Holding onto Wisdom

This week, we finally meet Lady Wisdom, and she is anything but ladylike! In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mr. Beaver famously says of the lion Aslan, “‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”[1] We might say similarly of Lady Wisdom, “‘Course she isn’t nice. But she’s good.” If, as today’s title suggests, we are going to hold onto wisdom, it is important for us to know who we’re holding onto. In Proverbs 1, Wisdom is not meek or mild. She is not gentle and discreet. She is forthright. She tells the truth. She knows the way we ought to go and has no patience for people who refuse to listen to her directions. She is a good companion, but be aware—she does not suffer fools!

If all of this makes you feel a bit uncomfortable about planning worship this week, you are not alone. This is a hard text. There’s no getting around it. But that’s kind of the point when it comes to Proverbs 1. Wisdom will keep shouting her brash truth at us from the street corner. All of our efforts to soften her voice won’t work. So maybe this is the week we choose to listen and join in, to hold on tight and jump into the fray with Wisdom instead of against her.

As with any friend, one of the first things we can do to come close to Wisdom is to name and recognize her in our midst. So, sing a hymn that names the importance of wisdom in our lives. You might sing a well-known text such as “Be Thou My Vision” (United Methodist Hymnal, 451) or maybe try a newer hymn, like “O Holy Spirit, Root of Life” (The Faith We Sing 2121). You could also shake things up and weave verse 2 of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (United Methodist Hymnal, 211) into the prayers of the people or as a response to the reading of the text. Even if these are hymns you sing in other contexts throughout the year, placing them in the context of a service focused on following wisdom will change people’s perspectives and bring forth new insights and understandings of what the hymn is about.

Similarly, consider how a time of corporate prayer—be it a prayer of confession, prayers of the people, or both—might be a time to practice Lady Wisdom’s honesty and truth-telling together. What would Wisdom say we need to confess today? Where in our lives as individuals and as a community would she point out that we have ignored her counsel? What calamities in our world would she stand in judgment over—not to heap shame on others but to shine a light on the consequences of our foolishness we’d rather not acknowledge? What, then, would she guide us to do in response? Lady Wisdom may make us uncomfortable, but when we hold on tight and follow her lead, we join the dance of the Triune God. And that, I hope, is good news, even when it doesn’t feel nice.

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[1] C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (New York: HarperTrophy, 2000), 80.