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Posted: June 4th, 2007 at 1:59am By: Rev. Kristi Denham
Reading and studying biblical writings draws me into times and cultures where Spirit was taken for granted. Everything was enriched by the presence of the unseen. Mystery and awe were the essentials of life. To respond with wisdom meant that you understood this primary reality. Love and justice grew out of the assumption of meaning, value and divine order to all things. This was not a random universe. Actions had consequences. Choices mattered. To choose wisely was to take into account the big picture and one's essential place within it.
Literate Christians throughout the ages linked the mystery of the resurrected Christ to the ancient personification of wisdom, Hokhma in Hebrew, Sophia in Greek. She was with God before the creation of the world. She saw and understood all that has happened since, because she had the perspective of age, the long view.
Modern humanity has lost the long view. We no longer make decisions based on how they will impact the next seven generations (as our native elders would have us) but on the basis of how our actions will impact the next quarter's profit margins. We are in danger of destroying ourselves.
Wisdom stands at our city gates. She cries out to humanity. Are we ready to listen? She asks us to remember our mother, the Earth, and the interconnection of all life upon her.
Last week's story of Delta and Dawn, the mother and child of another species who filled our airwaves with their struggle, their need, their healing, their celebration and farewell, was followed by people everywhere on our planet.
Better than a Nicole Smith or Paris Hilton story, it had substance. It was poignant and real. They had been wounded, probably by an encounter with some human transport. They chose to leave their great ocean, perhaps because they knew they needed help, perhaps because they needed our attention. Their brains are infinitely bigger than ours. Perhaps they really are wise.
They received desperately needed antibiotics and began to heal almost immediately and almost immediately reversed their direction and headed back to the open sea; but not without pausing to celebrate with us, not without saying goodbye.
Delta and Dawn quietly touched our lives with a bit of inter-species heart connection and a profound bit of wisdom. We need each other. We all matter.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation newsletter has a picture on the cover of a tiny baby looking up at the camera with wide eyes and a sweet face. He happens to be Iranian. The subtext asks: "Is this the face of the Axis of Evil?" Where is wisdom when we need her? She cries out at the city gates. Do we hear her?
Jesus is linked to wisdom. As the second person of the Trinity, the embodied reality of God's presence, Jesus links us to an embodied challenge to our faith: Do we see Christ's face in the prisoner? The enemy? In one another? In Delta and Dawn? All of creation longs for redemption, according to Paul. Do we realize our connection to one another? Do we live the compassionate love that allowed us to celebrate with Delta and Dawn, these whales of wonder?
— — —
Rev. Kristi Denham is pastor of the Congregational Church of Belmont, California (United Church of Christ). Her email address is {email RevKristi@aol.com}RevKristi@aol.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Kristi Denham.
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Reading and studying biblical writings draws me into times and cultures where Spirit was taken for granted. Everything was enriched by the presence of the unseen. Mystery and awe were the essentials of life. To respond with wisdom meant that you understood this primary reality. Love and justice grew out of the assumption of meaning, value and divine order to all things. This was not a random universe. Actions had consequences. Choices mattered. To choose wisely was to take into account the big picture and one's essential place within it.
Literate Christians throughout the ages linked the mystery of the resurrected Christ to the ancient personification of wisdom, Hokhma in Hebrew, Sophia in Greek. She was with God before the creation of the world. She saw and understood all that has happened since, because she had the perspective of age, the long view.
Modern humanity has lost the long view. We no longer make decisions based on how they will impact the next seven generations (as our native elders would have us) but on the basis of how our actions will impact the next quarter's profit margins. We are in danger of destroying ourselves.
Wisdom stands at our city gates. She cries out to humanity. Are we ready to listen? She asks us to remember our mother, the Earth, and the interconnection of all life upon her.
Last week's story of Delta and Dawn, the mother and child of another species who filled our airwaves with their struggle, their need, their healing, their celebration and farewell, was followed by people everywhere on our planet.
Better than a Nicole Smith or Paris Hilton story, it had substance. It was poignant and real. They had been wounded, probably by an encounter with some human transport. They chose to leave their great ocean, perhaps because they knew they needed help, perhaps because they needed our attention. Their brains are infinitely bigger than ours. Perhaps they really are wise.
They received desperately needed antibiotics and began to heal almost immediately and almost immediately reversed their direction and headed back to the open sea; but not without pausing to celebrate with us, not without saying goodbye.
Delta and Dawn quietly touched our lives with a bit of inter-species heart connection and a profound bit of wisdom. We need each other. We all matter.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation newsletter has a picture on the cover of a tiny baby looking up at the camera with wide eyes and a sweet face. He happens to be Iranian. The subtext asks: "Is this the face of the Axis of Evil?" Where is wisdom when we need her? She cries out at the city gates. Do we hear her?
Jesus is linked to wisdom. As the second person of the Trinity, the embodied reality of God's presence, Jesus links us to an embodied challenge to our faith: Do we see Christ's face in the prisoner? The enemy? In one another? In Delta and Dawn? All of creation longs for redemption, according to Paul. Do we realize our connection to one another? Do we live the compassionate love that allowed us to celebrate with Delta and Dawn, these whales of wonder?
— — —
Rev. Kristi Denham is pastor of the Congregational Church of Belmont, California (United Church of Christ). Her email address is {email RevKristi@aol.com}RevKristi@aol.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Kristi Denham.
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