AUGUST 18 2024, SOPHIA AND HER PROVERBS

John Bellaimey

Sophia and Her Proverbs

August 18, 2024

St. John’s

 

In Hinduism, there are thousands of Gods. In fact, there are thousands of Hinduisms, each one with its collection of myths and rituals. But most Hindus who live in the west will tell you they are also monotheistic. All those goddesses and gods are just aspects of the one great universal soul, Brahman.

 

We westerners are much more shy about having many Gods. The first commandment Moses got was: you shall have no other gods before me. One and only one. To our Jewish and Muslim cousins, the trinity is dangerously close to tritheism. {sign of the cross – uh, uh, uh! Only one!} So what do we make of Sophia, wisdom, who is definitely a woman, not a concept, and who is older than Creation?  Is she an ancient version of the Holy Spirit? A prehistoric image of God in female form like Jesus was, in much later times, in male form? Mother Earth, before “pagan” became a bad thing? It just means “rural”

 

I don’t know. But there she is, in the first reading, a city dweller now, with a very nice house and servant girls who are out shopping for tonight. Sophia has a good wine cellar where she makes her own blends, and she doesn’t just invite her friends and relatives to her dinner parties like we do. Instead, she invites anyone who wants to put aside their naïve, immature ways and see reality more deeply. It’s a bit like offering the red pill from the Matrix, but you don’t get insight right awayand it isn’t horrifying. You have to try the wisdom out for yourself and come back for dinner another time.

 

We don’t tend to read the Book of Proverbs very often. It doesn’t have much plot, except for Sophia getting the banquet ready or Sophia telling us what it was like to watch God create everything, including light and space and time. The Book of Proverbs is mostly her sayings.

 

A proverb is a wise saying, usually comparing a foolish but normal thing with the wiser alternative we ought to consider. If we had kept reading after today’s first reading left off, she offers this advice:

 

 

9:8      Don’t waste your time correcting a scornful person. They’ll hate you for it. But if you reprove a wise person, they’ll love you.

 

Has that ever happened to you?  Let’s pretend we’re at Sophia’s house, and this is her after-dinner speech. Turn to someone around you and talk about this one for a minute or two.

 

 

10:20 What a good person says is precious like fine silver. But a wicked person’s advice is worthless.

 

I have two more, and then I’m going to invite you to share a few of your own favorites with each other. This one’s not from the Bible:

 

We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.

 

Think of an example, share it with your neighbor.

 

This last one’s from my mother in law, and I’ve quoted her saying it many times before:

 

You wouldn’t worry about what others think of you if only you realized how seldom they do.

 

Okay, here’s the last assignment: share one or two or your favorite sayings, from the Bible or not.

 

Let us pray: O Sophia, it’s not easy being human. We’re so capable and we mess up so easily. So we need each other to remind us. In person, whenever possible. Sharing a meal and loving conversation, as we do here, at your place. Help us to find wisdom in ourselves, in each other, and in the world you have made. Deliver us from anxiety and despair, and lead us to moments of simple joy all the day long.

 

 

 

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