The Twelve Days of Christmas - Lutheran Theological Seminary at ...

Monday, January 2, 2006
Ninth Day of Christmas
Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, Renewer of the Church
Proverbs 1:1-7 Grow in wisdom and knowledge
James 3:13-18 The wisdom from above
“WHERE SHALL WISDOM BE FOUND?” Of late, I have seen a few books with that
title. With great expectation, I rejoice that I have finally found a place to look
for some good, reliable advice. And time and again, after reading such books, I
have been left with the same old empty feeling. Maybe the very idea that one
can find wisdom, like one finds other objects of desire or consumption, is misguided
in the first place.
Perhaps thinking that wisdom can be isolated from the process of life itself, or
clearly distinguished from any other activity, is a lame pursuit. Wisdom cannot
merely be found. It probably has to be sucked out, somehow extracted, from the
marrow of human experience.
Then there is the biblical proverb. At first, it sounds like the old dichotomy
between wisdom and knowledge once more. However, on second thought, it
actually looks like the sort of wisdom that can be taught and, more importantly,
could be learned. All it takes is the right place to start. For the biblical writer,
that place is the “fear of God,” or minding God in all that we think and do. Only
someone really foolish would believe otherwise and would dare to despise such
down-to-earth counsel.
Fortunately, we are not condemned to choose between being an informed robot
and a personal idiot. We don’t have to choose between a good mind and a good
heart, or between thinking and doing — or between faith and love, for that matter.
True wisdom thrives on all of it. Or, as James implies, wisdom is synonymous
with a “good life.”
Prayer
O God, there are many things that we do not understand, and even more that we cannot get
right. Give us true wisdom, through love and patience, faith and knowledge, hope and courage,
so that we never lose mind and heart. In Jesus we pray. Amen
twelve
Nelson Rivera