The Path of Wisdom

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, Rev. Christina’s sermon was unable to be recorded. However, the full text is available below. Thank you for understanding.

Aug 18, 2024

Rev. Christina Miller

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary of being ordained to the priesthood. Some of you were

actually there, as I was ordained alongside your last two associate priests, Heather and Dawn.

The whole service was a joyous celebration. After years of letting my call form inside of me, and

grow within my community, I was finally named a priest. Over the last year I have felt

confirmation that this is the path for me and even a special and treasured part of my identity.

Which is interesting because for many years I just wasn’t ready to step into my vocation. While I

knew that God was inviting me into this work, and I had all the education and formation I needed

to get started, it took a lot of courage and determination to actually begin the process and commit

to my path.

I think this can be true for a lot of us when we are stepping into something that is unknown and

going out of our comfort zones, because beginning the process means we are embarking on a

transformation. We will have to outgrow one version of ourselves and become someone

different. While this can be uncomfortable, it is also how we gain more life experience, come to

understand ourselves in new ways, and ultimately are able to contribute to something bigger than

ourselves.

In our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today, we meet Solomon in one of these threshold

moments in his own life, being asked to step into something unknown and scary that he isn’t

ready for. After forty years of trials and triumph, King David has died and left his son Solomon a

firmly established kingdom. One ancient authority says Solomon is 12 years old at this time,

while others speculate that he is 20 years old or perhaps even older. Whatever his chronological

age, Solomon has never ruled over a kingdom before, let alone a kingdom that God has divinely

chosen to be God’s own people, a people so great and so numerous they cannot be numbered or

counted. So I think we can all empathize when Solomon says he feels young and unprepared.

We don’t have to look far to find others in the scriptures who have felt ill-equipped for the task

being asked of them. There is the time when God calls to Moses from a burning bush, and Moses

says he isn’t eloquent enough to go before Pharaoh and set the Israelites free, because he is too

slow in speech. Or the time when God tells Jeremiah he has been created to be a prophet, and

Jeremiah says, “Ah Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy.” Or when

Gideon is hiding from his enemies in a winepress, and God calls him to rescue Israel from these

same enemies, and Gideon says “how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest and I am the

least in my family.”

Even King David was an unlikely choice. The prophet who was sent to find the next king of

Israel had to go through a long lineup of all of David’s older brothers before finally asking, “Are

all your sons here?” David the youngest of all is called in from the field where he is keeping the

sheep, immediately recognized as God’s chosen, and anointed in that very moment. The

scriptures say that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. In this

we see how it was never really about the skill and confidence or credentials of who God was

calling. It was always about their ability to receive God’s Spirit in order to carry out the work

that God would do through them. Their humble status in their communities and their humble

perceptions of themselves allowed them to be fully reliant on God. The same is true for us: when

we say, “Who am I to do this? How will I possibly be able to carry out this task?” then we also

can face our own human limitations and surrender to God’s Spirit that is able to mightily work in

us.

So it makes sense that when God visits Solomon in a dream and says, “Ask what I should give

you,” Solomon doesn’t ask for anything material. He doesn’t ask for riches or even a longer life,

or for his enemies to be killed. Instead he asks for a wise and discerning mind, which can also be

translated as heart or soul, or the inner self. In order to do this seemingly impossible thing of

being Israel’s next king, Solomon needs to become wise.

As we know, wisdom doesn’t just come from reading the right books or having a good education.

Wisdom draws on all of our knowledge, intelligence, and life experience and applies it to make

just decisions, and to take just actions, for the good of ourselves and others. But there is another

element in defining wisdom, when we look at it from a spiritual perspective, and that is being

attuned to the Spirit in each one of us to discern what is true, and to be guided in ways that

transcend our understanding.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the church in Corinth, when he says that through

the Spirit God reveals to us what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, for

the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. This same Spirit has been given to us, and

in this way, we have the very mind of Christ. This is what Solomon is asking God for as he

begins his reign as Israel’s next King. He is asking for spiritual insight and understanding that

goes beyond human intelligence and draws on divine intelligence, giving him access to the very

depths of God, uniting him to the very mind of Christ. He asks for this wisdom to be formed in

his innermost being.

This kind of wisdom is what enabled Moses and Jeremiah and Gideon and David to transcend all

the ways they felt young, small, inexperienced, fearful and unworthy, so that they could carry out

God’s divine purpose that would unite them to something so much bigger than themselves, and

work to restore God’s justice and wholeness in the world. They just had to keep remembering

that it was God’s Spirit at work in them, and surrender their small selves to God’s higher

purpose.

So while your life’s journey may not involve a clear call from God, or a divine visitation from

God like in Solomon’s dream, God is always inviting each one of us to step out of our comfort

zones and into what is unknown, uncertain, and many times, scary, so that we can grow, further

God’s vision for the world, and become wise. This could be through any number of things.

Perhaps through your job, hobby or vocation, a relationship, your family, sharing your spiritual

gifts with your community, or joining a new ministry.

And at times you may just not be ready to get started. Whatever age you are, you may feel too

young, ill equipped, and unprepared, or you may not want to take on such a weighty

responsibility, or make a big commitment. But Solomon reminds us that our perceived

weaknesses can be a benefit to us, because they will give us the humility to ask for the wisdom

we will need to complete the task being presented to us. Saying yes to this process of becoming

wise, will enable us to receive more fully from the very depths of God; and any path that leads

deeper into the depths of God is a path I want to be on.

So may we each have the courage and determination to let go of our lives as we know them, and

let ourselves be transformed by new challenges and new experiences. May our reliance on God

enable us to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. And may we become wise. Amen.