Wisdom

Yesterday’s good word from Carman was about his visit to an up and coming church where he noted “the lectionary wasn’t in evidence” and he invited us to think about what was happening there and what might be happening in our future congregations. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about his invitation. And I’d like to start with some of my thoughts about the lectionary.

Last week was Pentacost Sunday. I talked about it here. And this week is Trinity Sunday! This is one week in the Christian calendar the lectionary calls us to spend time, some intentional energy considering the nature of God. We here at Good Word spend lots of time talking about congregations and balancing three main kinds of ministries and working towards being Healthy Congregations. We don’t spend much time at all talking about the nature of God. After all, what can you say in a couple of paragraphs? And don’t we all have our own personal understandings and isn’t that one of the “distinctives” we’re proud of?

But I think our theology matters. I think it’s at the very heart of why we do what we do, why we act or serve or worship the way we do. I suspect we don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about it. So along comes Trinity Sunday. And some preachers in some pulpits in some Christian churches will spend some time helping the congregants think about the nature of God.

I particularly like this year’s emphasis on Proverbs 8, because here comes a familiar sounding scripture, but wait—it’s not about the Word (of John 1), it’s about Wisdom, female, feminine, Sophia (in some translations), present from the beginning. Thinking about God’s nature this way helps me bring balance to my understanding. “Balance” was almost my daily word; I like what it says about how I understand God. That nice three-legged stool of the trinity could use a little more of the feminine, in my opinion.

I do not offer an explanation of the Trinity. I wouldn’t do that even if I were preaching the whole Sunday sermon! The Trinity is part of the mystery Christians have been grappling with for two centuries. It’s an invitation into contemplation. How we think about it makes a difference in how we answer those questions from yesterday’s blog post.

Lest we get so wrapped up in how to organize our worship or what ministries we’ll offer in our community or why we should plan for this or that activity, along comes Trinity Sunday and a reminder to spend some time on our theology, on our connection with God, with the Divine in the universe and in the ordinary.

Posted by Marion