Though it is not unique in the totality of the lectionary, it is a bit unusual to encounter the Book of Proverbs as a scripture for worshipful reflection. If you are like me, you think of Proverbs as that book of almost quaint Biblical one-liners with some plain commonsense nuggets thrown in – like “Pride goeth before the fall” or “Drinking too much makes you loud and foolish” or “If you tell lies in court, you will be punished.”
But did you know that there is a preface to all these little rules for better living, something to start them all off? The verses we just read are part of that preface and are not anything like the adages attributed to King Solomon that follow.
Instead, these verses are part of a beautiful poem in praise of wisdom – not simply knowledge, mind you, but wisdom. To be more precise, this poem is an accolade to God’s wisdom, with a capital “W” - and yes, this sacred Wisdom is personified as a “she.”
In this ode to Wisdom – Sophia, in the Greek – we discover that Wisdom was made in the very beginning, before the world was born. She was there before the oceans, before the mountains, before the fields and forests.
She was there before the sky was set in place, before the clouds. Wisdom was there when God laid the earth’s foundations and birthed the first peoples. You see, Wisdom is the innate order of the universe – the rules of nature – the way God organized all that is.
In short, Wisdom embodies God’s intent for the world. Wisdom is God’s holy imagining about the world at its very best. Wisdom is God’s sense of the meaning and purpose behind life on this sacred earth.
And down through the ages, since before the very beginning of time, Wisdom has spoken – and continues to speak. Wisdom utters words of direction and counsel. She speaks through the prophets and most certainly through Jesus.
Even today, in the midst of all the progress we have made, sounding through all our advanced technology, whispering in and around all our intellectual gymnastics and prowess, Wisdom has a message for us, and it is a message that we need to hear. No matter who we are or where we are on our spiritual journey, Wisdom still tells us what we need to know in order to live our lives as God intended.
What then is Wisdom saying to us?
Oh, lots of things, I suppose – though in the end they all have to do with simple concepts like love and reconciliation – neighbors helping neighbors even if one of them happens to be Samaritan, a ne’er do well brother welcomed home with a fatted calf and a warm bed in spite of his profligate and checkered past, banquet tables where rich and poor, beggar and prostitute, Israeli and Palestinian, American Christian and Muslim for once all sit down together and join hands and hearts in grace.
Surely that is how God imagines the world at its best.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
What is Wisdom – God’s Wisdom - saying to us?
The prophet Isaiah would tell us this: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)
Arline, my dearest –
Today is our 20th day in action, yet it seems like years. What has happened to me and my Battalion would be scoffed at, even in a ten cent novel, as being impossible. Why the few of us left alive – are alive – is something to figure out in church.
I’ve seen so many of my very best friends killed beside me. I just can’t believe it is all really happening. I never in my wildest dreams knew such terror could grip your very soul. The night we jumped – D-Day –was the pay off night. My chute was on fire from tracer bullets when I landed - right in front of a machine gun emplacement. I cut out of my harness and crawled for a couple of hours with bullets whistling past my ears coming from seemingly every direction. I can’t tell you what else went on.
My darling, I love you more than life itself – I’ve realized that many times these last 3 weeks when I thought I was going to be killed and always the regret of missing seeing and marrying you were topmost in my mind at the time. Goodbye for awhile – George.
Parachutes ablaze, bullets whistling past, gut-wrenching terror - this is not God’s intent. This can not be how God imagines the world at its best.
So then - what is wisdom – God’s Wisdom - saying to us?
The Apostle Paul would say: “Return no one evil for evil...live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:17)
Dearest wife,
Many times like tonight – I have nothing to do but lay here and think- why I am here as well as all the men in my platoon – age makes no difference – there are very few kids over here – a few yes but they grow up fast or get killed. Why I have to watch a man die or get wounded – why I have to be the one to tell someone to do something that may get him blown away – but if I don’t we might all get blown away.
Babes, I don’t know what the answer is. Being a good platoon leader is a lonely job. I don’t want to really get to know anybody over here (in the rice paddies) because it would be bad enough to lose a man- I damn sure don’t want to lose a friend.” All my love always, Dean.
Such abject loneliness, that fear of getting too close to anyone, this is not God’s intent. This can not be how God imagines the world at its best.
So then - what is wisdom – God’s Wisdom - saying to us?
Paul would go on to say: “God has called us to live in peace…The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.” (1 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 10:4)
Dear Mom and Jim,
I went to work on the 17th of January at midnight. One hour later our commander told us it was time. Jet after jet screamed off into pitch black night loaded to the hilt with bombs bound for Iraq. The ground trembled for nearly half an hour until the last jet lifted off. And then it was quiet. Almost six months wondering which would prevail. Peace or war. Now I know. I stood there and felt sorry that it had come to this…. God forgive us.
It was daytime when the jets began to come back, and we counted them as they appeared off in the distance and landed. They all made it. We loaded new weapons, fresh pilots were brought in, and the jets were off again.
I can’t see how Iraq can take this pounding 24 hours a day for much longer. I hope it ends soon. Love, Frank
The jets screaming, the bombs pounding relentlessly, this is not God’s intent. This can not be how God imagines the world at its best. So then - what is wisdom – God’s Wisdom- saying to us?
Jesus summed it all up: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Memorial Day Sunday is an odd sort of day in the American church. The church bulletin companies would have us believe that we are both irreligious and unpatriotic if we do not have the cross wrapped in the American flag, emblazoned on the front of a special bulletin cover.
There are those who would question our patriotism as well as the strength of our Christian beliefs if we did not set aside this Sunday to honor not only the dead but also the surviving who have lived a soldier’s life - because either way, the rationale goes, they have sacrificed great things for the glory of their country.
And there are those who would say that, on this particular Sunday, at the very least the church ought to provide a balance between an emphasis on striving for peace and remembering those who serve.
However, from my perspective, that is not the role of the church. The church is not about striking balances. Surely Jesus made that startlingly clear in his ministry – and living out the courage of that conviction is part of what lead to his untimely death.
No – the role of the church is always, always to look at the world through the eyes of Sophia, through the lens of God’s Wisdom that has been here since before the beginning, and then to have the courage if its convictions to tell the world in no uncertain terms what it sees.
And so the church looks at the typical American soldier in the tribute in the insert and generalizes it to include other young men – and women – from around the world. The church listens to the war letters we read this morning counterpointed by the Biblical calls for peace-making.
And the lens of Wisdom brings it all into focus. Wisdom tells us that war is not what God had in mind. Wisdom tells us that since the dawn of time, all of humanity has strayed from what God intended.
The realization of this squandered legacy is what the American church faces on Memorial Day Sunday – and it is both touching and terrifying. You see, it is not about patriotism. It is not about being appropriately religious and balanced. It is about Wisdom.
And so, in the end, with tears in our eyes, we do honor those who died at war. However, here in the church we honor them not as an assessment of our patriotism and not as a manifestation of our ability to balance the diverse political views within our congregations.
Here in Christ’s church, we honor those who died at war because their deaths – every last one of them – are tragedies.
Elsewhere we may honor the fallen ones for their heroism or their own brand of patriotism or for the medals of honor they received. But here in the church we weep for them because they are a tragic reminder of who we really are:
Women and men as God intended, daughters of Adam, sons of Eve
Children of earth loved by their maker, those only heaven could conceive
Yet in our loving we are not one with heaven’s deep intent. We are not as God meant.
Ours in the shame, ours is the story, ours is the squandered legacy
Fallen from grace, fearful of glory
Lost is our true humanity.
(John Bell)
Letters from War Letters by Andrew Carroll
Rev. Nancy Foran is pastor of the Raymond Village Community Church, Raymond, Maine
http://www.rvccme.org/
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