Proverbs 22

 

1 I like Alyce Mckenzie on Proverbs as fitting a post-modern suspicion of systematic accounts.

 

2) Donald Capps has done good work with Proverbs in pastoral care contexts. William Brown of Columbia Sem. has good thoughts on wisdom in Character in Crisis and his fine Ethos and Cosmos

 

3) It's a challenge to preach from Proverbs. One could pick a couple. Once could play with old dayings, especaily when they conflict. One could attack acceptable religious sayings: I'm spiritual, but I DON'T ATTEND CHURCH.

 

4)Remember that proverbs are human wisdom captured in the bible. I see wisdom material as a gloss on DT. 2 paths I give you, life and death, choose life.

 

5)v. 2 stands against the easy assumiton that the rich are being blessed and the poor punished

 

6) Sowing and reaping are moved from economics to the realm of politics in v. 8.

 

7) v. 9 generous= good of eye (tob ayin)see Dt. 15:9-11. Note the poor get bread, not lectures, advice, or shame.

 

8) the Egyptian sayings of Amenemope were found in the 1920s. Some think that the parallels with 22:17-23:11 suggest dependence, cultural interaction, and mutual use of an earlier collection. In any case, it shows that Israel was willing to draw on good sources to provide wisdom, even if not religious.

 

9)   VV.22-3 AGAIN NOTICE THAT WICKEDNESS IS TREATING THE POOR UNFAIRLY. Notice that God is on their side, the preferential option for the poor. Republicans of the newer stripe take note.

 

 

 

Song of Songs 2:8-15, James 1:17-27 Sermon 

 

This is a great ancient love song. It glories in the sheer physicality of romantic love. It did not take long for religious folks to turn it into an allegory of God's love for us and our mystical love for God. I think we have plenty of room for both approaches. James says that every good and perfect gift comes from above, and certainly romantic love or spiritual intensity emerge from that same source.

 

The song knows that romantic love uses the 5 senses.Our discomfort with this in church stems from the fundamental error of seeing the spiritual as somehow above the physical.  I sometimes wonder if Sunday worship is impoverished when it comes to the senses, as we so emphasize hearing above all. Certainly in our private prayer time, we can make an effort to work with the different senses as aids toward closeness with God. We can make an analogy to romantic love as an entree into God's love for  us and our love for God . According to James we live as lovers of the world and not of God. Love is proved in our acts of devotion. As the song says in My Fair Lady-don't talk of love-show me. Few of us experience the constant yearning and intensity of romantic love in our religious experience. At its best deep prayer does get at that merged sense of self with the other, that approach toward unity that marks romantic love. When prayer has an urgency, you know you are in deeper relationship with God.  Love can be extravagant. We stumble over the most elaborate superlative. We do that when we describe the attributes of Go. Love lingers over detail.

 

Eugene Peterson (Five Smooth Stones) says that the love of God is an "assault on our indifference (59)." We may have to generate feelings of compassion. When we don't we are dealing with the love for family.He reminds us that God regards us with all beneficence for the beloved. God, delighting in us, festoons his creatures,just as we are,when we delight in each other, enhancing and elaborating the beloved (57).  If we are the object of God's love we acquire special value. One of the great feelings of romance is that someone sees you as special. The lovers in the song see each other at their best,as lovers often do. Maybe that is the one time we see clearly, with the blinders of love. Sometimes love is blind to faults, at least for a while. I think that one of the diiferences between men and women is that a man will look at himself and think: haircut, new coat, lose ten pounds, Jessica Alba. A woman looks critically at herself, every element an issue, so they fully yearn to be appreciated, to be seen as beautiful.

 

It is incumbent on Christians to tend their relationships with each other, including their romantic ones and the intimacy of a deep, abiding relationship with God. Our spiritual life tends toward the abstract, but the abstract is difficult to love. After some time, we lose some of the initial excitement of early infatuation. We may not be sure about the little foxes, but can think up many things that can spoil a moment. Love needs tending, as a spiritual life needs tending. Love lingers over detail, but it takes the time to linger.

 

Recall some of your favorite love songs. Do you have your song together? Do you have some favorite hymns? Aren't those a type of long song to God? Maybe we could think of our relationship with God as a life long spiritual love affair.

 

If any passage leads us to seeing 2 levels of reality this is it. Through our eyes, a Christian going into the battle for looks to be stark naked. Through the eyes of faith, we see that they are fully armed as militant pacifists, as non-violent aggressors, to fight the good fight. The battle gear is for someone on offense and defense. the shield is a large one, used for attacking a fortification.the sword was used in close quarters in close combat.  The trouble is that our spiritual sight is weak, and we feel as if we are not well-equipped to fight the good fight. It is hard enough to fight something we can see, but when we are fighting instincts and ideas, it is difficult to see if we are making any progress at all. We fight an unseen battle within ourselves all the time. Every day, we go out and do battle with forces determined to obstruct the way of god, the kingdom of God.

 

This morning I would like to emphasize, first, the belt of truth. Obviously truth fights falsehood. It is more than a physical issue. In a media-drenched world, we receive more misinformation and trivia than material to consider and pray over. Marilyn told me on Thursday that we had a media flap that the First Lady was wearing shorts. A deluge of information makes a vacuum for words of truth, as it pushes it out. It is the christian hope that the truth can defeat the lies and misrepresentations of the enemy. the truth that we are made in the image and likeness of god can fight against all those words that tells us that we don't deserve respect and success, and love. In a violence-saturated world, we certainly need to wear the gospel shoes of peace. We help the way of God in the world when we seek peace and teach ways of arriving at it. When someone angers us, we want to give them a swift kick. In the world of peace-making, we give a swift kick to the destructive side of conflict by having the words and methods of peace in our walk.

 

Of course, no list is comprehensive. In our other reading, Solomon demonstrates his wisdom with a long prayer.Perhaps nothing can demonstrate wisdom in a leader more than the sense that they do not have all the answers, cannot go it alone, and need to be opening to the prodding of god. I notice that much of it is on national forgiveness. Secure in the promise of God, he does not fear to admit that nations can go wrong, that we require corporate as well as personal forgiveness.Solomon knows full well that he needs chariots and defenses, but he also knows that nations fight invisible forces of ruling ideas and ways of thinking that can prove to be even more deleterious to the health of the nation.

 

Solomon is concerned that God could be connected to the new temple. In other words, will God hear the prayers in the new temple? Will God be connected to us? When we pray, it sometimes seems as if we are talking to the wall. Solomon not only assumes that God hears, but he begs God to keep a close eye and ear on the prayers that emanate form the temple. We Christians see God as dwelling in Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ was a living breathing temple. In that way, Solomon's prayer is answered, God's own can indeed dwell on the earth. Jesus knows full well the physical  battles and the temptations and ideas against which we struggle. Later,  Paul will speak of us as temples of the Holy Spirit.Think of it. We carry the presence of god with us as we carry the fight against evil right in the domain of the enemy, even as we carry that enemy with us as well.

1) Many in the church have been uncomfortable with the sexuality in the song, so they have made it into a description of God's love. Bernard of Clairvaux devoted immense labors t the song.

2) My favorite thing to do with the description of the body is to re-imagine it in terms fo middle-aged people describing their spouse.

3) This seems to me to be done is a musical frame, where we have the lovers singing and a chorus with backing vocals. So if you like musicals, here's your chance ot incoporate them.

4) Look at all of the use of the possessive pronun, my.

5) I am mystified why the lectionary stops at v.15 and misses the great line in v.16

6) I am unsure of the little foxes; soem think it is about luxuriating in the vineyard, a symbol of ripe sex. Maybe the sly fox figures out how to elude defenses.

7) NIB, p.394 suggests linking spiritual and romantic ebb and flow.

8) It sounds like Mary Chapin carpenter, you can't take love for granted. Come to think of it, this is a great place to use song lyrics, not just musicals, maybe include video if your church has such connection._

1) I certainly don't think one should feel compelled to make the same cuts as the lectionary, although the section on the prayer is solid.

2) To this day -at v.8 is a good sign of distance from the event.

3)many consider this a composition of the supposed "Deuteronomist" as indicated in 26 with the conditional nature of a covenant.

4) I find wisdom in all of the petitions for forgiveness and hearing prayer.

5) The covenants with David and at Sinai are linked here.

6) I am stuck at v. 27 of the temple as a dwelling palce for God; somed imagine the temple as the "navel of the earth" This is a gateway into spiritual sense of the presence of God, or Jesus as a temple, or even the Christian as a temple

7) One could do well to consider the temple in end time thinking in Ezekiel's closing and how Revelation reflects it, especially in 21.

8) One could look at Lathrop's Holy Places, or consider church architecture.

9) Lately I've seen suggestions that the cherubim were more fearsome images than often supposed.

 

1) What virtue would you ask for in this one wish moment?

2 Why was wisdom such a good idea? Isn't it surprising after David's Godfather style of revenge?

3 Why is wisdom such a crying need in our time? Distinguish from intelligence.

4) What significance do you find that this is a dream?

5) Solomon wants a discerning mind. Ralph Mitchell notes its popularity now. Why? What would discernment offer for corporate style of decision?

Anger tempts us from within and without. it almost seems a conspiracy abroad to have things happen to annoy us. In public talk radio runs and anger and fuels it too. Ephesians cautions us about anger. Our reading about Absalom speaks of anger's distortions that threatened a family and a kingdom.

 

Anyone who says that society is going downhill ignores the Biblical witness.David's son raped Absalom's sister. Caught between a father's pity and a king's justice, David did not act of of righteous anger. In his anger, Absalom plotted revenge. When Absalom murdered Amnon, David merely exiled him for a time. Now Absalom plotted to take away the throne from David; perhaps he now perceived him as weak, or maybe his anger remained, and its orbit needed to expand.

 

Anger must be controlled. The social psychology experiments are noteworthy here. It does harm us to deny that we are angry. Always holding in anger and refusing to admit its presence is not healthy. It can eat us up inside, or slowly poison a good relationship, or explode in some irrational fit of rage.On the other hand, it is not entirely true that we must give full vent to our anger every time. Some things may be worth a tantrum; others are not. Giving full vent to rage often only intensifies it and prolongs it. The old nostrum about counting to ten before you speak or act is still sound.

 

Yes, we can be angry. No we should not act against another in anger. Instead, we should regard anger as a symptom that needs to be addressed, not ignored or papered over. Do not let the sun go down on anger is still good advice. Unresolved anger can endanger a relationship. Continually doing things that create anger can endanger a relationship. Ignoring the anger of another is not an act of loving respect. If anger persists, it festers and can attack even the stronghold of love. I am not saying that it is easy. It is a process of a lifetime. I think of George Washington making a commitment to control his volcanic temper that lasted a lifetime. Ephesians, with its baptismal language of stripping off the old self and putting on a new cloak of virtues, can sound that way. Perhaps it is better to think of renewing our baptism every day, where we try to strip off our vices and put on a new uniform of virtues day after day.

 

Anger does not last forever with someone we love. Even after David has faced down the rebellion of his son, his foremost concern is his welfare, not even the welfare of his kingdom. Maybe David is utterly confident of victory, but his role of father and king has slipped into a concerned father. Now their joint inability to deal with conflict and anger has led to the death of his son. This time, he utters no beautiful elegy, but the choked words of a father, O Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son.Would that I died instead of you, my son, my son. I don't know if David's grief turned angry. I don't know if his grief turned toward anger against god, as so many losses do.

 

I can never read this passage and not consider divine grief. I wonder if the words of David were echoed by God when Jesus was at Calvary. Along that line, I wonder if God does not cry out in righteous anger at what we continually insist on doing to each other, the lives wasted because of unresolved anger or the institutional violence we call war. When anger turns into a weapon of words or fist, we are in dangerous territory. No matter our age, we mature into controlling our anger.

1) You may wish to review the events here. How Absalom was in exile for killing his brother in defending his sister Tamar. How he built up a following as did his father. How he took over the palace. How David uses treachery to give Absaloim poor advice.

 

2)Consider carefully some reasons David is willing to be gentle with Absalom (father of peace)

 

3) David's reaction can be linked to the reaction of God when jesus is crucified.

 

4) Notice the narrative art in holding off the news for the anxious David

 

5) What do you think of Joab's response to Absalom and later to David's grief?

 

6) The ending is a marvelous way to enter into a discussion of grief.

 

7) We do not get the lyrical David of other losses. Sometimes grief has to be wordless for a while.

 

8) David is both parent and ruler. When do our roles conflict?

 

9) Could Absolom's being suspended between ground and sky indicate a psychological issue? David too is between battle and the safety of the city walls.

In this season of picnics, we have the indoor one called Communion. In this season of vacation, we ge a deep sense that God never takes a vacaton from us. Gail Ramshaw just wrote "what we need of heaven is here among us."

 

John insists that when we partake of Jesus, we get what we need to live:physically or spiritually. Recall that tradition had said that God's teaching was our very bread of life. This is part of the sense of the true bread from heaven, superior even to the miraculous manna. It offers a felt sense of abundance, of having more than enough. Anxiety pushes us toward distrusting enough; it pushes us to always want more. The people who have just had a miracle banquet from bread and fish want more. When we accept Jesus into our very being in Communion, we also are to absorb his teaching, his very life, along with a death that  brought us communion with divine sacrificial love. Just as the bread and cup become part of our body, so too does the living presence of Jesus Christ penetrate into every dimension of our lives.

 

Yes, Communion is an intensely spiritual experience. Yet, its very essence points toward the keeping together of body and soul. Miraculous manna fed the people. Spiritual life for us requires the body in this world. It does no good to try to flee from it or rise above its demands. Both of our sacraments are tactile, physical experience of a sensed spiritual reality. One of the constant arguments in seminary was from folks who said that the spirit moves us to speak, so they did not need to prepare a sermon for class. I think that part of their trouble was a dislike for the physical act of writing in longhand or typing. Church life would be much easier if we were disembodied spirits. Instead we are embodied beings, incarnate souls, if you will. spiritual life is keepiong body and soul in harmony..

 

Sin is the opposite of the possibility and presence of Communion. Repentance is being re-oriented toward Communion, toward life together. Nathan's story becomes the  bread of life for David's moral sense. Instead of offering blessing, sin offers curse. Repentance is the turn away from curse.That is part of the reason Paul enjoins us to examine our conscience before Communion. We don't receive this as a right, or even a privilige. It is a sign of pure gift from God, just as salvation is for all of us.  Communion moves us toward life together again. Sin pushes us to see people as things, as numbers, as means toward an end. Blessing requires respect. It means respect for people's needsw and pain, as well as our abundant gifts. Maybe it can even open us up enough to feel the pain of others, or to at least sympathize with it more fully. David moves from seeing life as disposable toward respecting it as precious. Communion opens our eyes to precious gifts.

 

What we call the words of institution start with taking, a physical act, and then blessing.We live under the shadow of death too much. We live under muttered curses too often. Sin prevents us from wishing each other well. We may even engage in self-defeating behaviors as we think we do not deserve the good that could come our way. Think of Communion this morning as a shared blessing. Last week, we quoted Ephesians about being rooted and grounded in live. Communion is a sacrament of that very phrase. Think of Communion as ingesting a blessing this morning. Think of it as allowing you to share blessings. It moves us to see it as thoroughy mixed in with the stuff of our lives.