You who are simple, turn in here
A Thought
Proverbs 9:1-6 – “You who are simple, turn in here.”
I have been house sitting for a friend who has a horse and a dog and lives out on the edge of town. While I have been there, I have watched a week’s worth of sunrises. Some began with long bands of brilliant turquoise, green and salmon light, fading gradually to yellows until the crest of the sun pushed its way into a clear wash of sky. One involved mauve clouds edged like a magician’s cloak in bright, burning orange. Another was simply the growing ability to see a winter storm blowing snow sideways across all the windows in the house.
They were uncomplicated incidences that spoke to my simple soul. I longed for a sunrise prayer that had been spoken by my people for eons, because I felt connected to my ancestors through the place in all of us that wonders and is awed. But in those moments my whole being was a prayer, so it was probably all right. Through God’s grace each of those sunrises was for me an instance of stillness and openness, when I was alone with God and breathing the same sky as all the rest of creation.
Wisdom has built a house and prepared a meal, and she invites us to come and join her at the feast. She sends her servant-girls out to all the highest places in the town to call, “You who are simple, turn in here.”
There are some things we can only experience from the part of us that is simple. Deeper than our sophisticated ideas, our plans and schemes, our knowledge and our cosmopolitan ways, is the place in us that meets the sunrise with wonder and awe. Being fully human demands we live from this aspect of ourselves, granting it a range of expression in words and gesture. It is from this simplicity that all good liturgy is born. It is also from here that we turn in at Wisdom’s gate to be instructed in her ways.
A Prayer
God of abundant mystery, wonder and awe, grant that we may turn in at the house of Sophia, who dwells with you at the heart of all meaning, and feast at her holy table. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Music
Abide With Me Hymn – Gods Country
Abide With Me is a well-known Christian hymn composed by Henry Francis Lyte in 1847, though the lyrics are usually sung to William Henry Monk’s melody Eventide rather than Lyte’s original music. It is popular across many denominations, and was said to be a favourite of King George V and Mahatma Gandhi. It was sung at both the wedding of King George VI and that of his daughter, who would go on to become Queen Elizabeth II. Since 1927 it has been sung before the kick-off at the FA Cup Final and Challenge Cup Final. It is also often sung at Christian funerals.
Lyte wrote the words to his poem while he lay dying from tuberculosis, and lived only three weeks after its completion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxqylxfYyQM