Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
June 15, 2025
“O God grant me …
The Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
The Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.”
Some of you probably recognize this
by its most common name, “The Serenity Prayer.” I tend to associate it with
Twelve Step Groups. Perhaps you do too. And it is also widely attributed to
theologian Dr. Reinhold Neibuhr. But there is a longer version of this prayer,
which is less well known.
It
is, “God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be
changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom
to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, enjoying one
moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus
did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that You will
make all things right, if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably
happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.”
I
struggle with both versions, not in what they say. They are both beautiful and
hopeful and speak to my mind and my heart. But I struggle with them, because
reading them and hearing them and finding a moment’s peace in them is one thing
but putting them into practice is a whole other ballgame.
It
sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
Beautiful. Lovely. Poetic. Courage to change the things I can. Inspiring.
Hopeful. Encouraging. And the Wisdom to know the difference. Well, there’s
where you lost me. It’s the Wisdom part. That last part of the shortened prayer
sounds spot on, doesn’t it? I just need the wisdom to know the difference
between what I can change and what I can’t. But how much time have I wasted in
my life trying to change the things I cannot change, and lacking the courage to
change the things I can, but believing that I was doing the opposite? How much
time have I spent trying to change what cannot be changed? How much good could
I have done – in my life and in the life of others – had I found the courage to
change the things I can? It’s the wisdom
to know the difference that throws me off. Where do we find the wisdom? And
what is wisdom anyway? It seems to be more than knowledge or fact or intelligence. But if
it is more, what is it? What is wisdom?
With
this question in mind, and in preparation for this sermon, I put out a question
on a clergy group that I follow on Facebook, asking others, “What does Wisdom
mean to you?” Here are some of the responses that I received. “Common sense.”
“Wisdom is knowing the only person I can control is myself and that is through
the power of the Holy Spirit.” “Wisdom is found in the balance between logic
and feeling or head and heart.” “Foolish people blame others for their
mistakes. Smart people learn from their mistakes. Wise people learn from the
mistakes other people make.” “Wisdom is a deep knowing and discernment that –
from and with the Spirit – allows a person to translate
skills/information/events into fruitful and shalom-filled living.” “Intelligence
is knowing that a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable. Wisdom is knowing that
tomatoes don’t belong in a fruit salad.”
And
one of the best pieces of wisdom that my mother ever imparted to me – and she
imparted quite a bit – was this. When Phoebe was a baby, I called my mom upset
because I had read something in one of my baby books that contradicted what I
was doing from instinct to care for my little one. My mom listened to my fears
and then she said, “Amy, baby books are great, but the problem is the babies
never read the same books that you do.” Wisdom.
So,
wisdom is knowledge plus experience. Wisdom is discernment. Wisdom is balancing
logic and heart. Wisdom is learning from the mistakes of others. Wisdom is
knowing that a tomato doesn’t belong in a fruit salad. Wisdom is trusting your
instincts when those instincts are connected to a deep love. Wisdom is trusting
the Holy Spirit for a guidance that goes deeper than facts. And, to take our
verses from Proverbs seriously, Wisdom is not only connected to God and
creation, but Wisdom is also a gift of and part of the Spirit, part of the
trinity, and has its deep origins in the creation itself.
Proverbs
is a lovely but odd book in our canon. Some of this book is made up of what we
tend to think of as proverbs, short, pithy statements that you might find in a
fortune cookie. But other parts of this book are what we have before us today,
a lengthier narrative that doesn’t just proscribe wise advice but offers a
deeper understanding and description of Wisdom with a capital W.
In
these verses from Chapter 8, Wisdom, described in both the Hebrew and Greek
translations, as feminine, stands on a high place besides the crossroads,
besides the busy intersection where people travel and encounter one another.
She stands beside the gates of the town, another busy place where people would
be coming and going on a regular basis, and she calls out to the people. She
cries out to all the people who live. Wisdom does not stand at a distance from
the people. She stands by the busiest places, the intersections of everyday
life, and she calls out to the people to hear her, to be instructed by her.
In
the later verses of our passage, Wisdom speaks of her origins in the beginning
of creation itself. “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the
first of acts long ago.” Wisdom was there before the earth was even formed.
Wisdom was there before the depths were created, before there were springs
overflowing with water, before mountains and hills had been shaped, before soil
and fields, before the heavens, before the separation of earth from sky. When
the Spirit of the Lord brooded over creation, Wisdom was in that brooding.
Wisdom was beside the Lord, “like a master worker.” Wisdom was the delight of
the Lord and rejoiced in the Lord and rejoiced in the human race.
So
Wisdom is both cosmic and creation. Wisdom is the delight of God and Wisdom
takes delight in humanity. Wisdom is the gift of the Spirit and the Spirit.
Wisdom is big and out there and Wisdom is deeply connected to our daily living.
Wisdom “touches grass” as one commentator put it. She is not just some cosmic
entity above and beyond us. Wisdom is here – in us, and around us, and working
through us. Perhaps Wisdom is what John was referring to in the beginning of
his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
In
the language of philosophy, Wisdom is both a concept and a property. I realize
that is a very heady, challenging way of trying to understand it. But then
again, so is the Trinity, and this is Trinity Sunday. The day when we observe
and celebrate something that is ultimately incomprehensible. And I say that
after years and years of trying to understand it and impart what little
understanding I have to others. But what I do sort of understand is this,
Wisdom is part of the Trinity in that it is the Holy Spirit, and wisdom is also
that force of love and delight that connects and binds the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit in relationship to each other and to us. If Wisdom touches grass,
that means that it is practical and pragmatic and is ours as well as God’s. We
have access to Wisdom, capital W and wisdom, lowercase w. Wisdom is not just
out there. It is here.
Remember
those first verses of Proverbs. Wisdom stands by the busiest places of human
life and calls out to us. She calls out to us to hear her, to heed her, to
learn from her, to delight in her as she delights in us.
I
know that I have probably only confused us even more when it comes to Wisdom.
But it seems to me that while wisdom is something we most often gain through
experience, through making mistakes and learning from them (hopefully after the
first time, although often it takes several rounds of messing up for me to
finally gain wisdom), the Wisdom that is the Spirit is already ours. The people
who responded to my query on Facebook often mentioned that wisdom is trusting
in the Spirit for discernment and help. Wisdom is allowing the Spirit to teach
and lead. Wisdom comes through the Spirit connecting our experience in the
world to our heart and minds. Wisdom is trusting the Spirit to be and do what
it was created to be and do: a guide, a teacher, an advocate, an abiding
presence, a creative, brooding wind that pushes and pulls us, a deep
understanding, a gift, a delight.
And
maybe as we trust the Spirit more, we will find that delight, we will celebrate
that gift, we will see the Trinity as God in relationship and work harder to
build relationships with each other. Maybe as we trust the Spirit with all our
hearts and minds, we will be able to live out, every day, every moment, the
words of the Serenity prayer.
O
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to
change the things I can, and the Wisdom – the trust, the relationship, the
gift, the delight in the Holy Spirit – to know the difference. Thanks be to
God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Let
all of God’s children say, “Alleluia.”
Amen.
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