A sermon by the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, written for and delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Jesup, GA, on Sunday, August 18, 2024, the 13th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL Proper 15, Year B).
Primary Bible Reading
Psalm 111
1 Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, *
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the deeds of the Lord! *
they are studied by all who delight in them.
3 His work is full of majesty and splendor, *
and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; *
the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He gives food to those who fear him; *
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works *
in giving them the lands of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; *
all his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever, *
because they are done in truth and equity.
9 He sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant for ever; *
holy and awesome is his Name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; *
those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures for ever.
Wisdom is the Will of God
By the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, Program Manager for New Starts, ELCA
Good morning! My name is Fr. Guillermo Arboleda. I am so grateful for the invitation to visit and preach here at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for the first time! I have had great collegial relationships with your last two priests, Father Nathan and Mother Dee. My wife, the Rev. Kelly Steele, and I have lived in Savannah and served in the Diocese of Georgia for about 10 years. I served as the Rector of St. Matthew’s in Savannah for eight years. You might have seen me before at Diocesan Conventions or at Honey Creek events in my role as Missioner for Racial Justice for our Diocese. Rev. Kelly is the rector of St. Peter’s, Savannah (Skidaway Island) — and an overall rockstar. A few months ago, I left St. Matthew’s, and I transitioned into a new denominational call with the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Churchwide Organization. I serve the Lutheran Center as their Program Manager for New Church Starts. That means that I work with bishops and synods (dioceses) all around the country to start new churches and/or support recently-started church communities. I still live in Savannah and work remotely, but I get to travel to visit new churches and meet with leaders about once per month. It is exciting and refreshing work.
As part of that role, I get to walk alongside many very faithful people taking big risks because of the passion and call God has placed on their lives. They often have big, scary decisions in front of them that don’t have clear right or wrong answers. They often consult with me and my colleagues about what to do next, how to serve their communities well, and honor the rest of the Church’s needs. They talk about and pray for wisdom.
Have you ever had to make a difficult decision? Have you ever wondered how to figure out what is the right thing to do? Even after pondering and deliberating for a long time, you cannot tell what you should do? What is the wise thing to do? Perhaps it’s a new job opportunity; or it’s a decision about moving in with family because of a birth, illness, death, or other major life transition; or it’s as simple as figuring out which way you want to get involved in and serve at your church. Are there wise people in your life who you turned to for advice? Did you pray about it? Regardless of how you approached these challenges, I think it’s a basic part of the human condition that we struggle with hard choices; sometimes, we will never know if we really chose the right path.
Three of this week’s four appointed Bible readings are about wisdom. They focus on what it means to be wise and to live wisely. Psalm 111 famously ends with the line, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). That is such a strange phrase: “the fear of the LORD.” I know many people who find the idea of “fearing God” to be very off-putting. Why is fear treated like it is good? Why is wisdom connected to fear? I think of this more like humility, recognizing that we are limited creatures and God is the unlimited Creator. We strive against arrogance and control, because that is wise. It is true that we cannot control all that much; acting like we can control is foolish and acting within our own limits is wise because it aligns with the truth.
This is the virtue that King Solomon embodied in our Old Testament reading from the First Book of Kings:
And now, O Lord my God, you have made [me] your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people? (1 Kings 3:7-9).
Solomon knows that he doesn’t know enough. He knows that he has a great responsibility that he cannot handle alone. In a first step toward wisdom, Solomon admits his ignorance and asks for help. He asks God to give him the understanding that he does not have on his own. He wants to “discern between good and evil”, to know right from wrong, and be able to make wise, moral decisions on behalf of the nation he rules.
One of the most frequent conversations I have in my house with my wife goes something like this. I’m doing some chore or task around the house: cooking, tinkering with the car, yardwork, whatever. And I come up against some problem, some unknown, unforeseen obstacle. Where is this bolt supposed to go? How often do these plants need to be watered? Why did the Instant Pot just stop working midway through its pressure cook cycle? And I express my frustration to Kelly about how I’m stuck. In her wisdom, even if she doesn’t know the answer herself (rare as that is), her first response is: Did you Google this question? Did you ask so-and-so for help? Wisdom is about knowing that you don’t know everything and others know more. Wisdom begins with admitting ignorance and asking for help.
But outside of everyday challenges, we sometimes are faced with big moral dilemmas. We aren’t just trying to make savvy choices, but good and godly ones. The Letter to the Ephesians speaks to this. The author calls on us to live wisely, not foolishly, seeking to “understand what the will of the LORD is” (Ephesians 5:17). In other words, we become wise when we discover the will of the Lord. How do we do that?
The Bible teaches us who God is. So can many Church Traditions and our own reason and experiences, but the Bible is usually our starting point. Knowing who God is is probably the most important thing we can do in church, the most critical step toward wisdom and understanding. By learning to understand God’s character, we come to understand what God’s will might be in different situations in our lives. For example, 1 John 4:16 tells us that “God is love”, so whenever we are trying to discern God’s will, it must be loving. It simply cannot be unloving.
Today’s Psalm gives us a few other characteristics about who God is, characteristics we can use to measure our decisions against, characteristics that can teach us what God’s will is, that can teach us how to be wise.
“The LORD is gracious and full of compassion” (Psalm 111:4)
God feeds the hungry (111:5)
All of God’s “works are faithfulness and justice” (111:7)
God’s works and commandments “are done in truth and equity” (111:8)
When we are trying to make moral decisions, Psalm 111 says it is wise to do as God would do. We want to adopt God’s core values for ourselves and for our church community: be gracious and compassionate; care for people in need; pursue faithfulness, justice, truth, and equity. If something we do is harsh or judgmental, it is good and wise to practice grace. If something we do is deceitful, it is good and wise to speak the truth. If something we do ignores people in need or further marginalizes them, it is good and wise to rectify those systems and relationships so everyone has equal access and dignity.
Wisdom takes so many forms. Wisdom is not easy. But God invites us to be wise, to live wisely, to seek God’s gracious will. How can you live more wisely this week? How can St. Paul’s center godly wisdom during this period of transition in the search for its next rector? How can we humble ourselves before God and one another and ask for help to do what is right? Amen.
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