who ignore wisdom and embracing foolishness can destroy a society.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them…
It isn’t funny or a lark to “own the libs.” This isn’t about amusing cat memes or inside jokes or some sort of snarky MAGA humor. Foolishness and fabrications reveal the sort of hubris and contempt that has real world consequences for the health and lives of human beings — people who were already traumatized and forced out of their own homes. Those who came to us seeking hope, security, and safety.
This conspiracy folly, this raw stupidity, has demoralized and dehumanized them.
Trading wisdom for lies brings calamity upon the city.
And yet, some make the trade. Wisdom may be crying out in the streets, but it seems far too many refuse to listen.
But the whole biblical tradition insists we must seek wisdom, choose it, embrace it.
Choosing wisdom is the theme of today’s other passage from the Epistle of James, which might also be called the “epistle of wisdom.” The letter begins with a simple instruction: “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.”
Wisdom is a gift. God wants us to be wise. God desires that we embrace wisdom. To embrace wisdom is to know its giver and source.
Wisdom is more than knowledge and more than words, it involves caring for widows and orphans, doing good works, showing no favoritism, being merciful, and, perhaps most urgently, controlling one’s tongue.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Can you say “Springfield, Ohio”? A city set aflame by lies.
No good will come of any of this. So say Proverbs. So says James.
I wish that today’s lectionary went just a bit further. The verses that immediately follow this week’s reading further clarify the relationship between words and wisdom.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. (James 3:13-18)
Wisdom is the foundation of peace, of true neighborliness, of the beloved community. Folly isn’t funny. Folly is the fire of “disorder and wickedness of every kind,” the source of panic and woe.
Proverbs and James agree.
Wisdom cries out in the streets.
Can we listen? Can we even hear?
Can we accept the gift?
Those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.
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INSPIRATION
Sophia!
you of the whirling wings,
circling encompassing
energy of God:
you quicken the world in your clasp.
One wing soars in heaven
one wing sweeps the earth
and the third flies all around us.
Praise to Sophia!
Let all the earth praise her!
— Hildegard of Bingen, “Antiphon for Divine Wisdom”
Slowly, slowly wisdom gathers:
Golden dust in the afternoon,
Somewhere between the sun and me,
Sometimes so near that I can see,
Yet never settling, late or soon.
Would that it did, and a rug of gold
Spread west of me a mile or more:
Not large, but so that I might lie
Face up, between the earth and sky,
And know what none has known before.
Then I would tell as best I could
The secrets of that shining place:
The web of the world, how thick, how thin,
How firm, with all things folded in;
How ancient, and how full of grace.
— Mark Van Doren, “Slowly, Slowly Wisdom Gathers”
SOUTHERN LIGHTS IS BACK!
Join me, Brian McLaren, and special guests Robert Jones, Dante Stewart, Jacqui Lewis, and Mihee Kim-Kort on St. Simons Island, Georgia on January 17 -19, 2025.
This January, we will gather to “Reimagine Faith and the Future of Democracy.”
Regardless of who wins in November, Southern Lights is going to be three days to help us assess, get centered, and re-ground ourselves for the future. This gathering is for safe and inspiring conversations about things people are afraid to discuss in church.
Come to the live event or attend virtually. Information and registration HERE.
SOME SPECIAL DISCOUNTS:
Cottage Discount: Good until September 30, 2024. Get 15% off! Use this code – Cot25Sub – when registering. (This is the same discount as the early bird rate.)
Under 40: A 15% discount. Use this code — Under4025 — when registering.
Group Discount: If you have ten or more registered from your church or organization, you can receive a 15% discount for the entire group!
Email info@southernlightsconference.comfor more details.
A colleague shared the response on Springfield, Ohio, from the bishop of the southern Ohio diocese. She clearly speaks to the issues and encourages people to support Springfield as well as the Haitian community in Springfield. The letter came out earlier September 16.
I AM MOVED BY YOUR CONNECTING PROVERBS AND JOHN. IT IS SO DIRECT FOR THE AWEFUL LIES AND RACIST THINKING BY MAGA TRUMP VANCE WORDS THAT SPEW HATRED B Y SOME TOWARDS MAINLY BLACK IMMIGRANTS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR DIRECT AND COURAGE TO PREACH THIS SHARING. TED JOHNSTONE