Sermon Notes for Sept. 10th

September 10, 2006
“The Changing Church in the 21st Century”

1. As a pastor who started out in the ministry in 1971, I can say that I have met and or was acquainted with all of the pastors of this church going back to Clarence Richardson – who was here in the l950s. I know Lyle Christianson very well. Clare Siple I did not know well, but I did know Tom Payne. And I know Marva Jean Hutchins and Jim Clausen. But, the people I would have most like to have met were Dr. Crawford Grays and his wife, the Rev. Edith Grays.

Over my time here in Bemidji I have heard much about them. And in the bulletin is a picture of Dr. Grays with Harold Freutel’s father which was taken back in l940.

Well, this past week I spent a most enjoyable afternoon reminiscing with Harold Freutel as we sat outside his house in the shade of big tree in his yard.

Harold told me that Dr. Grays, as you can see, was not a very big man. He actually had to stand on a pedestal in order to be seen over the pulpit. But, he made up for it with character and feistiness (in a good way). Dr. Grays was born in England and came to America in 1907 and served numerous Methodist churches in Minnesota before coming to Bemidji in l936 – where he served for 16 years – the longest of any pastor. And these were difficult times … during the depression and World War II. And Dr. Grays was instrumental in establishing a set of church chimes in honor of veterans. All in all, fourteen young men from this church alone gave their lives in that war and another 150 men and women served in various branches of the military.

2. Quite surprisingly, I learned from Harold that Dr. Grays and his wife did not drive a car. They either walked or road the bus (which cost a nickel back in those days). And, of course, Bemidji was much smaller and most people walked to church and the congregation didn’t need a parking lot unlike nowadays when people may drive 15-20 miles to church. For a time, on Sundays, Rev. Edith Grays would get up early and catch the 4:30 AM train to Northome where she preached at the small Northome Methodist Church. Then, someone from Bemidji would drive up to Northome and bring her back. The rest of the week, Edith spent much time visiting the sick and making home visits. In those days, the church got two ministers for the price of one.

Also, while Dr. Grays would have no doubt been strongly against gambling of any kind … he loved to play cribbage, according to Harold Freutel.

3. That seems like a long time ago now … and it is … and going to church and the ways in which we participate in church have changed substantially in the meantime … especially for younger people – but also for those who are retired as well. Which is what I want to talk about this morning – especially as we are beginning the church year … and will be thinking about Stewardship next month.

In fact, I plan to take the standard Methodist Membership motto: prayers, presence, gifts, and service and see how these concepts relate to life today compared to the way it used to be back when Dr. Grays was here.

But first, Harold Freutel, who could not be here to today, asked me to tell you about how he recently was rummaging around the house and discovered an old coping saw which belonged to him when he was still a very young man. (You all know what a coping saw is: It has a metal frame in the shape of a U and a thin blade and is used for cutting round edges in wood.) Well, Harold said to me, “it was my first power tool.” Except, of course, he said, “I had to provide the power!” Which is another example of how things have changed.

4. I am not as old as Harold, but I remember how things were very different growing up in the 1950’s. For instance, in those days, stores were closed on Sunday. Not much else to do but go to church unlike today. And I remember when stores were open on Saturday nights because that was when the farmers came to town. The uptown area was usually packed.

And most people didn’t travel much in those days. And on Easter most churches had an Easter Sunrise Service and a breakfast at the church. But, when I came here in l999 no one wanted to do it anymore. Why was that? Well, people are busier on holidays than the used to be. People want to come to church on Easter Sunday and then they are out the door going somewhere to visit relatives or the relatives are in town and that keeps everyone occupied.

Then, a few years ago, Kari suggested that we have a Palm Sunday Ham Dinner. Surprise, surprise, it was a big success. Why? Because no one is going anywhere on Palm Sunday.

And what I want to say is that this is a good example of how by understanding how things have changed we created a successful program which takes into account people’s changing lifestyles. And I want to come back to that in a moment.

5. Another reality came home to me recently when I read that in l950 it was considered by most people that you became an adult at age 18. In fact, most women got married around 18 in those days and some at 16. Then, by the time I was in college in the 1960s the average age of adulthood, in most people’s minds had gone up to 22. But now, today, even that has changed. Anyone care to guess what most people consider when adulthood begins? 26 or 27!

In fact, this past weekend I was down in the cities for Labor Day weekend and took my daughter out for dinner for her birthday and then two days later we got together for lunch. Only this time she BOUGHT ME LUNCH! Which was an all time first. I was pretty impressed – although I tried not to show it. Pretty amazing, since tomorrow she will be 28 years old – all that time – and now she is independently wealthy (or at least financially independent).

As many of you know who have grown children and grandchildren, family life has changed in many ways from how it was back in l950. To name a few things: most mothers today work outside the home and have to juggle day care; many more families are divorced; also many families live farther away from their parents and often travel many miles to be together – especially on holidays.

6. All of this has had an impact on how we do church nowadays. And it impacts church attendance in ways that weren’t so obvious back 60 years ago.

Nowadays, there is greater time pressure on younger families to get everything done on the weekend. Younger families also are more willing to spend money and eat out rather than cook at home. At our church in St. Paul, we hired college girls to work in the nursery so that younger parents could spend time in worship rather than volunteer in the nursery. Some older members were upset that we were spending money on day care. But, for younger, parents, who were already spending big bucks and day care it was just the way things are.

And the big thing is that Sundays are not the way they used to be and going to church isn’t the way it used to be either in terms of church attendance. Today, in our church, many parents drop their kids off for Sunday school, go have coffee, then pick them up and go home, skipping church altogether. And of those who do come to worship, most skip the coffee hour afterward because the kids are tired and they don’t want to cause a commotion.

7. So, unless we are doing something special with children, we don’t always see a lot of younger people and younger parents in church on Sunday. Which leads people to think that this is mostly a church of older adults. But, contrary to the way things appear, there are lots of younger parents in our congregation but you don’t see them. On the other hand, if you come here on Wednesday night you will see 20 or 25 kids running around the building after school – and I mean running!

And perhaps you were surprised when we confirmed nine young people last May. Perhaps, in fact, you didn’t even know many of the kids who were confirmed. Perhaps you had never seen some of them.

For in fact, what has been happening gradually, is that there is a growing separation between the regular Sunday morning worshipping community and the younger group – not totally, but in ways which we need to be aware of – as we look to the future of our church.

8. So, we have a plan on how to involve the congregation in reaching out to younger families and better integrating the generations in our midst.

And the plan is this: Starting in October we will have a family meal at church every Wednesday night.

And everyone is welcome to come. And it won’t cost more than a few dollars. It will be convenient. And one night a week you won’t have to cook or wash dishes. Not a bad idea. What do you think?

But the main idea is to bring families, children, and young people in our church together on a regular basis for fellowship.

Then, after the meal, at 6 PM we will have a short half hour worship service. Our new Parish Assistant, Kathy Douglas plays the guitar and sings and will lead the music. It will be informal and more contemporary and will be aimed at children, teenagers, parents, and older adults. In short, everyone.

9. This is not a new idea. The church I belonged to for fifteen years in St. Paul, Fairmont Avenue Methodist has been doing this for over 30 years. It was a great idea. Because, when I worked for the Red Cross, on Wednesday night, I just drove to the church and the meal was all prepared. And once or twice a year different church members volunteered to prepare it and others washed the dishes.

Many other successful churches are doing this here in Bemidji, First Lutheran, Calvary Lutheran, and the Evangelical Covenant to name several.

In fact, recently I talked with our District Superintendent, Alan Bolte, and discovered that his sister is the youth pastor at the UMC church in Welles (down near Albert Lea) and they started a Wednesday meal and worship program several years ago. So, I called Art Keith, the pastor, who I know, and asked him about it. And he said, a couple years ago their congregation got concerned that they weren’t reaching out to younger families. So, they all prayed about it and several of their leaders decided to go of to a church training event and when they came back decided to try it. Now, he said, they have 75 people coming every week, and their church is smaller than ours. And other Methodist Churches are doing it, too, like in Duluth and Alexandria – I recently found out.

10. And what we are going to do is the same as with the Palm Sunday Ham Dinner, we are going to adapt to the changing culture around us …at least as far as younger families are concerned. For what is happening is that we are not reaching many of them who, for various reasons, aren’t able to participate on Sunday morning on a regular basis because (a) one or more parents have to work on Sunday; (b) because they are divorced and the kids spend weekends with the other parent; and (c) the kids are involved in weekend sports (like hockey) and other activities.

And as we know, its not just younger families, because older adults in our church are gone a lot on weekends, too. For, whether it is fishing and hunting or visiting the relatives, or whatever, Sunday doesn’t always work.

But, now, we will be able to provide an alternative to persons of any age for a meal, fellowship, and worship on Wednesday.

And you are all invited. And, if enough people are interested we will continue our faith discussion group for half an hour at 6:30 and their will also be some other options for kids and parents at that time as well.

11. Now there are some other things that we are thinking about as well, because I want to emphasize that it is very important for us to be thinking about our outreach to younger families and how we can become more integrated between generations. And this is because in terms of our spiritual growth we have so much to learn from each other.

But, I am not going to go into too much this morning … because I want us to focus first on getting this program off the ground. And if this works, others will follow.

So, start thinking about getting involved on Wednesday nights. And, if that isn’t quite what you want, that’s okay, too. For, we do not plan on making any changes on Sunday morning, at least for now.

And, with Stewardship time coming up, I would like some of you to think about helping out with the cooking.

And, this makes me think of a guy name Lou Eaton, who belonged our church in St. Paul. Now, Lou was a retired engineer and his wife had died some time previously, so he lived alone. So, he liked to get out of the house and come down to church on Wednesdays for the dinner. And afterward he would help wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. And Lou was a very friendly guy and liked to talk to people. And if you ended up doing the dishes you ended up talking to Lou, because you couldn’t get away from him.

Well, when Lou died, at his funeral, an amazing number of people got up and talked about how much Lou meant to them and how much he cared about them … especially if they were having a hard time. All because they washed dishes together. We were amazed!

And that’s the point of the whole thing … to get people connected. Young and old. For that is what the church is all about. And that’s what to “be present” whether it is on Sunday or some other day of the week.

12. But, before I conclude, let me tell you about one other project we are going to start up fairly soon. And this one comes from Kathy, who was involved with it in her own church.

It is called “Secret Prayer Sponsor.” And what it does is match up a young person with an elder of the church. The way it works is that young sign up for a Prayer Sponsor. Then, their picture is taken and a brief description of the child and his/her likes and interests, and birthday is put together in a folder. Then, elder members of the church who agree to be Prayer Sponsors and given a child to pray for, write to, send cards and token gifts throughout the year. But, throughout the whole, the actual identity of the prayer sponsor is a secret. Kids love this kind of thing. Kids love getting something in the mail. And they will love knowing that someone cares about them. Then, the child will send the sponsor things they make in Sunday school.

13. Finally, at the end of the year, there will be a dinner at church and the secret sponsor will get to meet the child. How much fun will that be?

And, this, my friends, we hope will be another way to connect the generations in our church. And it’s not too demanding or difficult to do, either. What do you think? Give it some thought and next month during Stewardship, you will be given an opportunity to sign up.

14. Now having said all this, I hope you realize that we are taking a risk. What if it doesn’t work? What if no one comes?

And, by taking a risk, we will need to have faith. And so that is what I am asking from you – faith.

But, as it says in James 2:17: Faith by itself, if it has not works is dead. So, I am also asking you to get involved. Be there. Show up.
If Sunday doesn’t work for you … now there is an alternative. And, better yet, why not do both. Or, maybe just come for the meal on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter. But your presence matters.

And because it is a risk, and because this is the beginning of the fall church year, we want to celebrate a little, since all of you are here … today … with something a little exciting.

So, immediately following worship I want you to all go outside to the parking lot and Kathy is going to shoot up a rocket. And our theme this fall is blast off! So, we are going to blast off a rocket. It should be fun, it should be exciting. And it may not work. But we need to give it a try.

And, in life, if you don’t send up a rocket once in a while nothing ever changes, right?

So, you are all invited to witness the blast off this morning…and then we will all come back inside and go downstairs for sloppy Joes and potluck and have fellowship together. And everyone is invited, guests and visitors, young and old alike.

Now, let us pray.

Sermon Notes for August 27th

August 27, 2006
“You are the Holy One of God”
John 6:56-59

1. I have been talking and writing about the concept of “thin places” off and on for some time now. The concept comes from the ancient Celts in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The idea being that at certain times of the year and in certain places, the spiritual world comes closer to the physical world. One of those times was Halloween which was called Samhain in the Celtic language. This was a spooky time when the spirits of the departed were said to visit the earth. It was also, for the Celts, the end of the harvest and therefore the end of the year.

The Catholic Church attempted to Christianize Samhain and so it created All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve (from which we get Halloween). And in Celtic Christianity, the idea of thin places remains and important concept. Today, thousands of people travel to Iona and Lindisfarne on the east and west coasts of Britain to experience the holy or the sacred spiritual presence of God. Someday, perhaps, I would like to go there, too, because I have for one reason or another associated certain aspects of nature with the spiritual realm.

I don’t exactly know why this is … nor do I suggest that everyone should be like that. For, in fact, people are very diverse. Some people, I think, are more likely to be affected by auditory sensations rather than visual, like myself. It’s just the way we are made.

2. For instance, it was the great French mystic, Simone Weil, who intensely distrusted religious ritual, who found herself deeply affected by hearing Gregorian Chants performed at Easter. And another, more modern atheist and writer, Ann LaMott, a single mom who was addicted to drugs and alcohol, tells about how she would stand outside a small church in her neighborhood on Sunday mornings listening to the singing until she got up the courage to go inside. So music, then, for some is an experience of the “holy.”

For others, it may be art. While still a young man, the famous poet, T. S. Eliot, while visiting Rome with his brother and sister-in-law, surprised everyone by kneeling before Michelango's "Pieta." What was that all about? Well, "Here was a spiritually humble, contrite man ritualizing his acceptance of a higher authority" According to Peter Ackroyd, his biographer. Ackroyd further notes that “Eliot had a sense of tradition and an instinct for order within himself and found the church and faith gave him this security within a life of frustrations and struggles. He was aware of what he called 'the void' in all human affairs--the disorder, meaninglessness, and futility which he found in his own experience; and while it was inexplicable intellectually . . . and it could only be understood or endured by means of a larger faith."

I must add that a close friend of mine, who is not particularly religious, had a similar experience while in Rome while observing some of the great paintings which are there. It wasn’t just the exercise, it was a spiritual experience.

3. For me, it often is the mountains. I love to go to the mountains. When I was in school I managed to backpack in most of the national parks out west.

Since I had not done this for a long time, and having six weeks off this past summer, I drove out to California rather than fly. This allowed me one week going out and one week coming back to see some mountains and do some day-hiking. All in all, I hiked in the Black Hills and the Wind River Range in Wyoming (were I stayed at a religious retreat called Ring Lake Ranch. This was on the way out. And on the way back, I visited the Olympic National Park, Mount Rainer, and Glacier Park. It was tremendous.

What is it about these places that makes them “holy” for me?

It is hard to put into words. In fact, one of the things about the sacred is that it is not easy to describe.

In fact, William James, in his book, Varieties of Religious Experience, writes about the experience of the holy … “for a moment there is nothing but ineffable joy and exaltation. It is impossible to describe the experience. It is like the effect of some great orchestra, when all the separate notes have melted into one swelling harmony, that leaves the listener conscious of nothing save that his soul is being wafted upwards and almost bursting with its own emotion.”

Well, I like music, but I am not a musician, but when I see the mountains it truly is like a visual symphony. The ocean can be like that for me sometimes, too.

4. Part of it has to do with the fact that in our National Parks there is no advertising and nothing man-made. It is all nature. Just the way it was created. And there is less and less of this all the time. For better or worse, we human beings have taken over every corner of the earth and made it over to suit our purposes.

And, yet when you drive up through layers of clouds and finally come out on top at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic mountains and look across at the sun shining through the clouds on the white capped mountains, it is almost like seeing the world the way it was for thousands of years before mankind ever existed. It is just the way God made it. This, and the fact that one feels so very small in the face of it all, creates for me a sense of wonder and awe that is truly amazing.

It also doesn’t hurt that I am, for the most part, a very visual person.
I didn’t fully realize this, until a few years ago, when I took a little personality test on the internet and made this rather startlingly made this discovery, which explained to me why I am the way I am.

Which is also why some other people, I suppose, maybe more affected by sound rather than sight and for whom music may have a more profound effect.

And, yet both seeing and hearing are very basic elements in the way we understand the world. For a small baby, seeing and hearing are the two keys to its expanding consciousness … along with touch.

5. Whatever the case, it is important to understand, I think, the God can become present to us … in a variety of ways … and directly or indirectly through the senses … for the Bible is full of metaphors about how we are to “hear God speaking to us” and how we are to “see God” in various ways.

Another way we experience God is to “hear” his Word. This, we say is found particularly through the reading of the Scriptures … or, as it is sometimes referred to as the “Holy Scriptures” or the “Holy Bible.

So, what then, does the word “Holy Mean?” – As in the Scripture today when Peter answers Jesus’ question by saying “We have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God?”

According to Webster, “holy” can mean a variety of things:

It can mean something religious which belongs to or comes from God and therefore something to be revered or worshipped.

It may also mean something pure or perfect which is untainted by evil or sin – such as spiritual purity. That is sort of what “holy” means.

6. So, we can say, then, as Peter does, that Jesus is the Holy One means that Jesus is or comes from God. Jesus is, in short, to be revered or worshipped and also that Jesus is the “pure” or the “real” thing.

And this is the whole thrust of the passage we read today.

It is there because in the early church (the one to which John is writing) there was controversy about who Jesus was and what his relationship with God was. And, two weeks ago, I talked about the controversy over the Gospel of Thomas and the Gnostics and also with the Jews in the synagogues … the first, who believed that Jesus was not really a physical person and the second, who believed that Jesus was not really divine.

And still today, people wonder about this. And, of course, the orthodox understanding is contained in the Creeds which say that Jesus was both. He was both man … and at the same Time Divine. In other words … he was a Divine Man … or a Holy Man … or, as Peter puts it the Holy One of God. Jesus was, in other words, a thing place where God’s broke through into human consciousness.

7. Now this business of the Divinity of Jesus … which is often referred to theologically as the Incarnation … the “indwelling of God” in the flesh, as it were … is, in all reality, a mystery. It cannot be explained rationally, it cannot be believed rationally … it is a matter of faith … and as Jesus points out … that this faith in Jesus … is a gift of the spirit … it is a gift of God … which means that we cannot, of ourselves, alone make ourselves believe … for the door, as it were, must be opened … by God. We believe, in other words, because our hearts are opened by God’s Holy Spirit. Faith is not something that we alone create. It is our willingness, however, to be humble and to allow our hearts to be open which allows God’s Spirit to come in.



And this why, for mysterious reasons, even the most dedicated atheist can suddenly find him or herself, caught up by the spirit … as Ann LaMott was … merely by listening to people singing in a church as she stood in the doorway. Think about it. It was truly shocking, as she writes, for her friends to see this tremendous change in her life.

And, so I want to tell you, in the spirit of John Wesley and the Methodist movement we truly believe that God’s spirit is always seeking us out … trying to get our attention … working to open our hearts that we my understand His love for us … for, unlike those in the Calvinist tradition, we do not believe in predestination … that only some will be saved and that this is all preordained by God. No, we don’t think that way. We believe God does not give up on anyone, ever. And that means you and me and your neighbors, too.

8. Now, I should also say that there are other ways to discover God … in our midst … other thin places … which we call people …
Yes, what this means is that not only was Jesus a “thin place” or a “holy person” … but also other people can be a thin place in which God relates to us. For one of the most important aspects of the church is that we are all here to be spiritual doors and windows for each other.

Now, like Ann LaMott, I was pretty skeptical about religion when I was growing up and in college, as well. Yet, something kept telling me that God was very much a reality, despite the way things looked.

And this was all because of my great aunt who had been the greatest thin place I had known while I was growing up. For it was she who had taught me about the Bible and about prayer … even though my parents were largely agnostic and didn’t attend church. And there she was right in my own home quietly going about her way.

I especially remember going in her room at night. Now I was one of those hard to get to sleep kids. So, I would run down the hall and go talk to her as she was lying in bed waiting to go sleep. And, instead of getting mad, she would talk to me about God and about prayer. It was all so natural for her that it felt just like God was right there in the room.

And, so for you who are parents and grandparents, don’t underestimate the influence you have on small children. For just when you think they aren’t paying attention, they are soaking it all in. Yet, it may be many years before they are able to fully understand what is going on.

Now, later on, I found myself in college and across the street from the dormitory was a Lutheran church … and so I began attending. But, like LaMott, I wasn’t interested in getting too involved, right away.

9. This was demonstrated by the fact that I always sat in the back row! And I did this for some five years…

But, the rest of the story is that my spiritual development was continuously being fed and nourished … and the seed had been planted … was watered … in spite of the fact that I wasn’t really ready to admit it. For I can’t tell you how many times God has worked in my life through other people.

And what it finally came down to was the pastor, who later became my lifelong friend, who became the “thin place” where God was able to touch my life. And, as I look back on it, it was those many lunches I shared with him and how his confidence in me really paved the way for me to be here today. Without him it would not have happened. And I humbly hope in some ways I have been a thin place for others - like Brian Manly – as he embarks on his life in the ministry.

And, if we follow this analogy, then we can explain the mystery of who Jesus was … because … he was a “thin place” for the disciples. It was through him that God came into their lives.

This also goes a long way toward explaining the meaning of Peter’s words … when he says “You are the Holy One.”

So, while the total reality of Jesus relationship to God remains a mystery … we can see that there doesn’t need to be a mystery about Peter’s words … because what he is saying is that in Jesus we experience God because he was a “thin” place.

10. So, we can begin to understand how God can become present to us in a variety of ways … because almost anything can be a thin place …

And maybe sometime, I will tell you about the class I took on Spirituality and Dream interpretation, one of my favorite subjects. For in this course, I learned that God, just as the Bible tells, can also be in touch with us through our unconscious as revealed in our dreams.

In fact, there is nowhere God is not … not even when we sleep! As is so powerfully described in the 139th Psalm. Let me read parts of it now:

6 GOD, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight.
You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and you're there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!

7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

11. And I am not going to say any more this morning. Instead, take moment now, or later today … or this week … to ask yourself … where are the thin places in my life … what time of day … what persons … what season of the year … what passage of scripture … what special hymn …what is it that draws my consciousness closer to God … this is very important to your spiritual life.

And, as I have said, we are a little different … that’s okay … it is the way God intends it … so don’t be put off by someone telling you that you have to find Jesus in this or that particular way … maybe it works for them … but not for you …
And yet, all the same, know that God is here … now … today … whispering in our ear … shining through the trees … smiling to us through another persons face … humming a tune as the wind blows through the trees … all the time.

How about practicing a little God consciousness this week …?

You might be surprised … at what happens.

Let us pray …

Semon Notes for August 20th

August 20, 2006
“Do not be Foolish”
1 Kings 2:2-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20

1. Paul’s letter to Ephesus is pretty straight forward. “Do not be Foolish” it says, “but understand the will of the Lord.” That might well be the whole message of the Bible for all people everywhere. “Be Wise … do not be foolish.”

In the book for Proverbs it says something quite similar:
9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;
teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

2. Now, according to the Bible the book of Proverbs is attributed to the great King Solomon. Most scholars doubt this is entirely true although there is no way of knowing for sure.

But whatever the case, Solomon was highly regarded for his wisdom as is written in 1 Kings 4:29-34

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

Now, even if there is considerable exaggeration in this statement, we can still assume that Solomon was some kind of guy! In more ways than one, as we shall soon find out!

3. But the passage for today is primarily about one kind of the wisdom … which is the wisdom which only God gives. Because, according to 1 Kings 3:3-14, all the wisdom Solomon had (and all his riches as well) were not to be attributed to him alone, but rather to God who gave this things to Solomon because he had humbled himself in asking for God’s guidance in ruling the people of Israel.

And this is in keeping, of course, with the Biblical view of things which is not to glorify the works of men – but to give the credit first and foremost to God.

4. Now as I was preparing this sermon I consulted the Abingdon bible commentary prepared by the United Methodist Church. And I discovered that the last time I preached on 1 Kings, Chapter 3, was exactly six years ago on August 20th, 2000 – no less. So, I looked up my sermon from that Sunday on my computer and discovered that it wasn’t too bad a sermon – although I had forgotten most of it … which is a bit humbling … of course.

Six years ago … how times passes! I thought. And then I began to think about how much has changed in the last six years. Think about it. Six years ago, Bill Clinton was still President of the United States. We were, of course, in the midst of the Presidential Election campaign between George Bush and Al Gore. In addition, guess who was still governor of Minnesota … Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Amazing!

And then I realized that this was back before 9/11 when the entire world changed forever. In fact, that was still a year away from September 11th of 2001. For we will be acknowledging the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center this next month. A lot has changed, indeed, for on a personal note I remember calling my daughter right afterward and she was still in college. Now she is in her fourth year of teaching in St. Paul. How time flies!

5. And, in recent days we have been much concerned with politics, war, and international relations. And now, we are in the midst of another national election and already the lawn signs are coming out and political ads are appearing on television.

Some people dread all the political hoopla, but, as they say, “it’s the price we pay for democracy.”

For back in Solomon’s time there was no such thing as democracy or women’s rights or anything of that sort.

And when it came down to who would succeed the great King David – it was a real problem.
This was because the accepted method for replacing the King in those days was Primogeniture -- which allowed for the inheritance by the first-born of the entirety of a parent's wealth, estate or office and this was often used in monarchies throughout history.

6. Now, this sounds pretty clear-cut. The Eldest son gets it. But, not so fast. God had other plans, apparently. And so did the prophet Nathan, Bathsheba (Solomon’s mother), and Solomon, himself.

There isn’t time to go into all the backstabbing (literally) and intrigue but in short we learn in 1st Kings that: the formal installation of Solomon as the God-appointed successor of David was hastened by an incident which, like so many others that caused trouble in Israel, must ultimately be traced to the weakness of David himself. For it turns out that David was very indulgent toward his sons Amnon and Absalom. (In short, they were spoiled.) and this resulted in terrible consequences. For both Amnon and Absalom died violent deaths. And a third son of David, Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, seems also to have died. At least, so we infer from the silence of Scripture concerning him. These, then, were the three eldest sons of David. The next in point of age was Adonijah the son of Haggith. (Now you need to understand that David had many wives – so his sons did not all have the same mother.)

7. So, it would appear that as the fourth surviving son of David, Adonijah became heir-apparent to the throne. But Solomon, an even younger brother, was preferred to him. And now we have a dangerous power struggle about to take place. What happened next was that Adonijah, seeing that his father was dying, tried to have himself be proclaimed king. This caused the influential prophet Nathan and Bathsheba to induce David, who was quite ill, to give orders that Solomon should at once be proclaimed and admitted to the throne. In other words, they talked the old man into going against the conventional wisdom and so, David proclaimed Solomon to be his heir.

Seeing that he was outwitted, Adonijah fled and took refuge at the altar, and received pardon for his conduct from Solomon on the condition that he showed himself "a worthy man" Afterwards, however, Adonijah made a second foolish attempt to gain the throne, but was seized and put to death according to Solomon’s orders. (1 Kings 2:13-25). After that, Solomon also ordered several other people who were supporters of Adonijah to be banished or put to death. In short, he cleaned house. Therefore, while Solomon may been wise, he was also politically clever and shrewd. And that was the way it was done in the those days! Hopefully, we are more civilized nowadays, although, sometimes I am not so sure! Because however you cut it, politics can be a cutthroat business.

8. Well, Solomon got to be king and his greatest accomplishment was the building of the great Temple in Jerusalem. In addition, he succeeded in consolidating the nation of Israel. And, in terms of later days, the Jews looked back on the days of Solomon and David with great fondness. And Solomon, it was agreed, was a great king in the world sense. And this little band of slaves who had escaped from Egypt had now become a powerful nation – or so they thought. All because, as the prophets reminded them, God was with them.


Well, in retrospect, it appears that Solomon, in spite of his dream, and all his success, did not always act wisely for the Bible takes him to task for a number of things, as we read in 1 Kings 11:1-3 how King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: in fact there were women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; all who became Solomon’s wives. And this was contrary to the teaching of God who had said:

"You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods."

Yet, despite God’s warning, according to the Bible “Solomon clung to these women in love.”

9. According to First Kings 11:1-3 it indicates that King Solomon had 700 hundred wives and 300 hundred concubines. Now this seems a bit much, wouldn’t you sayk? So what was going on? Well,

history reveals that Solomon was very aggressive in his foreign policy. And in sealing treaties in ancient days, it was customary for a lesser king to give his daughter in marriage to the greater king (in this case, Solomon). So, every time a new treaty was sealed, Solomon ended up with yet another wife. These wives were considered tokens of friendship and "sealed" the relationship between the two kings.
You get the feeling that women, in those days, didn’t count for much? Well, in fact, they didn’t. Women were largely seen as property. But, contrary to Jewish law, Solomon was merely doing what other kings and rulers did. He was keeping up with the Jone’s. Because, to be a successful king in those days you had to have a big harem!
Well, some of the Biblical writers did take Solomon to task for this. They spoke out saying that Solomon was utterly disobedient to the Lord.They accused him of being so obsessed with power and wealth that it overshadowed his spiritual life. He also, it was said, worshipped some of the false gods of the women who became married to him. That’s what the Bible says…

So, has anything changed, really? Why is it, I ask you, that politics, sex, and money all seem to always get mixed up together? And it even happens in a democracy like America. Well, the answer, according to the Bible is that nasty old word – sin. And the best definition of sin is “corruption” or foolishness.

10. Well, it seems that the Bible is rather clear about Solomon’s sins, for he was going against God’s will regarding monogamy. For from the very beginning the Bible says God created one woman for one man as is written in Genesis 1:27; 2:21-25 and in Deuteronomy 17:17 where it explicitly instructs the king not to "multiply wives."

Here is what it says:


the king "shall not multiply horses to himself... Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:16-17).

Notice that horses are regarded in pretty much the same sense as wives. So much for women!

So, it says that Solomon sinned in various ways -- (1) he engaged in polygamy, (2) he violated God's commandment against marrying pagans, which ultimately led to his own apostasy, (3) he collected huge numbers of horses (a large chariot army), and (4) he gathered vast amounts of gold and silver.
And the Bible records that Solomon's tolerance of his wives pagan religions led to terrible sins against God. 1 Kings 11:4-9 states, as it says in 1st Kings, Chapter 11:

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his foreign wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon... So, there.

And therefore, we must notice that the Bible was not of one mind about Solomon. This is because the Bible is a composit of different writings from different periods. Some praise Solomon and others are critical of him. And, besides, Solomon was a very complicated man.

Well, enough on Solomon and his wisdom and his sins and his many wives. Not a dull story, by any means. And not a dull life, especially for Solomon, to be sure! In fact, it is a great and human story about one man – and his complicated relationship with God and his people … wouldn’t you say?


11. So, to summarize our scripture lesson today, Solomon, in his dream is granted wisdom and wealth for calling on God to be his guide as a ruler. But then he is corrupted by the power and wealth which God gives him. In short, it is the old old story For Solomon, and for all political leaders (even today)…the great problem is to how to act…as objectively as possible…which takes faith…and trust in God…and this is what Solomon prays for, but does not always really do…

And in the Bible, eventually, in the end, as Israel would discover…it was the prophets, more than the kings…who would come to speak for Israel… What are we to make of this?

Well, along these same lines, the English Methodist Herbert Butterfield…who was also a great British historian…wrote these words about the Biblical prophets:

I think that one of the most significant and revealing
Chapters in the history of human thought is provided by the ancient Hebrew prophets, in their insistence upon the judgment of God..and their vindication of the moral element in history…

And if I have understood it correctly, when the prophet Amos warned the Jews that the “day of the Lord,” which they so eagerly awaited, was not to be a time of triumph, but a dark day of reckoning, it is not hard to see the parallels when the ancient writers cried out against the blind leaders of public opinion in their day…the false prophets who told the people they would have peace, who called evil good and good evil, and who flourished by giving men the comfortable doctrines they like to hear…

These are good words, perhaps, for us today to be reminded of, once again, in this election year, don’t you think, as we weigh the words of politicians who seek to represent us in office and to lead our nation.

12. And the same is true in our own lives, though we be not kings or rulers. For we all must also strive, as St. Paul says, to act with wisdom.

And this is not easy … because our own ways are often clouded by anxiety, uncertainty, selfishness, doubt, and much more.

As a result we are always prone always to:

Act too quickly …
Act out of fear …
Or, at times, not to act, to put off decisions …until it is too late
Or to act vindictively, out of anger …
Or to try to control everything ourselves … and not let others
Be involved in our decisions
Or to act defensively …
And much more

And lastly, we fail to ask God for wisdom before we act.

Is this not true? Has anyone here today, not acted in one or more of these ways and not later regretted it? We have all done it, including myself.

13. And yet as the Bible reminds us over and over again … the great stories of Solomon are there for as great examples from which we might learn … and be wise. Because, according to the Bible:

When we ask God for help … in prayer … some amazing things can take place … For instance, in prayer …

A. We may be led to someone else who may have wise advice for us some idea that we would never have thought of ourselves …

B. We may be receive new insights, and be more open minded … and see more clearly …

C. Our fears may be calmed, and we may act more courageously

D. We are more able to act with love rather than anger
and resentment …

In other words, in prayer, we seek not our own wisdom, but the greater wisdom of God. And, because God always, always, hears our prayers, may we always pray as Solomon did in his famous dream:

Oh Lord, Give thy servant, therefore, an understanding mind … that we might discern between good and evil.

And all I can add is that personally in my own life I have learned that God will not let us down. God may not always give us what we want, but God will always give us what we need.