December 31, 2006

Growing in Wisdom

by Julianne Stokstad

Hear this story: The students were full of questions about God.

Said the master, "God is the Unknown and the Unknowable. Every statement about him, every answer to your questions, is a distortion of the truth." The students were bewildered. "Then why do you speak about him at all?"

"Why does the bird sing?" said the master.

Last week we celebrated the birth of Jesus and now this week we hear he is already twelve. It seems a little fast, but then that is how it seems, isn't it? Just blink and the children are grown up. On Christmas Eve, Sheri Ripley told me it seems like just yesterday Blair was a baby, like our granddaughter Erika, and now she is ten.

Today's scripture is the only Bible story we have telling us about Jesus growing up. He's twelve, almost old enough for his Bar Mitzvah. Traditionally since Talmudic times at the age of thirteen, a Jewish boy studies the Torah extensively and then officially joins the faith community as an adult. We hear that Jesus was totally engaged as he listens to his teachers and asks questions at the temple. As he answered questions, others were amazed at his mature understanding of the scripture and its meaning. He was a precocious youth.

We also hear about his parents, Mary and Joseph, response to this. They were full of anxiety when they realized their son was not among the others on their long trip home. Rushing back to Jerusalem, when they found him sitting at the temple, Mary asked him "Child, why have you treated us like this?" From her perspective, Jesus had not considered his parents. How much like a typical teenager he was. They didn't understand Jesus' enigmatic answer: "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Then he went with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them. Whew! He learned his lesson. And the scripture tells us , as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in divine and human favor.

As he grew up, he increased in wisdom. How very different that is than our expectations for our children these days. Most of us hope our children will grow up to get a good secure job, be happy in it and get health insurance. Wisdom, we think, comes with age? We don't expect wisdom in our youth. But, of course, those were different times. In those days, boys did what their father's did: Joseph was a carpenter, so presumably Jesus learned the carpenter's trade as well. The Bible doesn't tell us anything of his professional training, that isn't what this story is about. It is about his growth in wisdom, how he grew into awareness and knowledge of God and God's presence in his life.

How did he grow in wisdom, being so young? How do we begin to find wisdom? In the Jewish traditions, indeed in all religious traditions, in all cultures, stories are primary to the development of wisdom. Everyone is familiar with stories. Jesus used them primarily in his teaching. Yet wisdom is something that cannot be taught. Wisdom, I believe, lies within each of us. In order for us to glean wisdom for stories, we must engage with the story, reflect upon it and figure out its meaning within the context of our own life. With a story, there are no right answers. Indeed what is really important are the questions that arise as we hear the story.

Hear this story: The students were full of questions about God.

Said the master, "God is the Unknown and the Unknowable. Every statement about him, every answer to your questions, is a distortion of the truth." The students were bewildered. "Then why do you speak about him at all?"

"Why does the bird sing?" said the master.

This is the first story in a book of stories, The Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello. He believes stories can produce spiritual growth, but cautions that the meaning one gets can only be applied to oneself. His gives us instructions: each story must be read at least three times. First read it for entertainment. Then reading it a second time, reflect on the story and apply it to your own life. And so what do you find in this story? Yesterday Jean spent the day on the Christmas bird count. Jean, why does the bird sing?

"Not because it has a statement, the bird sings because it has a song. The words of a master are not to be understood, but experienced. They are to be listened to as one listens to the wind in the trees, the sound of the river and the song of a bird. They will awaken something within the heart that is beyond knowledge." (Anthony De Mello, Song of the Bird p. 4)

Finally, read the story a third time. This time, create a space of silence inside yourself and carry the story around with you all day and let it work on you. The story will reveal to you its inner depth and meaning beyond words. Finding wisdom is finding meaning about life and about God in the story. Wisdom can be also gained through life experience but only if we reflect upon that experience.

Who taught you about God? Who taught you by opening the words of Scripture? Who taught you faith simply by their very being?

How do we grow in knowledge and awareness of God? According to liberal theologians, Jesus possessed a unique and perfect consciousness of God. His presence, his very being and his words were filled with the presence of God. Presumably he grew into this wisdom as he grew up and those who know him, now and then, have gained wisdom in their own experience of God.

Jeanette Brodersen, our intern, and I took a class on Adult Faith Development together this fall at PSR. She is an excellent student and learned a great deal. Since the class was on Tuesday night, I was only able to attend about half the classes and hence was not such a good student. Nevertheless, I learned some interesting information. We studied developmental theories and learned of the importance of teaching and learning for all ages and stages of life. Robert Kegan studied how people make meaning in their lives and outlined the importance of communities like churches in our faith development. First, we learn because we are held as we grow up. Parents, church, and/or pastors walk with us, hold us, guide us and most of all love us as we face the challenges of life experiences. This gives us our roots. Second, communities let go of us at critical times in our development so we can develop our wings. Children need to leave home in order to learn who they are as adults. Most importantly these communities as they remain in place provide a great gift so that when we are ready, we might return wiser to them, understanding more fully the purpose of the communities. Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to return, sometimes it is an inner longing for something more in our lives, sometimes a need for healing or a place to serve, whatever the reason it is vitally important that church community be here for us.

It is interesting that my own faith story follows the path Keegan outlines. Perhaps this is why I feel so very passionate about having children in church. I know from my own experience that once children experience love in church communities, they never forget that ,and even if they later leave church, when they find themselves in crisis or need, they will remember their earlier experience and return ready to grow further in faith.

As a child, I remember I loved Sunday School. My family used to tease me because I would rather go to church than on the family vacation. Imagine! As a teenager, I found the other teens more interesting. Church became less and less relevant as the rituals and liturgy just didn't speak to me. For years, I attended church sporadically. After I married and our children grew, we attended church primarily for them. When they found it no longer interesting, we didn't force them to go. When our youngest son left home I experienced a great yearning to find meaning. I became a serious seeker. I went to meditation classes, retreats, and sought different spiritual homes. A friend invited me back to church. Being open, I went with her. She picked me up, took me to church, sat by me, provided the support I needed and I was truly astounded how church had changed: the scriptures spoke to my heart, the prayers, the hymns, the sermons, all of it had new meaning. But of course, I was the one who had changed.

We might try to cling to ways of the past, try to cling to our youth, but past ways have no true vitality in them. Each of our lives has the potential for continual growth. It doesn't matter how old one is, how stuck in a prison of illness or poverty, the wisdom I speak of is inner spiritual growth that leads to increased awareness of God.

To find wisdom, there must be questions. I wonder what questions we have tried to silence? I wonder what questions we have not dared to ask? Do we trust God and each other enough to dare to wonder, to dare to question, to dare to change and to dare to grow? It's not the answers but the questions that open the door to wisdom.

Hear this story a third time: The students were full of questions about God.

Said the master, "God is the Unknown and the Unknowable. Every statement about him, every answer to your questions, is a distortion of the truth." The students were bewildered. "Then why do you speak about him at all?"

"Why does the bird sing?" said the master.

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