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| Lake Bordelon, Camp Hardtner by Bette J. Kauffman |
Fr. Richard Rohr says, Religion has tended to
produce people who think they have God in their pockets, people with quick,
easy answers about who God is, what God requires, and how to live a Godly life.
But the Apostle Paul understood that nothing is more dangerous, or more likely to get between us and God, than righteousness. God can most easily be lost, precisely by being thought found.
But the Apostle Paul understood that nothing is more dangerous, or more likely to get between us and God, than righteousness. God can most easily be lost, precisely by being thought found.
These words from First Corinthians are hard for us to hear.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1:20-25, NRSV)
Let us not be distracted by old-world titles and language. St. Paul might just as well have asked, “Where are the teachers? Where are the pious ones who study the Bible daily? The ones who can call up a Bible verse at a moment’s notice, especially when needed to make someone else behave!”
Some translations of the Bible use the word “preacher” in place of “debater” in that third question. Where indeed are the preachers of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
It’s enough to make one regret having accepted an invitation like the one to speak to you today!
And let us not be distracted by Paul’s reference to the Jews and the Greeks! WE are seekers of wisdom. WE are impatient demanders of signs! We are sometimes so impatient for signs that we see them everywhere.
I had a conversation with a very smart, devout young man in my office just a few days ago. It was a conversation triggered by the fact that he is in danger of failing a course I teach. And every reason he gave for not having done his coursework was a good one: I’m a youth minister at my church, I play music every Sunday morning, I lead a Bible study… and on and on it went.
And I finally had to say to him, “You know, I don’t think God is calling you to flunk out of college to do church.”
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