Just Wisdom

A reflection on the readings for  Proper 15B - 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 

Over the course of the last two Sunday’s the story of David in 2^nd Samuel continued – a story of war and more war, of violence and many family problems. David’s daughter, Tamar is raped by her half- brother, Ammon, thus preventing her from being marriageable because according to ancient custom women were property of men. According to this custom Tamar’s value as a commodity diminished.

There are still some cultures in the world today who view rape and incest in the same manner as this ancient culture – it is a defilement of property. As a piece of property that has no value Tamar’s feelings are never taken into consideration by David. The rape causes problems for David as he tries to decide how, or IF, to punish his son. Sadly, David does nothing.  The story of Tamar is central in religious discussions about violence against women, with several books written that consider this from Tamar’s perspective – such as Episcopal priest, Pamela Cooper-White’s book “The Cry of Tamar: violence against women and the church’s response.”

David’s inability to serve justice to Ammon is a source of division in his family. But in addition to this there is ongoing betrayal by family members who try to steal the throne from the aging David. Bathsheba reappears in the story, informs David of the pending threat. David listens to her and immediately arranges to have Solomon crowned king. Bathsheba proves herself to be wise and astute. Even Solomon, her son, bows down to her and honors her. (1Kings 2:19) Thus, before his death David secures the throne for Solomon and the land upon which King Solomon will build the temple. 

Our reading this morning puts us in the second and third chapters of the first book of Kings and the beginning days of the reign of King Solomon. Solomon proves to be a wise king, builds a fine temple to house the ark of the covenant – thus fulfilling his father’s greatest desire. 

 In the book of Kings we will hear stories about Solomon, and then a host of corrupt kings who follow him. Elijah and Elisha appear – prophets who lead the people from the exile in Babylon back into the restored kingdom of Israel.  Some of the stories in the first and second book of Kings will parallel stories we heard in the books of Samuel.  The story told between these two is not chronological, but interwoven, and sometimes from different perspectives. 

Our readings this morning, from Kings to the Psalm, the letter to the Ephesians, and the Gospel of John -  all have something in common – the pursuit of wisdom, the desire to be wise.  In a dream, God asks Solomon what he would like. Solomon responds:  “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind, a discerning heart (according to some translations) to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?" God is pleased with this request.

The Letter to the Ephesians builds on the theme of wisdom with more instruction on how to live as the body of Christ, as a people of God – do this, don’t do that...

At first glance the Gospel reading pushes the “wisdom- envelope” a bit – the images Jesus promotes are strong and perhaps offensive – eating his flesh and drinking his blood. How many of us struggle with those images!

Although it doesn’t really change the way we hear these images, it helps to understand what this meant to people in the early church. Ancient people understood that blood was the source of life. They believed that God’s presence, the living God was present in blood. (from the work of Mary Douglas, anthropologist and her work with the book of Leviticus).

So, perhaps it helps a little bit to understand that Jesus is using this strong provocative language to help us grasp, with passion, the depth of God’s presence with us.  

As Christians we are taught that God became incarnate in human flesh and blood – God became human in the person of Jesus. Likewise the incarnation, resurrection, and subsequent giving of the Holy Spirit describe a little about how it is that God resides in us.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are formed and informed. Through the power of the Holy Spirit God guides us, stirs our imaginations to live into that which God desires of us. It’s food indeed – food that nourishes our hearts and feeds our souls. The bread of life sustains us through times of despair and celebrates with us in times of joy. God is in us, through us, and with us.

 When we come to the altar and put our hands to receive the bread and guide the cup, we experience   “Eucharist” – fed on the love of God in the sacred meal, bread and wine become a sacrament – a sign that what God is doing on the inside of our lives is being made manifest on the outside – just as God fills our hearts with love, we are to go out into the world and love. Flesh and blood are bread and wine. Bread and wine are food for our souls. Food for our souls nourishes us with wisdom. 

Wisdom guides us, informs us, propels us to do justice, to give voice to the voiceless, to ensure that the love of God pulses through the vein of life, that all may be fed on this bread of life, reconciled, and made well.

Called to Question; Chap. 9 -10

Chapter nine of "Called to Question" focuses on the self, or rather the "Self." Chittister writes, 

"Whatever the now-current science of personal development may theorize, the fact remains that the self is all we have. It is the raw material of the spiritual life." 

Chittister is very careful to define the self as our most authentic core being which is deeply connected too and, or yearning for, God. It's not the self we might recognize when we look in the mirror. Chittister is describing the “Self” as our most authentic core which is connected and yearning for God. 

1.   1. What do you think of this concept of the Self? Does it resonate with you? Are you able to recognize your most authentic core self? Do you think you are living authentically from your core, or do you struggle to hear and find it’s voice?

"It is not the world with which we wrestle; it is the self that is the antagonist in our lives. The cry of the restless self is the cry for the God beyond the little gods we fashion along the way." 

22.  What are the little gods that get in our way and prevent us from being present to God and thus having access to our most authentic selves?  Or – is there another way to consider how the self is the antagonist in our lives?

 "Self is what enables us to refuse to settle down, in love with the mediocre, satisfied with banal, because the self is always on its way to somewhere else. Self is the seeker within. Even when we cannot be moved by the world around us, self rages on inside us, relentless in its seeking, regardless of the restraints....Dissatisfaction becomes the spiritual director of our souls."

"It is not the act of leaving one thing to do another that changes us....(however) The very act of grappling with the desire to quit, of facing the compulsion to start over, of finding ourselves most ourselves where we are brings us to a new level of life, a new depth of heart. ..We don't change our circumstances; we change our attitudes. We become a self that is self-contained, not trapped."

4.       If dissatisfaction is the spiritual director of our souls (the compass that guides us and helps us in our journey toward God and the authentic self), how are we able to discern when dissatisfaction does not mean leaving or ending or moving on but rather is a growing edge within us that we are resisting?

5.       And, when we can embrace the resistance and move through it we come to a new level of self? Is this, in your mind, the process toward self-containment that Chittister speaks of? Or what is?

I am drawn to the idea of self-containment as a holding place for the soul to grow. Like Winnicot's concept of the "Holding Environment" and the "good enough mother" - in which the parents provide a child with a safe enough environment in which to grow and yet, because the parents cannot do everything for the child and sometimes "fail" - they also offer enough opportunities to develop self-sufficiency - so the idea of self-containment speaks to me as a developmental aspect of the soul, the Self. 

Finding authenticity is a process of being "held" in a safe enough place...

Safe "enough" because the "place"also enables opportunities to be challenged from which Spirit may grow. In such an environment the soul can learn about trust, grow in confidence, test without fear of complete collapse from repercussions, or at least learn that the repercussions won't collapse oneself, and all the while come to know oneself in presence of God more fully. It is a process that works from the inside out, the raw material of the Spirit.

6.       What do you think of this idea about self-containment being a place of, or perhaps the ability to manage our anxiety as we move through dissatisfaction to a new level of self-awareness and/or a new level of awareness in our relationship with God/self/others?

7.        How does this concept connect to what she said previously about managing the tension and anxiety of ambiguity?

8.        How is this the raw material of the Spirit formed and informed from a place of self-containment?

Chapter Ten: Commitment – The Place of Change in the Spiritual Life

Chittister begins this chapter by talking about a nun who, on the day she makes her final profession (commitment to life in the monastery as a nun) recognizes that she has made a mistake. It takes this nun twelve years more before she leaves the monastery and begins a new life. Chittister states that in leaving the monastery this woman wasn’t breaking a commitment, she was honoring it. 

9.       What do you think she means by this? What commitment is the woman honoring?

Chittister writes that in order to understand the nature of commitment we need to ask two questions: 1. When does it happen?  And What is it about?

When does it happen?  Every day commitment happens on a daily basis, not once and forever. It is something we grow into, not something we come to full-blown. It is not a static state, but a moving and transforming state as we grow into the best self we can be. Commitment is not about “perfection” rather it is about the journey of becoming at home within ourselves. 

Commitment is what we have at the end of the day. When we revisit old decisions and know, whatever the scars of it, that this way of life is still the best thing we could have done for ourselves to become the spiritual fullness of what we are capable of being, we are committed. (pg 80)

10.   Chittister names some of the distortions of commitment – that once started must be completed and that once a thing begins to get difficult, happiness of fulfillment demands that we leave and start over somewhere else, whatever the effect on everyone around us.  What are some examples of these that we see play out in the world around us, particularly in the media regarding the “stars” or famous people? Or in other ways?

The temptation to abandon a commitment tests our inner direction every day. Test is the price of commitment. Commitment has something to do with seeing a good thing through even when it goes wrong in places. It lies in working out my own weaknesses, even as I work out the weaknesses around me. It unmasks me to myself – it enables me to stay in a place and grow.  Commitment does not end at its beginning. It is the vehicle by which we unfold before ourselves and the world into something worth being at the end of it. But getting there may take a lot of changing until we come to that place that does not bind the spirit and serves to unleash the energy of the soul. To find within ourselves our deepest aspirations is to discover whether the path to God is either still before us to be seized or yet behind us, prodding us on. 

11.   The journey to find one’s authentic self takes one through the tensions of commitment – commitment to the deep aspirations of our soul and enabling those aspirations to be lived out – which thus brings us closer to God. Does this resonate with you? And if so can you name how your life has followed this path – through your life as a wife/mother/teacher/friend/leader/etc…

12.   How is this journey different for women who, until recently, have had more limited options of expressing the authentic self?