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As promised, I will try to keep this brief, and interesting for everyone… So let me set the stage… over the summer my wife and I had some renovations done that we had been planning for a very long time. To get them done, mostly done… we moved in with my in laws. I know it sounds like the set up to a bad joke, but it was really very nice, and aside from just wanting to be home, I can’t complain. But we moved back in last week and aren’t fully set up yet. The living room has a TV hanging on the wall, and three or four camp chairs make up the rest of the furniture in the space. So there I was, sitting in this green camp chair with a broken saw blade clenched in the teeth of a pair of pliers attempting to turn an old bookcase we wanted to throw out, into a temporary entertainment center when my four year old asked me for the billionth time if the saw was sharp. Now I can’t remember if he asked if could cut through the sun or the house, or maybe it was a bus or our dog that time, but he asked about all of those and more so it could have been any of them, so I was half way through “no this broken back cut saw I’m holding in a pair of husky pliers could not cut through the sun…” when I had a flash of my dad.
Now my dad passed 4 years ago, but when my brothers and I were young he was always teaching us something, and I mean always… he would talk for a half hour car ride about the history of horse drawn carriages… or barn owl sanctuaries, or why I didn’t really want a 30 year old ford pinto I saw sitting for sale on the side of the road near our house. I always knew he was smart, occasionally wrong and very stubborn about it, but still smart. And he knew something about almost everything… believe me it wasn’t something I appreciated on those car rides, but I miss it now. It wasn’t until I was a new dad, that I realized that it was more than just smarts and knowledge, it was the fact that he knew how to apply that knowledge, had stories and examples of failed attempts at it, and successes, and he shared those with me.
That is wisdom. More than knowing things, or even being able to figure them out, wisdom comes from living and observing the world. It comes from trying something, and whether you fail or succeed, wisdom is what you take away from that. Our scripture passage today celebrates wisdom, calls it beautiful, and holds it up above even the sun and the stars, and no, my saw could not cut wisdom either. But there is something beautiful about celebrating and lifting up wisdom, and we are not the first to do that. I have pulled out a few items and arrayed them on this table, you have probably seen them before.
This is the communion plate and cup, sometimes called the chalice and patten, it is a reminder of that last night when Jesus washed his friend’s feet, ate with them and shared the Christian commandment, love each other the way that I have loved you. We use these things to connect us to that time long ago, to one another here, and to the future when we will gather again…
This is the Bible, I know it looks different, but this is the Gospel of Mark. This text, and all those gathered together with it, offers us a picture of God, and of God’s people. It is full of interesting things and offers lots of places where differing opinion or interpretation can lead to debate and discussion. That might sound strange, but those are the places where we learn more about ourselves, our predecessors, and God. Those are the places where we try new things, and learn from them…
This is a candle, but the stand is carved with symbols representative of Christ. It is a symbolic item, important to me, but I included it here because it represents the tradition of worship, with its symbolism and its colorful elements, filled with the meaning we give them, we use them to lift ourselves higher, and to lift up others, to help us to know God and one another better.
All of these items, and others I haven’t shown, signify Christian wisdom, experience crystalized into practice, faith given a shape we can see, hold, or act out.
Today is Homecoming Sunday. We return to this place, to these friends, and these things, from time spent away. Maybe you were on vacation, maybe you were just not here… but your back now. We are all gathered as old and young together so that we can look for what is meaningful beyond the fads, limitations, and the preferences of our generations. We are here to share old wisdom, and to gain new insight. Each day, each step from this point on is a step into the new. Lets learn from each other, take comfort in tradition and wisdom, but your home now, here amongst the beloved of God, all you who seek rest and safety from the hard world outside are welcome, you are home now, where you can safely ask questions, push boundaries, redefine understandings, and if we all seek to share in the hard won wisdom of one another, even those places where wisdom begets change are places where God is found! Amen