The Lamp of Wisdom
Pay attention to the footnotes.
In I Kings 3, when Solomon responds to God’s promise to fulfill any request, he asks for what is often translated as “an understanding mind.” But that little “c” connected to the phrase displays an complementary translation:
I Kings 3.9 (Jewish Publication Society 2023)
We often define wisdom as a developed intelligence - a feature of the mind - but here, scripture is holding it together for us. Wisdom is a knowledge that is guided and motivated by compassion, patience, and curiosity. It is knowledge in service to the world, committed to God’s sacred work of healing, mending, and repair of all things. This is the wisdom that can cut through the noise, reveal a mother’s connection to a child, and lead a grieving mother to confront the pain she had denied.
From our beginning to our ending, wisdom is a gift.
So let us cultivate a listening heart.
Peace,
Rev. Chris McCreight
Manuscript of the sermon, “Three Wishes”
“And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. ”
In Our Church and Community:
This Advent devotional will be available to pick up in the sanctuary starting this Sunday.