Wisdom

It's time for a return to the lectionary. At Grace, we don't get every reading each week, so let's spend some time with them.

Does not wisdom call and understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all who live.

“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,

playing before him always,

playing in his inhabited world

and delighting in the human race. ~ Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

This week's readings are from Holy Trinity Sunday: the day we celebrate a concept that isn't technically mentioned in the Bible.

And yet it is a concept that is central to who we are as Christians. At least Lutheran Christians (and Catholics, and Episcopalians, and Baptists, and Methodists, etc...). Each of the readings this week focus on one of the persons of the Trinity. So while the word "trinity" doesn't appear, the persons of the Trinity - the One in Three - do.

So what does Wisdom have to do with that?

There is a tradition of associating Wisdom with the Holy Spirit. And you can see here in the Proverbs, Wisdom is often portrayed as a woman. So, for many there is a feminine aspect to the Holy Spirit.

So why Wisdom and Spirit?

Because the Spirit of God displays the wisdom of God. And displays God's character and God's desire for creation.

I think of the Spirit as active Wisdom - wisdom on the move. Wisdom that tells us who God is and who we are.

Wisdom is more than knowledge. It includes discernment and experience. It means taking knowledge and using it for principled action.

And here in the proverb, we see Wisdom calling out to us - driving us to God.

Which is something the Holy Spirit does as well.

Lord, open my ears and eyes and lips to your wisdom that I might share it with the world. Amen