The Weekly View - August 13, 2021
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In This Issue
- Weekly message from Rev. Joanne Whitt
- Weekly Facebook video
- Outreach Opportunities
- Upcoming Events
message from rev. whitt
Dear St. Luke family,
This Sunday we’ll look at the next king in our series on Old Testament kings: King Solomon. Solomon is famous for being wise. We’ll tease that apart on Sunday, but in the process, I find I’m intrigued by the topic of wisdom. How would you describe wisdom? You can find all sorts of clever quotations that sum up the difference between knowledge and wisdom:
- “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” (Albert Einstein)
- “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” (Brian Driscoll)
- “A smart person will give you smart answers, but a wise person will ask you smart questions.” (Anonymous)
- “A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether or not to say it.” (Anonymous)
- “Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom.” (Lao-Tzu)
All these quotations point to knowledge being a result of learning, but wisdom being a function of experience, intuition (what your gut says), judgment, and emotional intelligence, as well as knowledge.
Who in literature or real life do you associate with wisdom? I immediately thought of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter books. Two old men with long silver hair and beards. Wonderful, wise characters, but pretty cliché, right? When I realized this is my image of wisdom, I started to hunt around for more diverse examples. I came up with real people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Sojourner Truth, Alice Walker, Brené Brown, Bill Moyers, Mister Rogers, several colleagues in the presbytery, and some seminary professors. I’m still thinking about that question, and I even posted it on Facebook, but too late to give you more than a couple of results: one friend said her dad, another said Jane Goodall, a third offered a clip from a “Seinfeld” episode that parodied King Solomon’s famously wise solution to an argument between two women over a baby. I’d love to hear your answers: Who, in your opinion, is (or was) wise? Fictional or historical, past or present, famous or obscure.
A letter is coming together to be sent out soon inviting you to sign up for the annual fundraiser dinner on Saturday, October 2, at 5:00 p.m. The theme is “Starry Night” (St. Luke’s version of a black and white gala) and the menu looks fantastic. I’m looking forward to what sounds like an amazing event.
I also look forward to seeing you in church on Sunday, both in person in the sanctuary, and on Zoom.
Grace and peace,
Joanne Whitt
Interim Pastor