"A Personal Call Story" Isaiah 6: 5-8; I Corinthians 1: 17-31

Peter Marshall, the renowned preacher and chaplain of the United States Senate, reportedly preached his "call" sermon every year on the anniversary of his call to ministry.  When I was in seminary, I read his biography, A Man Called Peter, as each fall semester began, in part, to be reminded of the strong sense of call he fell to ordained ministry.

This week I will be sharing parts of my own call story with the hope that it will help others consider how God calls them.  One of the challenges, of course, is to get people to think of call as more than just to ordained ministry or the things that we do as part of our church work.

When I was a young boy, I drank the last little bit of a bottle of Drano that I had taken out of the trash to use as a canteen.  My mother found me next to the bottle in the back yard spitting up and rushed me to the emergency room.  I remember drinking something (maybe orange juice) in the car on the way to the emergency room to try and counteract the poisonous Drano.  As my parents tell the story, the doctor was astonished that there was no damage.  He told them that the day before another young child had swallowed a similar liquid and had burned his voice box and would have trouble talking.  This story became part of my call story -- I understood that the ability to talk was a a gift from God and I had to use my voice -- maybe as a lawyer arguing cases or, as it turns out, a minister preaching every week.  that story is also one reason I have always gravitated to the Isaiah call story -- the burning coal touching Isaiah's lips as he hears the call to go and prophesy.

I also have a funny (sort of) story about being called to particular places.  When I was interviewing with the Pastor Nominating Committee in KY, I walked into the sanctuary there and immediately had the sense that this was the place where I was called to lead worship and preach.  From that first step into the sanctuary, it was a done deal, at least from my side of things.  When I arrived in Troy to interview with the Nominating committee, I anxiously looked forward to walking into the sanctuary to see if I would get the same sense of call.  When I walked into the sanctuary, however, I looked down at the carpet (understand, I had never been in a church with a pattern on the carpet in the sanctuary) and was so caught up in thier being a pattern that I had no sense of this being the place where I might be called to lead worship and preach.  Perhaps the hardest part of hearing the call to come to FPC, Troy was convincing myself that God might be calling me here even though I did not have "call" experience in the sanctuary.

Paul challenges us to "consider your own call, brothers and sisters," in the context of realizing that our call is not built on that which we might boast because we are called to "boast in the Lord."  We often think about interpreting our call in the context of our successes (if we are really good at it, God must be calling us to do it), but Paul challenges us to consider how we hear our call as ones who carry to the world the message of the cross, which is "foolishness" to the world.

As I ponder how to preach on call, I am playing wiht these images from others:

1.  This is how it is described in Wendell Berry’s wonderful novel Jayber Crow. As a child, Jayber lived in The Good Shepherd orphanage. He describes it this way. “For as long as I could remember, I had been hearing preachers tell in sermons how they had received “the call.” … Not one of those [preachers] had ever suggested that a person could be “called” to anything but “full-time Christian service,” by which they meant either the ministry or “the mission field.” The finest thing they could imagine was that an orphan boy, having been rescued by the charity of the church, should repay his debt by accepting “the call.”  Wendell Berry. Jayber Crow, pp. 42–43

2. "Well, this is what I believe: The call is not to be a preacher or teacher or doctor or mother or father or elder or deacon or orthodontist or floor manager at Macy’s — even if you are any of these things. The call of Jesus is not to a particular job, but to a way of living life, no matter what job you have. When Jesus calls,

you don’t get a new job; you get a whole new life. Tom Are, Jr. 11/11/12 Sermon “It's a Whole New Life”

3.  Frederick Buechner once described calling this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  Frederick Buechner. Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (1973), p. 95

4.  :  “When I'm honest, it irks me that God called Moses through a burning bush, and God has sent nothing of the sort in my direction as far as I can tell.”  The Godbearing Life:  The Art of Soultending for Youth Ministry, Kenda Dean and Ron Foster (74)

5.  Yaconellie quoting Henri Nouwen , The Inner voice of Love:  “It is not going to be easy to listen to  God’s call.  Your insecurity, your self-doubt and your great need for affirmation make you lose trust in your inner voice and run away from yourself. But you know that God speaks to you through your inner voice and that you will find joy and peace only if you follow it.”  Michael Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality,

6.  Tony Campolo says that whenever anybody asks him, “How were you called into ministry?” he replies that when he was a little boy, his mother used to say to him, “You were brought into this world to love other people in the name of Jesus Christ, to serve other people, especially the poor and the oppressed. Do you understand that, Tony?” People ask Tony, “How did you get called to the ministry?” and his response is that he never once was called, his mother decided!
(By the way, sometimes people tell Tony that parents can’t decide things like that for they children. His response is, “Why not? Everybody else is telling their children what to do with their lives: the media, their peer group, the counselor at school. What is wrong with a parent standing up and saying, ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ My calling to serve Jesus Christ came from my mother and that’s a good place for it to come from. I advise all mothers and fathers to do that for their children.”) (1) Tony Campolo, “Becoming What God Intended You to Be,” sermon and interview broadcast, Chicago Sunday Evening Club 30 Good Minutes, January 25, 2004. www.csec.org.

I am reminded of what Catherine Marshall, Peter's wife, wrote about him:  "Always Peter felt inadequate for the tasks to which God called him, but because he knew God had called him, he also knew he would get the help he needed" (The Best of Peter Marshall, Catherine Marshall, xi).

What call stories do you have?

Reflections on "Grab Bag: Why Forgive?" Luke 6: 37-38; 2 Corinthians 2: 5-11

Sermon went ok.  I enjoyed it, particularly working with David Lose's comments (Move 2) on the story of the sinful woman.  Probably would have made that the primary text if I were to pick the texts again.  I have referenced him twice in recent sermons (from different blog resources), which makes me want to see what he has written lately.

The sermon left me wanting to explore two areas more:  the idea of forgiving but not forgetting (reading Jeremiah 31 as the text) and reflecting on Paul's letter that we read in the context of how forgiveness impacts the whole community.

the fourth paragraph of the sermon below (about grab bag sermons) was actually shared before the Scripture reading, along with the suggestion that if the listeners had a go-to text for forgiveness to feel free to reflect on that while the sermon was being preached.  I think that made the opening illustration more powerful since I went straight into the rest of the sermon without talking about the ongoing preaching process.

“Why Forgive” August 23, 2013; Grab bag series; Luke 6: 37-38; 2 Corinthians 2: 5-11

Introduction:  Ernest Gordon, in his book through the Valley of the Kwai tells the story of being held captive by the Japanese during WWII. He was a non-believer until he experiences the literally lifesaving help from Christian prisoners.  Being a follower of Christ changed his life and the way he lived and viewed his imprisonment.

When the soldiers arrived to liberate the camp where Gordon was being held, the soldiers were so “infuriated by what they saw that they wanted to shoot the Japanese guards on the spot.  Only the intervention of the victims prevented them.  Captors were spared by their captives. (230).

An unimaginable act of forgiveness that was made possible because they Gordon and others lived out Jesus’ call to forgive.

This morning as my last grab bag sermon of the summer, I want to reflect on the question one of you submitted that asked “Why forgive?”

Move 1: partly we forgive because forgiveness is about us.

            a. "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” Oscar Wilde

b. Forgiveness allows us to move on.

1.            To not forgive hurts me more than it does the person who has hurt me.  

2.            Surely, you know a person who plays the same story over and over – the story of how they were wronged. 

3.            It gets told again and again, refined and expanded.

4.            In the retelling, the person remains captive to what has happened. 

5.            Long after the sin has take place; perhaps long after the person who committed the sin has forgotten what happened, the person is still holding on to the sin.

6.            It keeps us from moving forward.

7.            It continues to live in me until I forgive.

8.            Forgiveness releases us from that bondage.

c.      Forgiveness allows us to move beyond our selfish tendencies.

1.       Number of studies has found that narcissists are less likely to forgive others. They see others’ transgressions against them as a debt and want them repaid. 

2.      It is not about the act of forgiveness that must be mutually lived out, but about what the person can do for me.

3.      Interestingly enough, narcissists are also less wiling to forgive God for their problems or troubles in their own lives.”  the Narcissism Epidemic:  Living in the Age of Entitlement, Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, 245)

4.      The world shrinks to only being about the person. 

5.      Forgiving pushes us beyond ourselves into engaging others in meaningful ways.

Forgiveness is about us.

Move 2:  Partly, Forgiveness is about the person being forgiven.

1. We read in the Gospel of Luke Jesus telling us to forgive.

1.  If we look to the next chapter in Luke, we read about the sinful woman who finds Jesus in the house of the Pharisee and brings a jar of ointment and uses that and her tears to bathe Jesus’ feet and then dry them with her hair.

2.  The Pharisee is perturbed that Jesus will associate with this sinful woman and let her wash his feet.
3.  Jesus asks the Pharisee the question:  if a creditor forgives two debtors, one who owes 50 denarii and one who owes 500 denarii, who will love him more?
4. The Pharisee rightfully answers that the debtor who owes the 500 denarii.
5. Jesus then transitions that story into a comment on how little hospitality the Pharisee has shown Jesus compared to the great love shown to him by the sinful woman.
1. Then we get it.
2. The woman shows what it is like to be forgiven.
3. She is overwhelmed with gratitude.
4. As David Lose writes about forgiveness:  “Forgiveness also gives you back yourself. You see, after a while, being indebted, owing others, knowing yourself first and foremost as a sinner — these realities come to dominate and define you. You are no more and no less than what you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, the debt you owe. When you are forgiven, all those limitations disappear and you are restored, renewed, set free. So, yes, forgiveness is everything.” David Lose insight from http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2601
5. The woman who has been forgiven has a new lease on life.
6. Paul describes that in his letter to the Corinthians.  Apparently someone in their community of faith has sinned against another of them, and they are being very hard on the person.
7. Paul calls them to “Forgive and console him” so that he “not overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.”
8. Paul recognizes that for the man who has sinned to move forward in his life, he has to be forgiven.
2. We who know God’s forgiveness should know that sense of gratitude and that opportunity for new life.
2. When we forgive, we offer that gift to others.
3. We invite them to new life.

Forgiveness is about the person we forgive.

Move 3:  Perhaps most importantly, forgiveness allows us to live into the image of God in which we are created.

            a.  Jewish story – God chose to forgive before creating

                        1.  Story told that before creating God looked for4ward to see how it would work.

                        2. God saw betrayal and sin.

                        3. God realized that God would have to forgive.

                        4. So before creating, God decided to forgive.

            b. Fundamentally, God is a forgiving God.

            c. if we want to live into the image of God in which you were created, you need to forgive.  It is in our godly DNA, so to speak.

1.      Jesus forgives and models it for us.

2.      Jesus tells us to forgive.

3.      Not just because it is the right thing to do; not because it is the moral thing to do, although both might be true;  but because it is who we are called to be as children of God.

Conclusion: Bishop Desmond Tutu, as he reflected on the Commission on Reconciliation's work to bring about reconciliation.  On the other side, when I say "no, not quite," I have found breathtaking and, in fact, exhilarating the magnanimity of people, the incredible nobility of spirit of people who have suffered as much as they have suffered. So many of them are ready to forgive, which sometimes makes you feel as though you should take your shoes off because you are stepping on holy ground." http://commonwealmagazine.org/971209is/09129713.htm

Jesus invites us…Jesus tells us to step onto the holy ground of forgiveness.

"Why Forgive?" 2 Corinthians 2: 5-11; Luke 6: 37-38

It is hard to believe that this is the last of the Grab Bag sermons!  One topic -- talk about being Presbyterian (in reference to a series of articles about being Presbyterian in the magazine "Presbyterians Today") -- will be addressed in a 5 week mini-series starting on Sept. 8th.  A few other topics did not get "grabbed," but I'm going to try and work them in at some point over the next year or so.

Forgiveness.   This sermon grows out of this question that was submitted:  “Do I have to forgive?”  Included with the question were these two quotes:

From C. S. Lewis

We believe that God forgives us our sins; but also that He will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us. There is no doubt about the sec­ond part of this statement. It is in the Lord's Prayer; it was emphatically stated by our Lord. If you don't forgive you will not be forgiven. No part of His teaching is clearer, and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn't say that we are to forgive other people's sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are exten­uating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don't, we shall be forgiven none of our own.

From George MacDonald:

No man who will not forgive his neighbor, can believe that God is willing, yea wanting, to forgive him . . . .If God said, "I forgive you" to a man who hated his brother, and if (as impossible) that voice of forgiveness should reach the man, what would it mean to him?  How much would the man interpret it?  Would it not mean to him "You may go on hating.  I do not mind it."

I find myself struggling with Lewis' comment because it feels a lot like we have to do something to earn God's grace, rather than it merely being a gift.  I would be more comfortable speaking of our we are compelled to forgive because God has forgiven us. I suppose it depends on how you emphasize and interpret the Lord's Prayer.  "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."  Is the second part a natural outgrowth of the first part or does the first part depend on the second part happening?

I find McDonald's quote interesting.  does it mean that we have to forgive to understand/accept God's forgiveness? That's a different perspective than I have generally had in that regard.

I have often focused my thoughts on forgiveness on how it impacts us -- to not forgive hurts me more than it does the person who had hurt me.  They move on, but I am stuck in what has hurt me and in some sense it continues to live in me until I forgive. But ultimately I think we forgive not because it is good for us because God calls us to forgive and Jesus models if for us.

I have also been thinking about people who say, "I can forgive, but I will never forget."  The passage from Jeremiah (I did not choose it for this sermon) speaks of a God "who will remember their sins no more."  If we model our forgiveness after God's forgiveness, can we settle for the ":forgive, but not forget approach?" 

Do you have any stories of forgiveness to share?

Reflections on "Grab Bag: Three Persons" John 1: 1-14; Matthew 28: 16-20

When I realized that I was not going to achieve my goal of explaining the Trinity, I tried to provide some images that might be helpful.  Not sure I achieved being helpful.  

I used a diagram on the screens in the Sanctuary service, although I did not refer to it.  No one mentioned whether it was helpful to have the diagram or not.  It was a meager attempt to try and utilize the new technology in the Sanctuary.

The sermon went better in the Sanctuary service, in part because it was in the context of the baptism that was going to take place. Although I referenced the baptism in the Chapel sermon, having it live in the Sanctuary added to the sermon.

“Grab Bag:  Three Persons”  August 18, 2013; Grab bag series  John 1: 1-14; Matthew 28: 16-20

Introduction: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Later in the worship service (later this morning for chapel), I will say those words with an infant in my arms, as I douse him with water.

And the gathered congregation will take vows to teach the faith to Nolan and help him learn about God so that one day he might profess Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

We baptize using the Trinitarian formula for God – that  is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Try explaining that to the infant as he or she grows up! 

One of you wanted more explanation about the Trinity as part of the Grab bag sermons.

Easier said than done.

Think about how we view the Trinity through the years – from baptism as an infant, to when we claim our faith, to when we are older and wiser about our faith!

Fluid – move back and forth.

Move 1: we come to the baptismal waters with an infant baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

a.  child hears it, but does not comprehend.

b. We baptize in that name because Jesus said to do it that way.

c. No explanation involved – Jesus said it, we do it. 

d. For a child, that is enough. 

             

Move 2:  Confirmation age, high school college – claiming our faith.  Want more of an explanation. We try to give images.

            a. Acknowledge that we can't really explain it.

            b. We might offer the description of the God as “one essence - three persons” to use the language of the early church.

1.      Turn to biblical stories to see how we discover God.

2.      God the creator – breathed life into humanity; the one to whom the psalmists cry out; the one who speaks to the people through the prophets.

3.      Jesus Christ, the son of God – the one conceived of the Holy Spirit (don’t’ dwell on that too much); lived a perfect life; died and was resurrected; saves us.

4.      Holy Spirit – tongues of fire and Pentecost story; tie it to becoming new creations; Comforter language Jesus uses.

5.      Sovereignty of God; but also Christ and HS

            c. Images

            1. David Lose, Biblical Preaching Chair at Luther Seminary,  “Which is why we lean on metaphors and analogies, from the Desert Fathers (you remember, the two Gregorys and Basil) comparing the members of the Trinity to the source of light (Father), the light itself that illumines (Son), and the warmth when you feel the light (Spirit) to

      2.  Father/Creator; Son/Redeemer; Holy Spirit/Sustainer

      3.  Parent, spouse, child

4. Concrete images that speak to the different persons that make of the Trinity.

d.  Temptations to distort

      1.  Temptation to see God as one God who wears the masks of the Jesus and HS.

      2. In other words, Jesus Christ or Holy Spirit are not fully God.

      3. Temptation to emphasize one of the three, which leads to a distortion of the image of God.

      4. Angry God who is satisfied by Christ’s sacrifice.  Separate persons, but it denies the oneness of God.  Imagine how differently it speaks to God when Christ, the Savior.

      5. Or the tendency to think of the Holy Spirit as the spiritual part of God that is separate from Christ.  That separates the realm of the spiritual from the world of the flesh.  (Shirley Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, Revised Edition, 87-88).

      6. If we are not careful, we have an image of God that gets the three persons correct, but it feels more like three gods, than one.

Move 3:  Older, more life experience; can handle a bit of ambiguity

            a.  Read John 1 text

                        1.  Recognize this mysterious God who acts in concert even at creation.

                        2.  I sometimes speak of Father, Son and Holy Spirit talking about things before deciding to create. 

            b. David Lose, Biblical Preaching Chair at Luther Seminary, puts it bluntly:“Here's my rule-of-thumb regarding the Trinity: People who say they understand it aren't to be trusted. I mean, well, the Trinity is, quite frankly, more than just a little beyond our comprehension and understanding.”

            b. Recognize how this speaks to the temptations of the concrete images.

1. Instead of the angry God and the saving Christ, we recognize that they were in it together from the beginning.  Imagine what it means to say that God the Father who judges us joins with Christ in saving us.  

2.  Instead of separating spiritual realm from earthly realm, Christ and Holy Spirit work in concert with once another and with God the Creator.

3.  Offers nuances that broaden our understanding of God in helpful ways.

c.  The Trinity also speaks to what it means for God to be a relational God. Faith seeking Understanding, Daniel Migliore, 56-72 offers a good introduction to the Trinity, an analysis of historical interpretations of the Trinity, and an exploration of the communal aspects of a Trinitarian God).

       1.  If by definition, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each person connected to the other, then by definition God is a relational God.

       2.  IF we want to live into the image of God, it means that we have to be connected to others.

       3. It is not about God creating Richard, Richard having a personal relationship with God, or Richard living out his call to discipleship in isolation from others.

4. It is about me and you living out our lives as followers of Christ in connection with others.  We cannot be separated from that context and be in the image of God.

Conclusion:  The Trinity – we sing it; we say it; we teach it; we pray it.  We may not fully understand it, but we know the God who lives it fully.

"Three Persons" John 1: 1-14; Matthew 28: 16-20

Through the years, I have usually preached on the doctrine at least once a year on Trinity Sunday.  Due to the Bicentennial Sundays, I did not preach on Trinity Sunday this year, but someone asked for a sermon on the Trinity as one of the Grab Bag sermons.

I have used different approaches to preaching on the Trinity over the past twenty years.  Sometimes, I have tried to rationally explain (as best I can) what God in three persons means.  Other times, I have seen that as a futile effort and focused on how we choose to categorize the way we experience God in three ways (Father/Creater; Son/Redeemer; Holy Spirit/Sustainer), which builds on the three persons, but does not try to explain it.  I have also focused on the relational aspects of the Trinity and how it reflects a relational God, which makes no effort at trying to explain what we mean by Trinity in a theoretical sense.

The two texts I have chosen (probably without thinking through it thoroughly) offer a glimpse at the mystery of the Trinity (John 1: 1-14) and assume the Trinity without any explanation (Matthew 28: 16-20).  I'm thinking about not trying to explain the Trinity, and focus on the relational aspect of God and how we discover God in three ways.

Some thoughts that might make the sermon.

1.  David Lose, Biblical Preaching Chair at Luther Seminary, puts it bluntly:“Here's my rule-of-thumb regarding the Trinity: People who say they understand it aren't to be trusted. I mean, well, the Trinity is, quite frankly, more than just a little beyond our comprehension and understanding. Which is why we lean on metaphors and analogies, from the Desert Fathers (you remember, the two Gregorys and Basil) comparing the members of the Trinity to the source of light (Father), the light itself that illumines (Son), and the warmth when you feel the light (Spirit) to Augustine's Lover (Father), Beloved (Son), and the Love shared between the two (Spirit). That's the best we can do.”

2.  Christology at the Crossroads, Jon Sobrino, (xxiv): "Christology is possible only if the Father continues to be the ultimate horizon of reality, the son continues to be the definite example of how human beings can correspond to the Father, and life according to the Spirit of Jesus continues to be the authentic Christian way of acting that makes us sons and daughters in and through the Son."

3. Other faith traditions have some type of triune understandings of God.

how have you understood the Trinity? Does it matter?

Reflections on "Grab Bag: OT Tweets" Proverbs 1: 1-7; Proverbs 31: 10-12

To prepare for this sermon, I had to consult the textbook we used for my Old Testament class at seminary.  It reminded me of what a great professor Andy Dearman was and how much fun I had learning all this stuff.  I also flashed back to the take-home, closed book (honor system) exams Andy gave us.  I would get up on Saturday morning, study, study, study, then go get Chinese take-out and eat, watch college football, and take the exam.  That may explain why I didn't remember much of the backgrounds to Proverbs!

It was good to revisit Proverbs.  I made the connection (no scholar made this argument) between the Wisdom literature and its emphasis on righteous behavior and the letters to the early church and their emphasis on ethical behavior (particularly Peter's letters).  It was a fascinating connection to me.

The sermon probably had too much content -- an overview of 31 chapters and all the different styles of Proverbs is hard to do in 20 minutes or less, but I hope the gathered congregation got a good feel for Proverbs.

I had one person tell me they love reading Proverbs and another tell me they have a program that gives them a Proverb a day to read.  I was surprised that even two people read Proverbs that often.

The sermon came across very differently in the two services. Not sure why, exactly.  It felt very different in the preaching as well.

The text below is a loose approximation of the sermons preached at the two services.  I did quite a bit of freelancing yesterday.  I also botched the conclusion at the sanctuary service by using the comments earlier in the sermon.  The conclusion worked better at the Chapel service.  In fact, I think the written conclusion (now) is better than both of the conclusions that I used in the services yesterday (I could not remember the exact conclusion, so I wrote something in this morning).

Someone told me that yesterday's sermon was the best sermon I'd preached in all my time here.  From my perspective, that is certainly not the case, but I'm, grateful that it worked for someone!

“Grab Bag:  OT Tweets” August 11, 2013; Grab bag series  Proverbs 1: 1-7; Proverbs 31:10-12

Introduction In the last 20 years, I am not sure I ever preached on Proverbs, except for using portions of Proverbs 31 at a funeral for a mother/wife.

I bet most of you have not studied Proverbs.  Don’t make a catchy VBS theme.

In some ways, that made it surprising to me that someone actually wanted to hear a sermon on Proverbs as part of the grab-bag sermon series; or perhaps I should not have been surprised since we do not talk about Proverbs much.

I pulled out my Old Testament text book from seminary (in the written form of the sermon I’ve tried to note the references to it).

When I was trying to reflect on how to characterize Proverbs in our present context, it struck me that they are something like Twitter – quick hitting tweets that are somewhat cryptic, open to interpretation, and cover a wide variety of topic.  

Move 1:  Overview of Proverbs

            a. Proverbs joins with Ecclesiastes and Job as Wisdom literature in the Bible.

                        1. Job may seem an odd companion to Proverbs because we think of Job as the story of Job; but in fact Job is mostly a series of speeches and discourses hung on the framework of Job’s story.

2.  Wisdom genre is very different than the other books of the Old Testament.

                        2.  Wisdom literature lacks the “distinctive features of Israel’s faith.” (Anderson, 570).

                        3. that is, the stories of the patriarchs that we might read in Genesis and Exodus, or the stories of the kings or judges, are not present nor are they mentioned in Proverbs.

                        4. the one exception is the mention of King Solomon, who was considered the "fountainhead of all wisdom" (Anderson, 573). Many of the Proverbs are attributed to Solomon. Remember that Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom from God.

5. likewise, the words of the prophets highlight Israel’s God and the uniqueness of Israel’s relationship with God are not found in Proverbs, nor are those themes mentioned.

            b. Wisdom is rooted in the “fear” of the Lord as we read in the opening chapter of Proverbs.

1.      Proverbs 9: 10  (Proverbs 9:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.  (NRSV)

2.       "Fear" is not used in the sense of "scared," but in the sense of recognizing the awesome nature of God and being overwhelmed by it.

3.  Reason is not an obstacle to faith; rather, faith is a precondition for understanding (Anderson, 578)

c.  The theology of Proverbs is grounded in creation (see Proverbs 8: 22-31).

1.      (Proverbs 8:22-36) The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth-- when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world's first bits of soil. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race. And now, my children, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD; but those who miss me injure themselves; all who hate me love death."  (NRSV)

2.      To figure out the right way to live our lives as part of the created order is to have wisdom and to be righteous (see opening notes to Proverbs from The New Interpreter's Study Bible to get good background material on Proverbs), all of which begins with a "fear of the Lord."

3.      Wisdom is seen not just as the "key to ethical behavior (Proverbs 4: 10-19); it seeks to grasp the secret of the divine plan behind the whole creation" (Understanding the Old Testament, Bernhard Anderson, 4th edition, 579).

4.      Of course, this suggests that if we had enough wisdom, we could know God's plan. I'm not sure I want to go there.

                       

d. Proverbs tackle the following topics:  family, relationships; nature; agriculture; social relationships; and work relationships.

e.      Proverbs also has the running image of Wisdom personified as a woman.

1.      gives life to the rational approach to God.

2.      Given the importance of women, it is interesting that in a patriarchal world wisdom would be female.

3.      We might also note that the last chapter has two stories of women.

Move 2:  look at a few of the Proverbs

a.      Short statements where the second statement runs a parallel to the first.

1.       Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise child makes a glad father, but a foolish child is a mother's grief.  (NRSV)

2.      A balanced pair of opposites

3.      The wise child is paired with the foolish child; the glad father with a mother’s grief.

4.      Universal truth – not explicitly grounded in faith in the God of Israel.

5.      Proverbs 22: 1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.  (NRSV

6. Synonymous parallels – two items mentioned that are similar

b.      parallelism between two paths a person can choose

1.        (Proverbs 4:18-19) But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

 (Proverbs 4:19) The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over. (NRSV)

1.      Two paths a person can follow.

2.  Wicked or righteous.

c.      Collection of poems with numerical component (Proverbs 30: 18-19)  (Proverbs 30:18-19)

1.       Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a girl.  (NRSV

2.       (Proverbs 30:29-31) Three things are stately in their stride; four are stately in their gait: the lion, which is mightiest among wild animals and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king striding before his people.  (NRSV)

3.      There’s a lot to contemplate.

4.      tying together of things that do not seem associated.

5.      In processing the connections, we might come to understand a truth that matters to us.

d.      Proverbs 6: 6-11 instruction

1.  (Proverbs 6:6-11) Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest. How long will you lie there, O lazybones? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.  (NRSV)

e.      There are some extended sections where the verses tie together (Proverbs 31).

1.      Extended story about Lemuel, a son and his mother.

2. would read more like a parable.

Move 3:  Where is the gospel, that is good news, in these proverbs?

a.      Linking of rational thought to faith.

1.      Response to black and white – one of two paths.

2.      Speaks to the complexity of the world.

3.      Steer clear of thinking you can figure God out if you are smart enough.

b.      Wide variety of Images  

1.       lots of different aspects of life.

2.      Speaks to God’s all-encompassing presence in our world.

c.      Ethical behavior matters.

1.      Our belief in God does manifest itself in the behaviors we choose.

2.      The proverbs that offer insights into how we act highlight the importance of how we act.

3.      Not works righteousness – not earning God’s grace.

4.      But connecting our faith with our actions.

5.      Links Proverbs to the letters of the early church.

Conclusion: The Book of Proverbs provides ample resources for Twitter and FB people -- you have ample resources for things to tweet and post that will undoubtedly draw lots of attention and comment.

As you tweet your favorite Proverb, do not forget that the answer to the riddle lies in how you live your life as a follower of Christ.

"OT Tweets" Proverbs 1: 1-7; 31: 1-7

In the last 20 years, I am not sure I ever preached on Proverbs, except for using portions of Proverbs 31 at a funeral for a mother/wife.  When I was trying to reflect on how to characterize Proverbs in our present context, it struck me that they are something like tweets that go out from people.  Most of the Proverbs are stand alone comments on a variety of issues.

Some things to think about when reading Proverbs:

1.  The theology of Proverbs is grounded in creation (see Proverbs 8: 22-31).  To figure out the right way to live our lvies as part of the created order is to have wisdom and to be righteous (see opening notes to Proverbs from The New Interpreter's Study Bible to get good background material on Proverbs), all of which begins with a "fear of the Lord."

2.  "Fear" is not used in the sense of "scared," but in the sense of recognizing the awesome nature of God and being overwhelmed by it.

3. proverbs joins with Ecclesiastes and Job as Wisdom literature in the Bible.

4.  Proverbs tackle the following topics:  family, relationships; nature; agriculuter; social relationships; and work relationships.

5. There are some extended sections wehre the verses tie together (Proverbs 31), but much of Proverbs is two-line wise sayings (Proverbs 10 would be a good example).

6. Wisdom is seen not just as the "key to ethical behavior (Proverbs 4: 10-19); it seeks to grasp the secret of the divine plan behind the whole creation" (Understanding the Old Testament, Bernhard Anderson, 4th edition, 579). Of course, this suggests that if we had enough wisdom, we could know God's plan.  I'm not sure I want to go there.

7.  Proverbs also has the running image of Wisdom personified as a woman.  Given the importance of women, it is interesting that in a patriarchal world wisdom would be female.

8.  King Solomon was considered the "fountainhead of all wisdom" (Anderson, 573).    Many of the Proverbs are attributed to Solomon.

I am not sure how to take this information about Proverbs and turn them into a sermon.  Where is the gospel, that is good news, in these proverbs?