Living Wisdom for a New (or any old) Normal -- intro

 

Living Wisdom for a New (or any old) Normal:

Glimpses of God through the Old Testament

 

 What is “the wisdom of the elders”? 

On one level, “the wisdom of the elders” is as big as culture and is deeply-rooted in humanity’s memory as multi-centuried, inter-generational tradition. 

Almost thirty years ago Peter Knudtson and David Suzuki published a book called Wisdom of the Elders: Sacred Native Stories of Nature.  In it, they gathered First Nations’ and indigenous people’s traditional stories about nature and the created world and presented it as wisdom worth recovering to guide us in our life on Earth today.  The book is a response to the perception that the modern technological and consumerist mind-set has fractured humanity’s sense of what it means to live well on Earth, and that ancient wisdom stories and traditions can help us regain a more solid grounding in what life on Earth is about. 

On another level, “the wisdom of the elders” that can guide us and make our lives good, can be deeply personal and familial.

Last week I saw an example of this in the CNN documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.”  (And yes, I am a fan -- ever since The Stone Poneys  -- see a live version of "A Different Drum" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZznJXY1Xc)  

Anyway, to get back to "wisdom of the elders" and its role in our life.  

Ronstadt’s career as a singer was particularly varied, rich and filled with brave, unconventional choices of focus at different stages along the way.  And where did the wisdom for those choices come from?  Not from her business manager nor her artistic director (normal sources of wisdom in our cultrure), but from her heart as it was shaped by her family story and heritage.  Starting and successful as a pop singer, at a critical point she shifted to old standards (expressing in music what she remembered and envied of her older sister’s high school prom), then a stint on stage doing Gilbert and Sullivan (following in the footsteps of her mother’s love of opera and operetta, and particularly G and S), and then finally culminating in traditional and deep-rooted Mexican folk music (the heart and soul of her father’s life). 

Questions:

Who are “the elders” of your life?

What wisdom from them are you aware of, shaping your view of the world and what it means for you to live well within it? 

How does it come to you, and how do you stay in touch with it? 

 

Why look at the Hebrew Scriptures? 

The Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians named “the Old Testament”) are a product of The Axial Age (800 – 200 BCE) when evolving human consciousness took shape in five major religious and philosophical traditions – Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Greek philosophy.  Each expresses an understanding and experience of what the world is for, what people are for, and what it means to live a good life and to make life good.

Throughout human history we have drawn from these streams to nourish our understanding and practice of being truly human in our time, whatever that time and its challenges might be.  What might the Hebrew Scriptures (one of “our” traditions) help us remember as we try to be human towards “a new normal?”

Thinking of the dislocations we face in the midst of the COVID pandemic and that we anticipate in its wake, added to the disillusionment of the past few generations with modern technological and consumerist uses and abuses of Earth, it is instructive to note that the Hebrew Scriptures reached their final written form in centuries that were not happy for the people of Israel.  Having entered the Promised Land around 1200 BCE and established the kingdom around 1000 BCE, by 800-200 BCE they had lost it all and were struggling to rebuild.  Writing the Old Testament was one way of remembering what they used to know, to help them find their way towards a better future.

Questions:

What is your experience of the Hebrew Scriptures / Old Testament?  What do you like about it?  What do you not like about it?

What parts of it do you know well?  What do these parts tell you, or mean to you? 

 

What’s the world-story of the Hebrew Scriptures? 

Like many texts and teachings of ancient wisdom, the Hebrew Scriptures tell a story – lots of individual stories, and a big overarching story about what the world is for, why and how we are part of it, and what makes life good.  Here’s a brief sketch of “the big story.”

Foundations (Genesis to Deuteronomy)

The cosmos, Earth, and all life on Earth are created good by God.  (Gen 1-2). 

It’s not “perfect.”  Things and humanity break down and go wrong.  But God works with it as we are.   (Genesis 3-11)

On Earth, God works and lives through people who are able to leave behind established structures and institutions, to seek and follow God’s way instead.  (Genesis 11-50)

Sometimes these people have to be set free – and have to be convinced to be free, of what oppresses them and others.  (Exodus 1-17)

But when they commit to the journey, they can learn how to be really human and to live well on Earth.  (Exodus 18 to Deuteronomy 34)

History (Joshua to Nehemiah)

When we began as a people, we lived co-operatively with one another, and with God – we were not like the oppressors and the empire we left behind.  (Joshua to Ruth) 

But eventually we chose to become like other people – a top-down kingdom – and after a short burst of glory, it was downhill from there, until we lost it all.  (1 Samuel to 2 Chronicles)

We were taken into exile, to serve other people and their gods once again.  We were done as a people until God again led us out, to rebuild in God’s way.  (Ezra to Nehemiah)

Along the way, three things have saved us and give us hope for the future.  One is our religious practice and ritual described all through the History books.  The other two are wisdom we have gathered and prophetic critique we have heard.

Wisdom (Esther to Song of Songs)

 Wisdom is drawn from

… stories about persons living well in hard times … (Esther and Job)

… our own search for God in all our experience – both easy and hard … (Psalms)

… the wisdom of others wherever it comes from … (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes)

… and in the quest for deep, intimate union with God.  (Song of Solomon)

 Prophetic Critique (Isaiah to Malachi)

God also spoke through the voices from the edge that see our corruptions, injustices and evil, see through our lies and illusions about these things, show us where we are headed, and re-call us to what we are to be.  We dare not ignore, forget or try to explain away what these voices tell us, if we want to move ahead in good and godly ways.  (Isaiah to Malachi)

Questions:

How does this story strike you?  Does it “ring true” or sound false?

What part(s) of the story resonate with an experience or a time in your life?