Dear Friends,
I have wisdom on my mind today. I pray for it daily. And even though I habitually do so, sometimes I am still confused about what is wise and what is foolish. In situations where I don't feel confident about the best approach to solving a problem, I seek counsel from others. We bat around ideas and scribble on scrap paper, and in what often feels like a miracle, an idea will emerge from one of the group-- sometimes, even from me-- something I might not have thought of on my own. It's like a vibrant rainbow of inspiration has formed over us.
The act of brainstorming is like the act of playing music together; the emergence of the group's wisdom can be that harmonious and a pleasure to experience. At the same time, I recognize that sometimes, what emerges from a group trying to make a decision is something known as “group think.” That is what happens when people stop contributing their own unique wisdom and instead think about how they will be perceived for whatever they say they think or say. The whole group can lose the opportunity for group wisdom to reveal something that only happens when each member of the group contributes their own unique wisdom.
When we worry about our own self or our position within a group, that can be a source of conflict, because as James says, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.” [James 4:1-3]
There is such beauty in true wisdom, both as individuals and as a community. We need that community wisdom as much as we need our own personal wisdom because that is how we learn to appreciate what we can be when we set about seeking the counsel of the community-- it is how we live in peace and how we discern right from wrong.
James paints a picture for us of the true wisdom-- the wisdom of God: “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” [James 3:17-18]
Imagine coming to the community with that wisdom-- the wisdom from above. Imagine who we can be and how much good we can do in the world if we seek that “pure, then peaceable and gentle” wisdom?
That is my prayer today for our church community-- that we will have that wisdom from above to be God's hands and feet in our church and in our local community.
With faith and love,
Pan +