Pick Up Her Call

Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31
Trinity Sunday 

[This is an intentionally briefer message than usual.  We just finished our annual VBS, and there were several of us that considered that the sharing of our experiences of the week, or “God Sightings,” might make a fine sermon in itself (including me).  Not to say that Proverbs 8 doesn’t say something vital for us to hear, it’s just I think it can be said briefly.]

Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, in case you missed it.  The message was simple: the Spirit of God is not always a Spirit of Peace.  Sometimes, the Spirit of God runs through and around us like a freight train, lights us up like candles, and sends us singing praises into this world.  I think that most of us get that.  The shaping that God’s Spirit does in us is sometimes, is through fire.  And eventually, perhaps, we may even learn to say, “Thank you for what you’ve done in me.”  

And like I said, most—if not all—of us have seen that side of the Spirit.  I didn’t expect that part of last week’s message to spark much debate.  But there was one part of last week’s message that I thought might ruffle at least a couple of feathers.  Maybe I said it too fast and nobody heard.  Maybe after eleven years as your pastor I can just say whatever I want.  It was toward the end: I referred to the Spirit of God as a “her.”  

You know, there was a day—not so long ago—that a crack like that would have at least gotten a gasp.  Of course I wasn’t exactly trying to push anyone’s buttons; our lesson this morning reminds us that it may not be so wrong to imagine the Spirit of God in feminine terms.  My dad is here this morning, by the way.  Happy Father’s Day, dad.  Just so you know, the moms didn’t really get a Mother’s Day themed sermon so you’re not getting one either.  In fact, not only are we not going to talk about God’s manly side; we’ll be referring to at least the Spirit of God as a “her.”  

Our Scripture lesson today skips around to make two major points.  The bulk of our reading is oddly the easier to cover: it’s not a simple concept to understand, but it’s easy to cover.  It’s that second part of our lesson that starts at verse twenty-two.  It’s Wisdom herself, describing how she’s been around literally forever.  It’s that confounding Trinity.  It’s the notion that God is vastly more complicated than we know.  It’s that baffling thought that God is somehow in relationship with God’s self.  If all of that is clear as mud, you’re in good company.  The good news is, God does not require our perfect understanding; only that we trust in God’s love.  Do you trust?  Good.  That, oddly enough, is Wisdom.  But for today, what she wants us to know is that she has always been and God delights in her dwelling in us.  

And it’s that “in us” part that I think is the more important part for us to hear.  Wisdom, in the case of how she’s described in Proverbs, isn’t just a thing that’s thought or spoken; Wisdom is a person.  She stands on the heights, beside the way, and at the crossroads; she’s there, beside the gates in front of the town, and at the entrance of the portals.  You can hear her calling everywhere you go.  You just need to listen.  

It’s funny, the notion of Wisdom being personified in a woman is a notion that really resounds with me.  I’ve been pretty open about how, about a year ago, I was faced with an emotional health crisis.  When I came to that understanding, I was immediately faced with a second crisis: that I didn’t really know that I had any close friends to walk with me in it.  I have a church family that cares about me, but I’m your pastor, you’re my flock.  It’s a different relationship.  So I went in search of friends and God led me to a wonderful team of people who have helped me through a difficult time.  I’m feeling much better now.  

But the point I was getting to is this: most of those friends are women.  It’s a pretty good balance, but it definitely leans feminine.  In fact, I have a few select friends who, whatever they tell me to do, I will do; and they are all women.  So when Proverbs personifies Wisdom as a woman, I feel that.  

But perhaps more to the point is that Wisdom, the Spirit of God, is embodied all around us everywhere we go.  If we can have ears to hear her calling out, we will hear her everywhere we go.  

Yeah, I was out shopping yesterday, and guess who I ran into? Wisdom. Yeah, there she was. She called me over and we began talking, Wisdom and I. Then, I went down to the courthouse, and there she was again, making a plea for justice in some dingy courtroom where somebody had been unjustly accused. After that, I dropped by the school, and she had gotten there before me, calling for students and teachers alike always to seek truth. Then I went for a walk in the woods, moving along the trail in quiet meditation. Wisdom snuck up on me and said, "Now that we are alone, I have something I want to share with you, a present I want you to enjoy. You know, I have been around a long time, really before the beginning of time. I have been whirling and dancing with God all along. I am God's delight, laughing and playing. I want you to know the lightness of spirit and gladness that come when you welcome me. Will you set aside those thoughts, words, and deeds that make life heavy and sad for you and others? Will you come and laugh and play with me? Will you come and dance with me? Will you?"

Wisdom calls to us, and as she calls let us answer.  May she move in us, that others will hear her call as well.  May the Wisdom of God that calls to all, be heard by us and be alive in us.