SETTING THE CONTEXT

Proverbs is classified as wisdom literature. Wisdom teachings in the Bible are normally short sayings and stories that address some of the most central questions of life. It focuses on our day-to-day lives rather than focusing on the life to come. Wisdom who is portrayed in this morning’s reading stands at all the places that people of that day would pass by, where they congregate and conduct the business of life. The places called out in the reading were places of encounter where life’s basic transactions and transitions occurred.^[i] This is where Wisdom stood and sought their attention in the midst of their everyday lives.

Read roverbs 8:1-6, 22-31

In the reading from John, Jesus is preparing the disciples for his departure. Our passage is in a long period of teaching where Jesus is warning his disciples about the coming persecution, telling them how to cope and offering them his final words of teaching. After this teaching, Jesus is betrayed and arrested and eventually crucified. In our passage, he comforts his fearful followers with the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer who is coming.

Read John 16:12-15

THE SERMON

As this week of Graduate Recognition approached my thoughts turned to times of transitions. My newsletter article which is coming out next week shares some of those thoughts. We come to crossroads at so many different times as our lives unfold. I know of a number of folks in our midst going through different transitions some positive and some challenging. At each crossroads, we have to make decisions and choose directions. Many times it’s not so clear as to which direction is the best way. And as George pointed out in his sermon last week called “Butterfly’s Breath,” no decision is a small decision. So making those decisions can be a daunting task, they involve responsibility and risk. This is especially true for those of us seeking to live the Christian life, seeking to live in accordance with God’s will. Sometimes it’s readily apparent what the Christ-like decision might be, sometimes it’s not.

Fortunately God provides the Spirit to guide us. In the Old Testament that Spirit of guidance was called Wisdom. I have to say that I love the fact that wisdom is imaged as “she”. It reminds of the joke: “You know what would have happened if there had been three wise WOMEN at Jesus’ birth instead of three wise MEN, don't you? They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given practical gifts.” Now, men I’m just teasing you. The New Testament balances the image out by calling the Holy Spirit “he”. The point is that Wisdom is more than “just pragmatic discernment” or thinking through the right choice as several Biblical scholars point out, “but it is a principle, a force, an agent operating in creation.”^[ii] Wisdom as our passage told us came from God and was with God from the very beginning of creation. We were talking with someone from the church the other day about George’s reference to chaos theory. He is a mathematician and he said there is a great deal of evidence that chaos has an order to it. God’s wisdom is woven into the very fabric of creation, even into chaos.

So many generations later Jesus tells his followers to open themselves to the Holy Spirit. He tells them that this Spirit will make sense out of what is coming and what is coming will seem senseless. The Message Bible paraphrases John 16:13 as the Spirit “will make sense out of what is about to happen and indeed, out of all that I have done and said.”^[iii] Even after Jesus is physically gone, God’s Spirit will continue to work, enlightening and guiding Jesus’ followers.

In my own life I have experienced the guidance of the Holy Spirit in different ways. Sometimes when I pray for guidance I get a subtle nudging or response, sometimes I get a kick in the seat. Sometimes the Spirit speaks to me through a song or an impression felt or even a thought popping into my head, at other times the Spirit speaks to me through people, through the community of the church.

When I was in my early 20’s and working construction, I finally got a job with a large and well known construction company. It looked like my future was going to be fairly stable and bright. Then after a short introduction period, the vice-president told me that they had my first assignment, I would be going to Amarillo, Texas to work on a nuclear weapons facility. Immediately my heart sank and I went into a period of turmoil. I felt that working at such a facility was in conflict with my commitment to follow Christ. I began to pray about it and agonize over it. I asked my priest and friends from my church for their advice and I asked them to pray for me and the decision I needed to make. I have to tell you that I was very willing to “sacrifice” my job to make an ethical statement. I guess I was looking to be a martyr, but I prayed the prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene, “Not my will but yours be done, O God.” This went on for a while. I was at a crossroads and believe me it was very uncomfortable. Then one evening when I was at a weekday church service as I was sitting in church and praying about this decision, we sang a song called Kyrie Eleison^[iv] (which is Latin for Lord have mercy).   The verses go like this.  “Look around you, can you see? Times are troubled, people grieve. See the violence, feel the hardness; all my people, weep with me. Kyrie Eleison. Walk among them, I’ll go with you. Reach out to them with my hands. Suffer with me, and together we will serve them, help them stand.” I had my answer, but it wasn’t the one I expected. I felt the Spirit telling me without any more doubts to go down and work on a place that I thought was immoral! It seemed crazy, but I decided to trust God and trust the Spirit. When I went to Amarillo, I immediately sought out a church. On my first day at the church they began a class on the nuclear arms race from a Christian perspective. I felt that the Spirit confirmed for me that I was in the right place. I still don’t know how God used my presence there, although I was very open with my co-workers about my misgivings with what we were building.  But I have a peace that I remained obedient to God at this crossroads in my life. I want to stress too that as I moved from state to state to do my work, the church was my anchor. Nothing else was familiar to me, but the church and it was through the church that I found community, the family of God, in times of great loneliness and transition.

Sometimes the Spirit of God guides us through the church community itself. George mentioned last week that I accepted my call to ministry at our church in Blythe. I had run away from God’s call to ordained ministry for many years fearing rejection by the church of my childhood. Once I married George, he encouraged me to reconsider my call. Part of the process is for the local church to recommend the person and the people of the Blythe church were very supportive and confirming of my call. I went to the female District Superintendent Anita Iceman who affirmed my call. She will always be special to me for her wisdom and encouragement. Just a short time later the churches in Jerome and in Cottonwood confirmed that calling as I began my life as a minister. The Spirit spoke through the church to give me the direction and encouragement I needed to live God’s will for my life.

God does provide guidance for us in the living of our day-to-day lives through the Holy Spirit. It is hard to fathom that the Creator of the universe would care about little old me and little old you, but that is the magnitude of God’s grace. When we stand at a crossroads earnestly seeking direction, God’s Wisdom is there ready to point the way. Sometimes that Spirit may call us to the direction we do not expect. It is always good to test the spirits. Christ’s Body, the church, is the appropriate place to test the spirits. It is here that we join together with Christ and each other, a joining that we enact in our Holy Communion, so that we might follow him more nearly.

When I do the benediction or final blessing, I send you forth with the blessing of the Creator who is God, the Redeemer who is Christ and the Sustainer who is the Holy Spirit for I know that in the week and weeks ahead we will need God’s presence in each of these roles so that our daily lives may align with God’s will for us. Transitions and decisions are most definitely a constant part of life, praise God for the gift of the Guiding Spirit who is already waiting at our crossroads. Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on June 3, 2007.