Sophia: Lost and Found

Spring is approaching, rapidly, or so the buds on the tree branches outside of my balcony’s railing tell me.  It seems too obvious to me in the spring that life moves forward, that we experience growth, and that, while we may experience episodes of time that cause those around us to attempt a consolation of “This too shall pass,” we are basically moving through a natural change birthing new possibilities.  I haven’t written for quite some time, almost two years, on this blog because I, frankly, found that my own writing was neither what I wanted nor what I wanted to portray of myself, a well educated, highly critically thinking human being.  As a trumpeter, we are told to sound a little more cornet-y which means to find the round center of the pitch instead of letting the trumpet control itself with a brassy sharpened edge.  While this blog is titled The Edge of Ink, ink a liquid.  What liquid is sharp?  Often thought-provoking work can bring us to the edge of what we really want.

I read another blog that gave me moments to think about it.  I have moved to the south where there are almost as many colleges and universities are there are churches.  While I appreciate the historical significance and the architectural experiences I am able to have surrounded with colorful artistry, I am not overly impressed with the need to hear the phrase “the Bible says” consistently.  I hear about the Bible more than gas prices, which for me, is the opposite of what I have usually encountered even in my seminary years.  With nearly ten years of religious study completed, it still doesn’t impress me to be inundated with what the Bible says about something when my Spiritual education has taught me differently.   Not contradicting — just differently than another’s interpretation or my own.

In an effort not to be another scripture spouting seminarian intent on writing about my favorite wisdom verse, Giles’ blog entry pretty much does it for me. I stopped, long ago, looking into a book or a mirror for wisdom.  The best Bible scholars in the world when they are asked about how the text should be applied will usually state something to the effect of  — carefully, intentionally, prayerfully.

I mainly use the Bible with supportively educational purposes.  I accept a lot of things about it, but I don’t accept that Wisdom can be embodied on a page.  Wisdom is an experienced experience.  She is lived.  I don’t think that I even look to the Bible for a specific purpose.  Do I read it regularly?  Absolutely!  I know a lot of stories, histories, instructions, social constructs, and family and gender variances through the texts.  Combined with language and historical training, I can dig through words and create a hermeneutic that works within a systematic structure to dazzle those with diploma scrolls.

I get Wisdom from trees.  I like trees.  Trees are simple.  They are created, grow, and have the stability that most people don’t have.  I am more at home in prayer with trees and plants.  Nature does it for me.  If I had a prayer closet, it would be shipped like a national forest.  It’s just how it is.  This is where Wisdom is found, prayerfully in the woods.   Remember that one who sings prays twice.  Taking a tuneful stroll through the trees may be the wisest thing for all of us to do.

Shalom.