Wisdom Will Come
Friday, October 25, 2024
Earlier this week, we shared with the CAC community that our beloved teacher Dr. Barbara Holmes passed away. As CAC Executive Director Michael Poffenberger expressed with deep sadness, “we lost a giant in our community.” “Dr. B.,” as many referred to her, has now become a spiritual ancestor. In the video series Wisdom in Times of Crisis, Dr. B. reminds us that we can draw on the wisdom of our spiritual ancestors to guide our actions:
Jesus, Muhammed, Buddha, and others—their stories of resistance, survival, and faith inspire and guide us. We have to know that we’re not alone. Despite a concerted social effort to convince us that we are radical individuals, that our motto should be “I’ll get mine, you get yours,” a deeply communal spirit arises when we least expect it and when we need it most. According to author James Baldwin, we are a community of witnesses with responsibilities to the next generation. He says, “Nothing is fixed forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.” [1]
So, visionaries, prophets, and Jesus have all warned us that this journey that we are on will be beset by troubles. In this life, you will have trouble. How we handle that trouble is our witness to future generations. An old order is passing away. A new order is on its way, and we do not have the power to stop or slow the transitions that we encounter, but we can live through it and help one another.…
What I want to say about the wisdom that matters now is that this wisdom often comes from discernment of Divine Spirit in our midst. Hearing and heeding the voice of the Divine is critical during difficult times. But sometimes, with all of our media distractions and our own boredom, it’s difficult to hear the voice of the Creator. So, I’m going to suggest that if you’re hoping to hear beyond this realm into the next, remember that the key is newness. The Creator does not come as we expect. The Spirit does not move under our command. When we expect divine intervention in one way, it usually comes in another. We expect the warrior king to set things right, God sends a baby in a manger. We expect wrongs to be punished, God extends grace and mercy to all.
Read 1 Kings 19:11: “And the Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” So, where is the Divine One in the midst of crisis? I suggest that God is in the whispers of the heart, and the love of neighbor. Rejoice, beloved, you are not alone.
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| Oct 25, 2024, Skye Jethany Psalm 149: Expecting Softballs but Getting Curveballs |
| A few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attack, I was invited to be a guest speaker at a college and young adult ministry at a very large church. The pastor asked me to teach a series over multiple weeks on the book of 1 Corinthians. I was still a seminary student, and these opportunities were rare, so I was eager to accept.The pastor knew I had studied Islam as an undergraduate, so before speaking to the group on my first night, he pulled me aside and said, “We’re going to do some Q&A after your message. Because of the terrorist attack, I may throw you some softball questions about Islam.” That made sense to me, but his questions turned out to be curveballs, not softballs.After a few questions about 1 Corinthians from the group, the pastor shouted his question from the back of the room. “Skye, you’ve studied Islam. Can you explain why it’s a religion of violence, but Christianity is a religion of peace? ” That’s a common stereotype,” I said, “and the attack on 9/11 has reinforced it. But it’s important to remember that there are over one billion Muslims in the world, and the overwhelming majority believe that God has called them to live in peace. And while Christ clearly preached a message of peace, we shouldn’t ignore the terrible violence that has been done in his name throughout history.”The pastor was not happy with my answer, so he tried again. “But doesn’t the Quran command Muslims to kill their enemies?” he said.“There are verses in the Quran that have been interpreted that way,” I said. The pastor smiled and nodded. But then I continued. “Of course, there are also verses in the Bible that have been twisted and used to justify violence against non-Christians as well—particularly in the Old Testament.” I then read to them from Psalm 149. “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples” (Psalm 149:6-7).The Q&A time came to an abrupt end after that.After the service, the pastor was furious with me. “Look!” he said pointing his finger at my chest, “there are people here struggling with God. They’re questioning everything, and you had a chance to explain why Christianity is better.” I told him that I would gladly speak all night about Christ, the gospel, and why I’m committed to the Christian faith after studying many others. But I’m not going to do it by misrepresenting other religions or disparaging my Muslim neighbors. And I’m not going to hide or whitewash the mistakes Christians have made in the past. To no one’s surprise, the rest of my series on 1 Corinthians was canceled and I was never invited back. I share this story because it illustrates the common tendency to emphasize the parts of the Bible we like and diminish or ignore the parts we do not. Likewise, we quickly point out the specks of violent history, weird doctrine, or troubling verses in another religion’s eye, and ignore the same specks—or truckloads of lumber—in the Church’s eye. For me, Psalm 149 is one of those troubling parts of the Bible—particularly the part about praising God with our mouths while inflicting violence with a sword in our hands. Historically, Christians have tried to erase the violent imagery of this psalm by reinterpreting the “double-edged sword” through a New Testament lens. In both Hebrews and Revelation, a double-edged sword is used as a metaphor for the Word of God (see Hebrews 4:12 and Revelation 1:16). Therefore, some try to argue that Psalm 149 is figurative; it’s about wielding Scripture not slaying enemies. Honestly, I remain unconvinced and I continue to grapple with how to understand and apply this psalm. Pop Christianity wants us to believe the Bible is a book of softball answers, but passages like Psalm 149 remind us that the Bible is full of curveballs. DAILY SCRIPTURE Psalm 149:1-9 Hebrews 4:12-13 WEEKLY PRAYER From Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1975)Lift up our hearts, O Christ, above the false show of things, above laziness and fear, above selfishness and covetousness, above whim and fashion, up to the everlasting Truth that you are; that we may live joyfully and freely, in the faith that you are our King and our Savior, our Example and our Judge, and that, so long as we are loyal to you, all will ultimately be well. Amen. |
