The Voice in the Wind

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
June 3, 2007

The Voice in the Wind
Proverbs 8:1-4
1 Corinthians 2:6-16

The time in which Jesus walked this earth
was a fascinating era in human history.
The confluence of Greek and Roman cultures
brought the best of the two most advanced civilizations
to the nation of Judea, the crossroads of the world.

The Romans paved dirt roads with brick and stone;
they brought water into cities through pipes and aqueducts;
they knew the importance of sanitation:
removing waste and trash
to dumpsites outside of town.
The Greeks brought their educational system,
in which learning was rigorous and disciplined.
They brought advancements in science, medicine,
mathematics and philosophy.
The centuries that immediately preceded and followed
the time in which Jesus walked this earth
were filled with enormous progress in virtually all parts of life.

It was a time not all that different from our own.
Think of the progress we have witnessed over the past century:
Automobiles, airplanes, telephones, television,
electricity, space travel,
Computers that pack more and more power
into smaller and smaller boxes.

We add constantly to our knowledge base:
physics, math, biology, medicine,
psychology, history, anthropology…
But even as we learn new information,
gather more facts,
add to our databases,
we have to remember that while.
God may delight in our growing smarter
-- and God certainly encourages us to use our brains --
what is more important to God
is that we grow wiser:
that we grow in wisdom.

Wisdom is an elusive term,
hard to define, even harder to understand.
Wisdom is more than intelligence,
more than knowing a lot about a lot of things.
A person might do very well on Jeopardy,
but that doesn’t mean he is wise.

Wisdom suggests prudence coupled with patience,
intelligence coupled with insight,
knowledge coupled with reason,
curiosity coupled with maturity;
confidence coupled with humility.
A wise person knows how to look at a situation
from every angle;
A wise person is never hesitant to change his mind,
or to acknowledge that she might have been wrong.
A wise person is not dogmatic;
he or she understands that life is not black and white,
but is filled with gray and nuance.

Wisdom’s very elusiveness means we are inclined
not to think much about it,
not to pay attention to it.
Yet wisdom’s importance to God
is a thread that runs throughout the Bible
from the Pentateuch
through the Revelation.

Nowhere do we find a greater focus on wisdom
than in the Book of Proverbs.
The thirty-one chapters of Proverbs are far more
than a list of pithy aphorisms,
concise maxims to toss into conversations.
It is a book that is all about the importance of wisdom.

Right at the very beginning of Proverbs
we hear the voice of Wisdom calling us,
calling us to listen to her voice;
yes: her voice.
Read carefully and you’ll find
that wisdom is female -- Woman Wisdom,
created by God:
“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts long ago…
and I was daily his delight.”
(Proverbs 8:22ff)

Woman Wisdom speaks to us:
“Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
…To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live”.

She calls us to seek her:
to seek wisdom,
to seek prudence, and justice and righteousness.
“Happy are those who find wisdom,
and those who get understanding,
for her income is better than silver
and her revenue better than gold.” (Proverbs 3:13)

Wisdom teaches us that
our hearts and minds must be tied together,
linked and balanced,
the heart and mind acting as one.
In the ancient Hebrew language,
the language of the Old Testament,
the word for head was the same as the word for heart.
To think without feeling what is in our hearts,
or conversely to act just on feelings without
thinking things through is to act unwisely.

In Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth
he spoke of the importance of wisdom,
God’s wisdom,
wisdom learned through God’s Holy Spirit.

The wise person understand the need to
to listen for that still small voice
that is Wisdom’s call,
that voice that is in the rustling leaves in the trees,
the voice that is in the wind.
The voice helps us to grow in faith,
by growing in spirit and wisdom.

We can check to see how we are doing:
do our words and actions
reflect a desire for justice,
for forgiveness, for peace, compassion,
for acceptance, kindness and reconciliation
in all times, all places,
and with all peoples; all peoples?

Do our words and actions
reflect the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ
or do our words and actions reflect our own personal re-creations
of how we think religion should be?
The first path is the harder one;
the second path is the one we are more likely to take.
it is the one the model for wisdom, Solomon himself, took;
the path which ultimately led to his downfall.

You will hear me use the word wisdom
more frequently in the weeks and months ahead,
as our Elders begin a conversation about our future:
the future of this church;
where we think we are headed in the next few years,
where we think God is calling us,
and what we will need to do to get to where God is calling us.
Our Session will begin the conversation later this month,
a conversation that will carry on
over the summer and into the fall;
a conversation that will eventually include everyone
as we seek to discern God’s will for us.

A few years back this church developed our Vision 2010 plan.
Much of Vision 2010 has been done,
but there are a number of significant projects
that were proposed but which have not been done,
for lack of money.
Expanding the west wing,
to give us space for more classrooms,
a commercial kitchen, and
better rehearsal space for the choir;
constructing a covered drop-off at the back:
These are just some of the projects that were envisioned
but have not been done.
Are they still priorities?
Things we feel called to complete?
Or do we believe God is calling us to other tasks?

Two years ago this church went reluctantly
from having two pastors to one,
but the hope was that that we would be back to
two clergy within a few years.
Is that still what we envision and hope for?
Is that what God wants for us
or does God want us to think
about other staffing options?

These are just some of the things
we need to talk about,
and pray about,
as we seek to discern God’s will for us.
We will need to be grounded in wisdom
as well as faithfulness
so that we can be sure we are attentive
to God’s voice, Wisdom’s voice,
so that God’s will be done,
rather than our own.

Let us begin to build wisdom
by coming to this table to be fed,
fed spiritually, by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us come to this table to be refreshed and renewed,
through bread and cup,
through prayer,
and through fellowship with one another.

Then, let us each go from here
committed to growing in wisdom,
as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?”
To you I call
and my cry is to all that live.”

Amen