The Spirit Of Wisdom
Sermon
I'm not what you might describe as an inveterate traveller, but whenever I've visited other countries I have always been struck by the similarity in the children. No matter whether the children come from rich families or poor families, from a hot climate or a cold climate, and no matter what language they speak, there is something universally similar about children.
We recently shared a hotel with a large group of Japanese schoolgirls. The girls were all immaculate in exactly matching school uniforms, and were very polite and pleasant. But they were also typical schoolgirls, giggling together behind their hands especially when handsome young men walked past. And they clearly regarded anyone over the age of twenty as nearly decrepit!
There is something delightful about being in the company of children, something which is now sadly lacking in many of our English churches for children in church are now somewhat rare.
That delightfulness of childhood is neatly captured by the writer of today's passage in the book of Proverbs. The first nine chapters of Proverbs, also sometimes known as the Book of Wisdom, were probably written by a religious sage who was also editor of the whole book and who is thought to have written in the fifth century BC. The book of Proverbs is an anthology of poetry used for the purpose of teaching wisdom in the form of moral guidance, especially to the young.
Proverbs is only one of a number of biblical books referred to as "Wisdom literature." These books were the result of a movement to gather, preserve and express the results of human experience as a means of beginning to understand and solve life's basic problems. Hence the books deal with the problems of humanity's origin and destiny, of suffering, of good and evil, of the search for happiness, and so on. Wisdom was cultivated by the Sages, who were counsellors and instructors and governors and who strove to promote peace and unity amongst the people.
In today's passage from Proverbs 8, Wisdom is seen as a delightful young child, playing at the feet of God as God creates the universe, yet a child with very mature understanding and knowledge (vs.1-4). Somehow the playfulness and fun is retained, and Wisdom reaches out from that centre, to all human beings. Jesus developed this idea when he told his followers that if they want to experience the kingdom of heaven, they must become like little children (Mark 10:15). Wisdom is the perfect example of that little child.
And so the highest form of wisdom became identified with the spirit of God at Creation. In this passage Wisdom is identified as feminine, and became thought of as God's female consort. Later, in the early Church, the Holy Spirit was seen as feminine because the Holy Spirit was seen as an extension of God's wisdom which was present at Creation.
In the prologue to John's gospel which we read every Christmas Day, Jesus Christ is identified with the Word, which is a Greek concept but which is more or less equivalent to the Wisdom which was present at Creation, and this idea is echoed by St Paul in Colossians 1:15-17.
The "Being" who was present with God at Creation, before the world began, was identified in the Old Testament as the Spirit of Wisdom, but is identified in the New Testament as the Christ, who became identified with Jesus of Nazareth, the human being. So it would seem that as Wisdom is seen as female and as the Christ is seen as male, that the Godhead transcends our human ideas of sexuality and gender. The Godhead, God the Creator, Jesus the Christ, and Wisdom the Holy Spirit emanating from the Creator and from the Christ, are beyond sexuality or gender and incorporate every aspect of human sexuality.
Wisdom is of divine origin because wisdom comes from God. This is very apparent in life today. Those who act with wisdom act in the best interests of all and the end result of wise actions is always eventually good, even though it may not seem to be good at the time. For instance, the end result of the horror of the crucifixion was good for all human beings, even though at the time it seemed like foolishness and the end of everything.
St Paul is well aware of the way in which God's wisdom seems like foolishness to human beings and several of his letters incorporate this idea (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 11:1, Romans 1:16). In our own day the idea has been made concrete by "Holy Fools", those who dress up and act as clowns in order to convey the Christian message in a very powerful way.
Wisdom ties the Godhead together and enables human beings to know the Godhead. We can only know God through God's Spirit and we can only know Jesus through God's Spirit, for there is only one Spirit. We know God/Jesus through his Spirit within us and that Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom.
At the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the bishops of the early church put all this into writing as best they could and produced for us the Nicean creed, which is still recited in churches today as the statement of Christian faith. But it was written a long time ago, the concepts are difficult and the language is medieval, so the Creed isn't always easy to understand. Perhaps one way to understand the Trinity today is to be aware that God and Christ are one and that the Spirit of Wisdom emanates from that Being.
We know that Being through the Spirit within us, who pours love into us and is ever-present with God's wisdom, help, advice and guidance. Perhaps on this Trinity Sunday the best thing we can do is to learn to tap into that God within and make the best possible use of God's wisdom.
We recently shared a hotel with a large group of Japanese schoolgirls. The girls were all immaculate in exactly matching school uniforms, and were very polite and pleasant. But they were also typical schoolgirls, giggling together behind their hands especially when handsome young men walked past. And they clearly regarded anyone over the age of twenty as nearly decrepit!
There is something delightful about being in the company of children, something which is now sadly lacking in many of our English churches for children in church are now somewhat rare.
That delightfulness of childhood is neatly captured by the writer of today's passage in the book of Proverbs. The first nine chapters of Proverbs, also sometimes known as the Book of Wisdom, were probably written by a religious sage who was also editor of the whole book and who is thought to have written in the fifth century BC. The book of Proverbs is an anthology of poetry used for the purpose of teaching wisdom in the form of moral guidance, especially to the young.
Proverbs is only one of a number of biblical books referred to as "Wisdom literature." These books were the result of a movement to gather, preserve and express the results of human experience as a means of beginning to understand and solve life's basic problems. Hence the books deal with the problems of humanity's origin and destiny, of suffering, of good and evil, of the search for happiness, and so on. Wisdom was cultivated by the Sages, who were counsellors and instructors and governors and who strove to promote peace and unity amongst the people.
In today's passage from Proverbs 8, Wisdom is seen as a delightful young child, playing at the feet of God as God creates the universe, yet a child with very mature understanding and knowledge (vs.1-4). Somehow the playfulness and fun is retained, and Wisdom reaches out from that centre, to all human beings. Jesus developed this idea when he told his followers that if they want to experience the kingdom of heaven, they must become like little children (Mark 10:15). Wisdom is the perfect example of that little child.
And so the highest form of wisdom became identified with the spirit of God at Creation. In this passage Wisdom is identified as feminine, and became thought of as God's female consort. Later, in the early Church, the Holy Spirit was seen as feminine because the Holy Spirit was seen as an extension of God's wisdom which was present at Creation.
In the prologue to John's gospel which we read every Christmas Day, Jesus Christ is identified with the Word, which is a Greek concept but which is more or less equivalent to the Wisdom which was present at Creation, and this idea is echoed by St Paul in Colossians 1:15-17.
The "Being" who was present with God at Creation, before the world began, was identified in the Old Testament as the Spirit of Wisdom, but is identified in the New Testament as the Christ, who became identified with Jesus of Nazareth, the human being. So it would seem that as Wisdom is seen as female and as the Christ is seen as male, that the Godhead transcends our human ideas of sexuality and gender. The Godhead, God the Creator, Jesus the Christ, and Wisdom the Holy Spirit emanating from the Creator and from the Christ, are beyond sexuality or gender and incorporate every aspect of human sexuality.
Wisdom is of divine origin because wisdom comes from God. This is very apparent in life today. Those who act with wisdom act in the best interests of all and the end result of wise actions is always eventually good, even though it may not seem to be good at the time. For instance, the end result of the horror of the crucifixion was good for all human beings, even though at the time it seemed like foolishness and the end of everything.
St Paul is well aware of the way in which God's wisdom seems like foolishness to human beings and several of his letters incorporate this idea (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 11:1, Romans 1:16). In our own day the idea has been made concrete by "Holy Fools", those who dress up and act as clowns in order to convey the Christian message in a very powerful way.
Wisdom ties the Godhead together and enables human beings to know the Godhead. We can only know God through God's Spirit and we can only know Jesus through God's Spirit, for there is only one Spirit. We know God/Jesus through his Spirit within us and that Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom.
At the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the bishops of the early church put all this into writing as best they could and produced for us the Nicean creed, which is still recited in churches today as the statement of Christian faith. But it was written a long time ago, the concepts are difficult and the language is medieval, so the Creed isn't always easy to understand. Perhaps one way to understand the Trinity today is to be aware that God and Christ are one and that the Spirit of Wisdom emanates from that Being.
We know that Being through the Spirit within us, who pours love into us and is ever-present with God's wisdom, help, advice and guidance. Perhaps on this Trinity Sunday the best thing we can do is to learn to tap into that God within and make the best possible use of God's wisdom.
