"A New Kind of Wisdom," Sermon for Sunday February 9th, 2014 by Nicole Collins

Every coming Spring there are a new set of graduates coming from all kinds of experiences and all taking that bold step forward into the great unknown.  There may be family members and friends cheering on in the background or there may not be and the individual is stepping out feeling completely on their own, completely alone.  It’s common, simple human anxiety of reaching that light at the end of the tunnel and now you’re at the proverbial end of the diving board…  Are you ready to dive in?

There some people who you have to wonder what they’re doing as “career students” perpetually adding on another new three letter tags to their last name but what are they really going to do with it? Somehow they are allowing themselves to be stuck in the process of Becoming over Doing.  We have all kinds of ways to acquire knowledge in our very human world… but to what rules do we guide our hearts by?

It hasn’t helped that this has been the most spiritually draining winter in a number of years… to wonder about not only the fate of the world but where your feet should trod in the Name of Christ.  Being the hands and feet of Jesus here and now can at times feel like that “salt-shortage” taking place across the Midwest where more and more cities are adding sand to their mix of salt.  If anyone recalls however… sand does not build a solid foundation… things that rest upon it cannot hold integrity!

The sermon on the mount has us hear, last Sunday, the beautiful new commandments of Jesus—the Beatitudes.  This week’s Gospel turns toward our guiding motivation to live into the lifestyle of GRACE as being salt and light—ACTIVE disciples.  Not works’ righteous motivated active disciples… but GRACE—faith manifested, ACTIVE disciples.

I’m sure every seminarian graduate this coming Spring wants to hear Jesus say over and over to ease their anxiety and uncertainty: “¹³“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Letting your light shine requires a bold step forward in the face of adversity and condemnation… We are both saint and sinner and Satan seems to have the upper hand in dragging our enthusiasm down with fear and doubt.  We must not allow this to happen!  Easier said than done are the words we want to cave back into operating from.  It is easier to stay and hide back in our school of Athens for Jesus’ sake!

The other day I was talking with a friend who’s had a pretty rough journey. He’s been trampled on by denominational politics, age discrimination and personal financial dramas.  Right now he’s working as a janitor for the Boy Scouts club finishing a post Divinity degree waiting in spiritual limbo to hear if he will be finally approved to truly use his hands and feet for Christ in the parish.  It was sad to hear his anger and bitter tears coming through the other end of the line…  It didn’t seem too wise of a thing to want to say: but you are doing Christ’s work right now—everything in God’s time and BE encouraged—Stay Encouraged! 

Pastor Eric used to tell me on occasion that all seminarians should do work study at a Kohl’s customer service window to really get a hands-on feel for serving people.  Servant leadership is taught as an ideal on the back-burner of seminary academia “Olympics,” not necessarily built up to be a value, yet.  Which from hearing the emotional distress and anxiety from my friend, I kind of wondered.  Do we emerge as the Chrysalis from the cocoon to merely be drawn right into the flames? 

Like the refining fire of the Holy Spirit, to one degree we are drawn, as St. Paul says to his wayward Corinthians: “⁹But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”— ¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. ¹³And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.”

Spiritual formation is a hands-on education.  It is a spirit motivating journey and process.  By no means should anyone ever feel they have “arrived” spiritually for it is not possible or encapsulated by human standards.  All of our formation into the Body is a life time’s intentional journey-built wisdom that God leads within us as Faith.

In contrast to the one friend I mentioned above, there’s another friend I know who has been trampled on and is still hanging in there…  But he has no idea what he wants to do in ministry and no real plans.  He assures me that he is being nurtured and mentored by the same people who have successfully placed glass ceilings above his head.  Should his faith and tenacity be admired?  Yes, but is he trying to build a foundation for his light to shine in the world upon sand?

With the best of intentions in coming to define the standards of true wisdom through the lens of the world… we manifest the same problem as the Corinthians: “¹⁴Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

The Beautiful attitudes of Jesus’ new spiritual commandments are just that: SPIRITUAL.  It’s not quantitative, controllable, or “wise” to our materialistic, intellectual standards of judgment—it is God’s standards! In thinking about my own milestone, next year will make 20 years after my first masters in my first career as an artist. My own Chrysalis has been formed with gratitude and GRACE—everything the Good Lord has lead me through in my life’s journey has been for a greater purpose and plan!

Being motivated by God to have your heart shaped for a greater purpose is experiencing that refining fire.  I read a review of one of my favorite films which I preached on last week—“Groundhog Day.”  The author of the review talks about Bill Murray’s character, Phil Connors, going through the stage of “existential terror…” when in the process of spiritually beginning to transform into the New nature Phil Connors.  Existential terror is a secular, self-contained definition of basically hiding our lamps under the bushel Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel text.

If we have faith shaped by GRACE, why would we cave into “existential terror,” in the first place? Paul’s Christ-shaped wisdom is something we need to intentionally hear and live deeply: “⁹But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”  Next Spring, I will be in the same place as my friend, I will be finishing my Divinity degrees hoping upon hope to BE a great light for Jesus’ sake.  I want to love God and neighbor as a parish pastor. God is my gracious guide, my heart is obedient to hear Him! May your lives be guided by the beautiful attitudes Jesus put in place as a New kind of righteousness, a New path for us to actively lead and follow!  Melt away the winter of fear, anxiety and ways of the world with the true guiding light of GRACE and wisdom—Christ Jesus!

AMEN

February 9th, 2014; 5th Sunday after Epiphany; Year A; SOLA Lectionary                          Nicole Collins

Isaiah 58:3-9; Psalm 112:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20