“Wise Up!”                                                                                                 Vance L. Toivonen

READING                   Proverbs 9:1-6

Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

She has sent out her servant girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

"You that are simple, turn in here!" To those without sense she says,

"Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

READING                   Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essential Principles of Religion

We talk of the variety of influences, of the variety of characters, of the conflict of principles, of the education of all the virtues, and life looks large, duty manifold, the future confused. Is it that there is some conspiracy to disconcert and embarrass us, and hide the simplicity of life? For really, as we grow older, we are struck with the steady return of a few principles. We are always finding new applications of the maxims and proverbs of the nursery: One old Bible is still enough to enunciate all the commandments for the most complex life in this giddy and arrogant century. Nay, a very small part of the book – a few chosen pages, a few golden rules – suffice for the guidance and comfort of the most advanced and advancing genius.

SERMON

I was once asked, “What is wisdom?” I do not remember what I answered at the time, but I know it was a question that I did not respond to very quickly, or lightly. Wisdom is something I know when I hear it. Wisdom resonates deep in my being. Wisdom sets a direction for my life. Wisdom challenges my preconceptions. Wisdom invites me to reconsider even my most cherished beliefs. Wisdom sends me spiraling into the deeper realms of chaos & disorder, attaching itself to my need to let go of the systems of daily living I have come to cling to so tightly.

Plain and simple, Wisdom wants me to grow up, to wise up, to mature to make better choices, and to live the best possible life. At the same time, wisdom encourages simplicity. When I have a tendency to complicate matters, the voice of wisdom will always cut through the clutter with a K.I.S.S. (That’s K – I – S – S, by the way…Keep It Simple Stupid).

There is that thing called conventional wisdom, which is sometimes a masqueraded wisdom, a wisdom in sheep’s clothing luring us toward the status quo, the siren song of the majority opinion, and the vacuum of the cultural media vortex sucking the very life out of us at times. When we are afraid of our own opinions and ideas, afraid to express our hearts to one another, it might be due to the selling of our souls for the currency of conventional wisdom.

Wisdom has many sources. In fact, I never know what source will reveal wisdom next; but I know it when I hear it. Emerson mentions the Bible, and there is a good amount of wisdom to be found there. But we know very well that here at Hope the sources of wisdom are myriad. So, this morning I want to tap some of the wisdom right here in this room. I have designated a few scribes who are going to write our responses on the easel and the chalk board.

On the easel we will compile a list of sources. Who do you listen to? When you are looking for wisdom, where do you turn? Each of us has, perhaps, a few sources upon which we lean more heavily. By sharing those sources with each other we might discover new sources of wisdom.

On the chalk board we are going to attempt to compile a few wisdom sayings. These are the maxims that Emerson refers to. Each of us carries some sort of short list of wisdom in our pockets, some guiding principles. What are they? Let’s hear them this morning. This may take a little more patience because we want to honor your wisdom by writing it accurately on the board. I may ask you to repeat your wisdom until the person writing it has a chance to get it all down correctly.

We are about to discover the sea of wisdom we float upon every time we come together here. You may want to take notes, and compile your own list of the wisdom that resonates with you today. Let’s begin….(Process - Click here to see the results).

Thank you all for opening yourselves to us and for gifting us with your wisdom. It is sort of strange, don’t you think, that the model we have come to employ on these Sunday mornings has historically bound us to listening to the wisdom of the one rather than the many. Maybe it would be good for us to explore into our future together other ways of being together that engender this kind of wisdom exchange. Each one of us is a valuable resource for one another, a guiding light for the gathered community. Why not grow to take advantage of the pool of resources we create just by being together?

It is my hope, and my commitment, that we will do just that as we grow into our future together. Two opportunities lie on the near horizon for this. There is a movement afoot to add to our Sunday morning menu a dialogic process. You may be hearing about this into September and October.  The gathered circle, and the wisdom of the group, will be primary in this process, as it will also be in the other process I want to mention before stepping down from the pulpit.

Beginning September 12^th, at 7:00 PM, every Tuesday night will bring an opportunity for us, and for others, to enter into open circles to read and discuss passages from the Bible. We are calling this Reclaiming: The Bible and Hope because there is a dual reclaiming going on in this process. On the one hand we are reclaiming the Bible, which has become associated for some of us with those who wish to tell us what it means. Reclaiming on Tuesday nights will provide a forum for us to listen to one another’s thoughts, feelings, and interpretations in response to biblical material.

On the other hand we will also be reclaiming our sense of community, our sense that we are the glue that ho