The Way of Wisdom

 

St. George's Chapel, The Bishop's Ranch

Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. - Proverbs 4:6-7

 

For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  - I Corinthians 1:22-24

 

Drawing on Hebrew scripture's image of Divine Wisdom as a preexistent feminine figure through whom God created all things, the New Testament describes Christ as the Wisdom or Sophia of God.  She is incarnate in Christ.  This image is taken up in the prologue of John's Gospel and in St. Paul's letters (see John 1:3 and Colossians 1:15-15).  In later tradition, we see Anselm of Canterbury referring to Christ our Mother in his Prayer to St. Paul, and St. Julian of Norwich, too, in her Revelations of Divine Love, refers to Christ as our True Mother.  They are implicitly referencing and transposing this biblical image of Sophia onto Christ. 

 

We often reserve the "divine feminine" to Mariology, if we honor it at all, but that does not do full justice to the range of images in Christian tradition.  How delightful, then, to worship at St. George's Chapel at the Bishop's Ranch yesterday, and pray in these words written by Father Brendan Williams, CSR, the chaplain at the Ranch:

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so to perfectly know your Divine Wisdom, embodied in our living Master, Jesus Christ, that we may steadfastly follow her steps in the way that leads to illumination, and thereby attain to eternal life; through the same Divine Wisdom, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit: One God, now and forever.  Amen.

And to affirm our commitment to the Way of Wisdom, in this Affirmation of Faith also authored by Father Brendan:

You, O God, are supreme and holy.

You are absolute Being, Consciousness, and Bliss,

from before time and forever.

You continually give birth to the world,

and give life to all beings.

Like waves on an ocean,

in and from you all things arise,

and, in your time, they return to you.

 

You, O God, are infinite Love,

and goodness beyond all measure.

You have revealed your compassion for all Creation

in Jesus Christ, the embodiment of your Wisdom,

who lived and died and rose again.

 

You, O God, are ever living, eternal,

birthing all things in the breath of your Spirit.

May we know your Truth and be freed

from every error and illusion.

May we be one and whole,

united forever with your Life,

in which there is no death.

Amen.

 

Father Brendan's liturgical innovations, rooted in Eastern Christian tradition and enriched through encounter with other Eastern Wisdom traditions, skillfully and poetically weave together themes of creation, incarnation, and the divine feminine that we desperately need to recover to heal our fragmented world.  They give fresh expression to the Mystery of God, who is calling us into a future that requires us to deepen our capacity for imagination and compassion.  A deep bow to Father Brendan, with thanksgiving.