Don Friesen
This week's newspaper carried a story about fraud among the faithful in BC's Fraser Valley. Con artists have found the wealthy valley Christians a fruitful target, as they inveigle themselves into believers' hearts with a chameleon-like ability, augmenting their investment schemes with pious postures and quotes from Scripture. The problem is bad enough that the B.C. Securities Commission is funding seminars — at the cost of $86,000 — to create awareness of these shysters' methods. ("Two B.C. ministers fight fleecing of the faithful," Ottawa Citizen, May 31, 2004)
It's not the first time BC's Bible Belt has been so targeted. Scarcely a decade ago a man posing as a pastor defrauded 300 people of 11 million dollars at Abbotsford's Seventh Day Adventist Church. Billions of dollars have been lost by the faithful in the United States through similar fraudulent activity. In an era of stock-market uncertainty a religious-related fraud has appeal: what could be safer than handing over money to a fellow believer? People don't ask a lot of questions because they don't want to appear to dis-trust a fellow Christian. ("Fleecing the Faithful: Church Cons Defraud Followers in the Name of God," Seth Lewis, CNSNews, August 08, 2001) There are so many fraudulent schemes focussed on Christians that an Investor Alert, called "Preying on the Faithful," was issued by the North American Securities Administrators Association and the Council of Better Business Bureaus more than a decade ago.
I find such fraudulent activity reprehensible in the extreme! It is so insidious, a deception so cynical and corrosive of trust that you wonder about the humanity of the those who perpetrate such twisted schemes. You wonder what bats are flying around in the deep, dark caves of their minds.
This is the season of Pentecost, a season when we reflect upon, and rejoice in, the activity of God's Holy Spirit. It is customary to think of the Spirit in warm terms. The Bible does so itself. The Holy Spirit is described as our Advocate (John 14:16), someone who speaks on our behalf when our own efforts prove inadequate. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter (KJV), says the Bible. The Holy Spirit is our Helper (NKJV), our Counsellor. (RSV)
The Holy Spirit is also described in the Scriptures as wind and fire (Acts 2:2-3), as was evident on the Day of Pentecost. "The wind (of God's Spirit) blows where it wills," Jesus told Nicodemus. (John 3:8, RSV) The wind of the Holy Spirit blows where it wills, but not every gust of wind is of the Holy Spirit! The Apostle Paul expresses his exasperation with those who are "...whirled about by every fresh gust of teaching". (Ephesians 4:14, NEB) He warns us about "crafty rogues and their deceitful schemes (4:14, NEB), and those who "...lead others to error by the tricks they invent". (4:14, TEV) He warns us of "...the jockeying of (those) who are expert in the crafty presentation of lies." (4:14, PHL)
The Wind of Truth
Our Gospel reading describes the Holy Spirit as the spirit of truth, who will "guide (us) into all the truth...." (John 16:13) The wind of truth can be a harsh wind, and we miss much of the significance of Pentecost if we focus only on the gentleness of the Holy Spirit and overlook the spiritual gusts — winds so powerful that they swing us around and point us in the opposite direction. An old hymn-writer expressed it well when he wrote:
"True wind of heaven, from south or north, for joy or chastening blow." (H. W. Baker, "O Holy Ghost, Thy People Bless," 1874)
The wind of the Holy Spirit not only blows where it wills, it blows in whatever form it wills. We know that wind itself comes in many forms. It can be a gentle breeze; it can be a forceful gale, causing havoc on the high seas. The wind can blow in the form of a chinook, a warm and welcome wind, or it may be a sirocco wind, the dust-laden, southerly wind blowing across the Mediterranean from the Sahara desert and through Southern Europe, causing headaches and insomnia to many people because of its high temperature and humidity. Similarly, the wind of the Holy Spirit blows where it wills and in what form it wills, sometimes in a gentle form but at other times in the form of a forceful gale.
Many know Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) as the British author of fourteen mystery novels featuring the celebrated Lord Peter Wimsey, but Sayers also thought deeply about religious and philosophical matters, even taking the trouble to teach herself old Italian in order to make a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. One of her mentors was G. K. Chesterton, and in a preface to one of his books she wrote, "To the young people of my generation Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a kind of Christian liberator. Like a beneficent bomb, he blew out of the Church a quantity of stained glass of a very poor period, and let in gusts of fresh air, in which the dead leaves of doctrine danced with all the energy of Our Lady's Tumbler... It was...stimulating to be told that Christianity was not a dull thing but a lively thing, not a stick-in-the-mud thing but an adventurous thing, not an unintelligent thing but a wise thing, and indeed a shrewd thing — for while it was still frequently admitted to be harmless as the dove, it had almost ceased to be credited with the wisdom of the serpent. Above all it was refreshing to see Christian polemic conducted with offensive rather than defensive weapons." (Preface, The Surprise, 1953)
The Holy Spirit can make us shrewd without making us devious. The Holy Spirit can take the offensive without being offensive. The Holy Spirit can make us wise without turning us into know-it-alls! Jesus told his disciples, "...I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)
The hymn that we sang earlier speaks of "gusts that bend the saplings low, gales that heave the sea in waves, stirrings in the mind's deep caves...." ("Wind Who Makes all Winds," Hymnal: A Worship Book, #31) When the wind of God's Spirit blows as the wind of truth, it blows away all vestiges of that which is untrue, all that is false, all that is counterfeit; it blows away all lies and deceitful schemes.
The Wind of Wisdom
If in our Gospel reading the wind of God's Spirit blows in the form of truth, in our Old Testament reading it blows in the form of wisdom. Wisdom is not a passive virtue — something we might just soak up if we live long enough not to be able to avoid it! Like truth, wisdom is hard-won because it must live alongside much that is foolish.
Even things that sound wise may end up being nothing but prattle. This week I came across a piece on wisdom written by a renowned international speaker and widely published author who wrote, "...wisdom ...is the internal force that drives us to become the fullness of ourselves." I have no idea what that means! "Wisdom ...is the internal force that drives us to become the fullness of ourselves." Why would I want to become the fullness of myself?!? I can do so much better! It sounds far too close to being full of yourself, and we know that's not good! Wisdom lives alongside much foolishness, some of which masquerades as wisdom.
I read about a couple who had a beautiful daughter, and recognizing that this child — at an early age already — had enormous talent and a gifted mind, they decided that they would do whatever they could to help her find her full potential. They exposed her only to what is positive and good in this life and saw to it that she knew nothing of the deceit and sinfulness of human beings. She watched no television, read no newspapers, and surfed no internet. She arrived at adulthood extraordinarily bright, idealistic, optimistic, and with a buoyant spirit. Because she was so bright she entered college in her early teens — and it was there that she had the first contact with the world as it really is. She quickly went through several painful experiences, married and divorced in a short time, and at the age of twenty-three committed suicide. Her mother, reading her daughter's diaries, concluded that her daughter was simply ill-equipped to handle the harsh realities of this world.
Our reading from the Book of Proverbs is a beautiful ode to wisdom, but the wisdom of Proverbs is no Garden-of-Eden, pre-sin, rose-coloured, utopian view of life. The Grande Dame of Wisdom portrayed in Proverbs has been around the block a few times; her contempt for foolishness is quite descriptive. Sending a message via a fool, she says, "is like cutting off one's foot...." (26:6) "The legs of a disabled person hang limp," she says; "so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool." (26:7) And yet, in spite of much foolishness, a lot of drivel, and no shortage of nonsense, she holds onto the hope that humankind will embrace wisdom. Proverbs, chapter 8, is not some intellectual construct that emerges out of some blithe belief in human goodness. This is poetry with depth — it arises out of a wisdom deeply cognizant of sin, from its most banal form to its most insidious embodiment in evil.
Wisdom is not divorced from daily life; it is distilled from daily life. It requires discernment. It requires effort. Wisdom is not a passive virtue; it requires the pruning of that which is not wise. "Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you," say the Scriptures. (Proverbs 4:24) Or as someone has paraphrased it, "No crooked talk, no wily ways." (Joan Chittister) When the wind of God's Holy Spirit blows in the form of wisdom, it blows away all that is foolish, imprudent, half-witted, feebleminded, or just plain inadvisable! Like autumn squalls that sweep the dead leaves from trees, so the wind of God's wise and Holy Spirit sweeps away all that is dead and not worthy of the wisdom of God.
The Wind of Hope
If in our Gospel reading the wind of God's Spirit blows in the form of truth, and in our Old Testament reading it blows in the form of wisdom, in our reading from Romans it blows in the form of hope. Truth, wisdom, and hope. Truth enables us to live a life of integrity. Wisdom enables us to live a good life, free of unnecessary mistakes. Hope, however, allows us to soar, for it inspires our aspirations. It is aspiration of which Paul speaks when he writes, in Philippians, "Not that I have already ...reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own.... ...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)
A George Faux who lived in nineteenth-century England had a reputation for being somewhat eccentric. One day he announced that he had conquered flight and gathered people around to watch his demonstration. He climbed to the top of his roof, jumped off, and started beating his arms furiously, only to tumble to the ground. Undaunted, he told his audience, "Actually, I'm a good flyer. I just don't land very well." Foolish, perhaps, but I like his attitude. If one can combine a generous measure of hope with a modicum of common sense, it can go a long way.
Just like wisdom is not divorced from the folly of daily life, so hope is not an untested virtue. It can blossom in the most hopeless of circumstances. The Bible is one of the most hopeful of sacred writings, even though it is about people who have been knocked down, trampled upon, abused, forgotten, oppressed, exiled, abandoned, and crucified! At the worst time in Israel's history — the Babylonian Exile — Isaiah expressed Israel's deepest hopes, saying, "...they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)
The Scriptures warn us that life can be tough, that there will be pain and sorrow, betrayal and infidelity, violence and hatred, deception and death, but God created us to soar on the winds of God's Spirit, all fools and deceitful schemes notwithstanding. These things will help you to fly smarter! Lighter! Higher!
The irrepressible Apostle Paul was not deterred by setbacks. He wrote, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...." (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) In fact, he wrote, "...we boast in our hope.... And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit...." (Romans 5:2-5)
The hope held out by Paul arose out of a love that suffered unbearably and died a horrible death, yet did so with dignity and grace. It is a love that, despite everything, rejoices in this world. Biblical wisdom, as I said earlier, is not borne out of a utopian view of life. It arises in the midst of much folly, sin, and evil. Yet our reading from Proverbs ends with the same attitude as God at the moment of creation, "rejoicing in (the) inhabited world and delighting in the human race." (8:30-31)
This, it strikes me, may be the crucial test of our faith. Having a wisdom of some depth, engaged in a world that threatens to drive us to cynicism and distrust, can we say that our faith has retained joy in this inhabited world, and delight in the human race?
May the stirrings of God's Holy Spirit so fill us with truth, wisdom, and hope, that we too find joy in this inhabited world, and delight in the human race. AMEN
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.