The Value of Wisdom

St. Patrick Presbyterian

The Value of Wisdom

June 4, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Proverbs 1:1–7

This summer we are considering the book of Proverbs. Why are we doing that, you might ask. Fair question. The title of our sermon series is called, The Book of Suburbs, as in: Because this is the place we find ourselves, how do we pull back the veil and really see what it is about our place that de-forms us. Proverbs is the true book of how to live and thrive in the suburbs by actually subverting the status quo and telling a better story of human thriving.

Strangely, in order to live well and love God, love people, and love life in our context (or any context, for that matter), we need more than Bible knowledge because the truth is that 90% of the decisions we make on a daily basis are not covered with a chapter and verse in the Bible. Think about it—the things that have vexed my soul throughout my life are questions for which there is no clear direction from the Bible. Things like: What is the best ministry context to use my gifts so that there is mutual thriving between pastor and people? What do I do when I have a wayward child in the far country? What school is best for my children? Should I say something to someone or let it pass? On and on, it goes. What are we to do then?

The answer from the Bible is to get wisdom. In fact, when Solomon is about to be crowned king and God asks him what he wants, he asks for wisdom. Keep in mind, Solomon is instructed and immersed in the Scripture; he has a man after God’s own heart for a father; he has knowledge and principles galore. Yet when he looks at the task in front of him, he says: I am a like a child; the immensity and complexity of life is so overwhelming, I feel foolish. And so, what he asks for is wisdom.

Wonder why? Well on Sunday, we start an important pilgrimage through the book of Proverbs. I am so excited about this and also other things going on. We introduce Greg Aydt, our new Youth Pastor, and I can’t wait for you to meet him. Plan to come early. as we have a brunch at 9:30 so you can meet him in person and introduce yourself. Also, what is more glorious than baptizing an infant—yes, that is all happening this Sunday. And last, but certainly not least, after worship we are having a Congregational Meeting where we will present and vote on our Operating Budget for our new fiscal year that starts July 1.

In between all of this, you might want to just wander through our facility, as it has been transformed into something magical for VBS. Hope to see you Sunday!

The Feast of Wisdom

July 30, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Proverbs 9

Over and over in the Bible, the idea of a great banquet or feast is used as a metaphor of the blessing, joy, and abundance of salvation. However, as we close out Proverbs, there are two feasts set before us—a feast of wisdom and a feast of folly. Both the architecture and ethos of the feasts almost immerse us in the taste, texture, and outcome of the tables we inhabit. Solomon ends his primer on wisdom with an either/or proposition: two ways, two feasts, two outcomes. It is interesting that the invitation to both is the same to the simple and unlearned. This should not surprise us—we all start out as fools and are placed in the drama of life either by the wisdom or the foolishness of others. We are needy creatures, and everyone is inviting us to a way of life that offers satisfaction. But, as Solomon points out, the paths part; and we are asked to look beyond the surface of things into the deeper meaning of reality and what it means to be human. Join us Sunday as we wrap up, The Book of Suburbs, and seek to subvert fast food values for a feast of good things!

Wise Money

July 23, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Proverbs 10:22

The church culture I grew up in was of the more legalistic branch. It is not that I am ungrateful —because of that experience, there has never been a day I didn’t know the gospel. However, it had its own set of proverbs and wisdom which could be summed up like this, “We don’t drink and we don’t chew and we don’t go with girls that do.” That is representative of how we tried to defeat sin in our lives. What we did was locate evil in a thing and abstain from it. We had long lists of them. As if lists and legalism can curb desire. The logic was simple—abused things like dancing, drinking, sex, money, and certain types of dress were put on a list of things that were sinful. You can see, we had no ascetic, no view of beauty or pleasure. Heck, if it was pleasurable, it must be sinful! But that was our view of holiness. Money was on the list. If you had too much, it must be ill-gotten gain. Which brings us to our subject matter for this Sunday—wealth and all things related to wealth. There are about 150 proverbs on money in book of Proverbs. About half the time money is spoken of in the negative, which means, the other half it is spoken of as a good thing. Money in the book of Proverbs is nuanced, and thus the need for wisdom. But yes, money in the book of Proverbs is called a blessing. In fact, when wisdom is personified in chapter 8 and is speaking of her blessings, wealth is one of them. However, money is also spoken of often as a bane, filled with temptations and the ability to blind you to larger issues in life, a corrupting influence that can ruin your life. There are reasons that money is singled out as fraught with pitfalls. So how do we live in this tension? How do we give thanks for wealth and yet not worship wealth? Good question, and one we will seek to answer this Sunday. I hope to see you there.

Wise Age

July 16, 2023 • Rev. Joshua Smith • Psalm 90

As I approach my fortieth birthday at the end of this summer, I’m haunted by Moses’ observation in Psalm 90, that a man is lucky to live to eighty. In the best scenario, that calculus puts me at midlife having officially missed my opportunity to get a tattoo without people assuming I’m suffering some sort of crisis. (Which I most certainly am, but I don’t want anyone to know, so please keep that between us.) It’s really not so much the tattoo. It’s that I ran out of time to outdo John Steinbeck’s writing The Grapes of Wrath before he was this age. I’ve been asking some friends and family at the more extreme ends of the journey a few questions as I reflect on what wisdom there is for folks contemplating their mortality. “What’s the best thing about being your age?” One teen said, “freedom and no bills” and I felt the envy rise in my increasingly lactose intolerant gut. From the more seasoned, I got answers like, “Seeing my kids become adults and getting to spoil grandkids. Finally having some perspective. Financial security. Not being afraid of what people think of me.” So, those are good things to look forward to. I also asked, “What’s the hardest thing about being your age?” My own eight-year-old said, “I’m too little to be on Wheel of Fortune.” Tragic injustice, indeed: another old soul imprisoned in the third grade. The elder participants shared things like, “Losing my physical endurance and metabolism. The urgency of the finish line. Watching my parents die. Fighting cynicism. Being treated like I’m irrelevant.” A much harder set of answers for meditation. So, this Sunday we’re going on a journey together, consulting Scripture and the wise counsel of others who’ve come before us on this path. We’ll consider the ways we might experience our own age gracefully, whatever the number happens to be.