The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Reformation Sunday and Confirmation
Text:s Proverbs 3:1-6 (includes Confirmation verses) and Psalm 46
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace and peace are yours, from God
our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I’d like you to think back to when
you were a child or a teenager and try to remember words of wisdom that your
elders gave you. What were some of those things…?
The book of Proverbs is basically a
collection of all these kinds of pieces of wisdom from others - little snippets
of advice from our elders – thirty-one chapters’ worth. Even though Proverbs is
attributed to Solomon, most scholars now believe that this book actually
contains the collected wisdom from hundreds of years, from different sources.
So this book is similar to what we’d have if we collected all the pieces of
wisdom that we shared a few moments ago…[such as…whatever you thought of!]
Much of the book of Proverbs is
dedicated to educating youths, specifically, in the ways of following God (although
the book makes it clear that this is good wisdom for anyone to follow – not
just young people). Today’s lesson begins with this resounding call: “My child,
do not forget my teaching but let your heart keep my commandments…” and when
the child protested or rolled his or her eyes, the writer continued, “for
length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you.”
In other words, it is good for us
to listen to those who are wiser than we are because we can learn from them.
Sometimes younger people listen to older people, and sometimes older people
listen to younger people. Words of wisdom can come from almost any age, and
from places that we least expect it. The book of Proverbs wants us to seek out
wisdom – to seek it out and to find it and to listen to it.
The beauty of a community like a
church is that we have different generations gathered under the same roof. It
is in learning from others that we have lives that are abundant.
It is appropriate that Lynnlea has chosen
two of the verses read earlier as her Confirmation verses: “Trust in the Lord
with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”[1] Ringing
through the ages, over thousands of years, is the wisdom that rings out to us
today: that we should trust in God at all times, in every way.
If only it were that simple!
Because we don’t always trust God at all times and in every way. We often trust
our own insights, and our own ways. We often think of God as some sort of holy
vending machine, dispensing whatever we want or whatever we think is best. When
we get the wrong thing, we begin to question and we begin to doubt. We can
appear faithless. We can even become faithless.
But instead of becoming faithless,
I invite us to try another way: the way of trusting God, even when we don’t see
what God is up to. I invite us to use all of our questions and all of our doubts
as a way of seeking out what God is up to in our lives.
Sometimes, when I am up to here
with my questions and doubts, they begin to swirl around my head, like I am
trapped in some sort of whirlpool. It is at that point when I hear God say, “Be
still, and know that I am God,” which is from our psalm today. “Be still and
know that I am God,” which can also be translated as “Stop!” or “Be quiet! and
know that I am God.”
God is God – and throughout time, God
has shown himself to be interested in loving
relationship with us, not as the
dispenser of all things good, bad, and in between, but as one who dwells with
us. One who is present with us in the good, the bad, and the in between.
This loving relationship between us
and God is a tremendous gift. Many of you have heard me say before: that when
we are baptized, we are marked as Christ’s own forever. This is the baptismal
faith which Lynnlea is reaffirming this morning; this is the baptismal faith
which has held her throughout her life, and will continue to hold her as she
gets older. It is the faith that holds all of us. Through times of questions
and doubts, through times of certainty and deep faith, God is with us.
“Trust in the Lord with all your
heart…”
Amen.
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SDG +
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