June 3, 2007
(First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday)

God's Fruit Stand

By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31  •  Psalm 8 or Canticle 2 or 13  •  Romans 5:1-5  •  John 16:12-15
(From The Lectionary Page)

Trinity. T-R-I-N-I-T-Y.

This past week the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee was televised in prime time. Evan O'Dorney, 13, of Danville, Calif., won the nationwide competition by correctly spelling serrefine (ser-FEEN) which is "a small forceps for clamping a blood vessel."  (Here is a slightly more technical definition.)

I find that watching the Spelling Bee is a time to marvel at the commitment and knowledge of young people, and come to a realization that there is much more to life than what I know or have been exposed to. It’s too easy to joke that the competition makes me realize how stupid I am. It’s not so much that I realize how many words I cannot spell, but as the words are defined, I am lured to consider how much more is out there and venture forth to find out.

Trinity can be such a word, luring us to consider so much more than a formula or catechetical definition.

A woman once went into the marketplace, looked around, and saw a sign that read God's Fruit Stand.

"Thank goodness!” the woman said to herself. “It's about time!"

She went inside and she said, "I would like a perfect banana, a perfect cantaloupe, a perfect strawberry, and a perfect peach."

God, who was behind the counter, shrugged and said, "I'm sorry. I only sell seeds."
(Barry Robinson, Lured Into Life, www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-trin-keeping.php)

I pray that this morning all of us are in the market for some of God’s seeds.

I wish to focus exclusively on today’s first lesson from Proverbs, where we encounter one of the most remarkable characters in all of Holy Scripture.

Barry Robinson in a piece entitled Lured into Life writes that She is known by the Greek name "Sophia" in biblical literature and she is that female representative of the mystery of God sometimes called "Wisdom".

She is the most developed personification of God's presence and activity in the Hebrew scriptures, described in much more detail than Spirit, torah, or word. The term used for her is of feminine grammatical gender - hokmah in Hebrew, sophia in Greek, sapientia in Latin. She is consistently depicted as sister, mother, female beloved, chef and hostess, and a myriad of other female roles in which she symbolizes transcendent power ordering and delighting in the universe. She is that presence which pervades the world, both nature and human beings, interacting with them in an effort to lure them along the right path. (Ibid.)

She appears in those books belonging to Jewish Wisdom Literature. She is described in the Book of Job as a treasure whose whereabouts are known only to God, and in the Book of Proverbs she noisily proclaims her message to anyone who will listen. At times she is a street preacher, a prophet, crying aloud in the market place, on the street corners and at the city gates. Her message is one of reproach, punishment and promise. (Ibid.)

Sophia is the antithesis of the stereotypical 'woman' so beloved by chauvinists – who prefer their women quiet, unassuming and submissive. She is a street-wise, justice-driven, passionate figure who wants nothing less than that everyone should follow in her playful, determined footsteps as she seeks both to transform and delight in the created world. (Ibid.)

"Wisdom" is that creative energy of God which is forever trying to lure you and me into life. Thus, she is most desired among all treasures. And, she is most dangerous to the status quo.

It is Wisdom which entices the Church into relationship with all of life, not just the neatly framed bit of life we have carved out. Our boundaries are too often so well defined they not only create a place where we are safely allowed to roam but they also create a forbidden zone full of peril, certain destruction, and populated by monsters and savages who don’t respect life like we do – so we say, “Let’s kill the monsters and be done with it.”

Wisdom invites us to see life through Her eyes: (from the first reading) Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, when God had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. When he established the heavens I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,… I was beside him. Wisdom has seen it all, from the very beginning, and still she says, “I was God’s daily delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.”

Of all that Wisdom can choose to do, and having seen it all from the genesis of creation, She chooses to delight in the human race.

Back at God’s Fruit Stand, seeds can be found. The selection must be extraordinary: seeds of peace, harmony, and a desire to provide for all in need and preserve the common good. Seeds allowing authentic kindness, servanthood, and forgiveness to bloom – and these blooms are perennials. And no doubt each of us would find special seeds we most need to cultivate.

So let us set aside our desire to find the perfect fruits already grown, harvested, and set out for purchase. Let us seek instead the seeds which God offers us free of charge, and with Wisdom’s help, commit to nurturing those seeds.

Let Wisdom’s vision entice and seduce us. Let us give ourselves over to that most ancient companion of God and learn from Her. Let us rejoice and delight in the human race. By the grace of the Holy Trinity, and because God loves us so much, each one of us can change the world. Kansas City has fertile soil. Let’s plant some seeds.

From the Hebrew for “so be it.” A-M-E-N