Listening Wisdom into Existence

               On multiple occasions in the summer of 2023, I sat with my parishioners. We read portions of the Wisdom Corpus: Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. I said a few words about the books, asked the central questions of each of the books, and then listened with a tape recorder. From those conversations, I harvested theological gems and set them back into the context of a booklet. What came of it is: Wisdom from Spruce Run, which we then gave to our confirmation students on Reformation Sunday.

              I pray that this book is useful for shaping the generational imagination of the confirmation students, and my congregation at large. After all, the big questions of Wisdom: “What is success? How do you deal with crisis? How do you end a thing well?” are perennial questions. How they are answered, and that they are answered at all, can give a person a glimpse of a faith life that is not yet their own, but could be. Such answers can be mentors on a page, a sense of new possibilities, and a window into yet to be experienced realities of the life of faith. A 15-year-old, newly affirming their faith, can dream about what being a Christian might look like at 85 or 42 or 20. For that matter, an 85-year-old can remember back to the faith struggles and joys of yesteryear and think anew about what that might look like in the present, and in so doing be more fully present with younger Christians.

              Bonhoeffer once wrote:

“Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too.”

              I think this method of Bible Study, where listening is the primary goal, is a challenging but good one, especially for clergy folk like me who tend to step into role of the expert teacher/information wielder, sometimes even when unbidden to do so. What we did in this bible study echoes the Liberation Theology insights about indigenous communities in conversation, that they have all the expertise they need, that lived experience can inform reading of scripture as readily as extensive lessons and seminary expertise. Hearing the wisdom already present in my place of ministry was itself a sort of ministry to me. It reminded me of my tradition’s commitment to “The Priesthood of All Believers.” Not that my being set apart for ordained ministry is unimportant, but it is not the only means, or even the primary means, by which God speaks in my congregation!

              All that to say, the next time you lead a Bible Study, make sure you do so with your ears open. For that matter, if you’d like to do a similar type of Bible Study to “Wisdom from Spruce Run” please reach out, I am developing resources that would help!