The Wisdom of Age

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Book of Wisdom, joy, Lord, memories, repent, reunion, shared experience, sin, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe, wisdom

The feeling in the gathering place of my 50th-year high school reunion last evening was congenial and happy, a perfect example for me of how age is related to wisdom. There were comments that spoke of what a good and caring education we received in high school, the benefit perhaps of membership in a small class of 82 students. There were some specific common memories of events and some still etched in only one or two of our minds but nothing mattered except that our shared experience was celebrated and had created a bond that was still apparent in the joy of being together. It was in the looking back, taking the long view, that the essence of “us” came to light without the necessity of a lot of words.

In some way this morning’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures gave me the same sense. It is from the Book of Wisdom, always a clue pointing to deep meaning. The feelings it elicited from me were remembrance, gratitude and deep peace. Here is what it says:

Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! (WIS 11: 22 – 12:1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True Repentance

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Lent, mercy, Nineveh, psalm 51, repent, spirit, steadfast, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One week into the Lenten season we hear dire predictions of punishment for sin in Nineveh and the penitential practices undertaken by the people (sackcloth and ashes and total fasting from food and drink) that turned God away from destroying their city. Jesus comments in the gospel (LK 11) on the evil existing in his day, making comparison to Jonah’s time and the Ninevites. Each generation sees atrocities that are unthinkable in the eyes of godly people and we who pride ourselves on the “progress” of history and culture are shocked that such evil should exist in our day. How ought we to approach God in the face of sin and failure to love as a world community and in our own lives today? God is certainly still listening, waiting as in Jonah’s day for recognition from us of the need for forgiveness. I believe that the answer lies in the image of compassion that we find today in Psalm 51 where the exchange with God goes deeper than actions and events and gets to the heart of things.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense…A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me…For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Today is perhaps a good day to reflect on the humility that looks deeply into the mirror of truth, offering whatever we find there to the God whose face looks back at us with compassion and love.