sign o the times, aching for balance, lady wisdom and the autumnal equinox.....

One of my favorite Prince songs is "Sign O the Times." Everything about it cooks from the opening percussion groove and bass riff to lyrics shared in passionate lament. The brokenness of our human community weeps through the voice of Prince as he catalogs the consequences of ignoring Lady Wisdom.



Lady Wisdom speaks one of the lectionary readings for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian tradition::

Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster."

Like Prince and Lady Wisdom, many of us see the consequences of consistently

ignoring living in harmony with truth, compassion and humility. Read Linda Bloodworth Thomason's recent jeremiad in the Hollywood Reporter for starters.

(https://www.hollywoodreporter.
com/news/designing-women-creator-les-moonves-not-all-harassment-is-sexual-1142448) Or try on Ben Fountain's thoughts in today's Guardian. (https://www.theguardian.com
/us-news /2018/sep/16/beautiful-country-burn-again-review-ben-fountain-trump-2016) Or consider the internment camps we have created for migrant children. Or maybe just watch a few episodes of the Netflix series, Bloodline, as a reminder of what happens to ordinary people when fear and revenge fuel family dynamics . Think Cain and Abel in the Florida Keys. (https://www.netflix. com/title/80010655)

Taking this moment in time seriously, Lady Wisdom brings to my mind some other voices from my Scriptures - three are worth mentioning:

1) St. Luke gives us these words of Jesus in chapter 12: Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops....(Consider this) When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

2) St. Paul in Romans 1:  The wrath (that is the absence) of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

3) Micah 6:8: God has told you, O mortal, what is good; for what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Each Biblical text is informed by the presence of Lady Wisdom in real life as well as the teaching of Lady Wisdom in our tradition. Jesus scolds those who pretend ignorance of God's loving grace to neighbors and earth alike by pointing out how nature teaches us to pay attention - and act accordingly. Paul tells us that we know what God's wrath - meaning God's absence from our experience - looks like simply by watching Mother Earth. When we live in balance and generosity, there is peace; when we become self-absorbed and rash, everything collapses. In a word, we discard community and become bestial just to survive. And the words of the prophet Micah from ancient Israel are clear: everything in creation calls us to be just, compassionate and humble. For this is what the Lord requires - a balance - but justice, compassion and humility are so far from the core of contemporary living that we should not be shocked that communities are crumbling all around us.

The feminine charisms of Mother Earth - and the historic personification of God's balance as Lady Wisdom - offer us correctives IF we have eyes to see and ears to hear. In the Northern Hemisphere we are close to the autumnal equinox, a day that returns every fall to preach an existential sermon about balance as day light and night time become equals. 

This signals the need to balance light and darkness within us. Far too often, we fear the dark and adore only the light. Joyce Rupp, a Catholic writer and poet who is one of our Living Spiritual Teachers, challenges us in Little Pieces of Light to befriend our inner darkness: "I gratefully acknowledge how darkness has become less of an enemy for me and more of a place of silent nurturance, where the slow, steady gestation needed for my soul's growth can occur. Not only is light a welcomed part of my life, but I am also developing a greater understanding of how much I need to befriend my inner darkness."

(https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/naming-the-days/view/10950/autumn-reflections-on-the-season)

And what is true within is true without - right relations between neighbors as well as creation cries out for balance - as the signs o the times make clear. Former President Obama put it like this:

In everything I see, hear, feel, taste and touch, the testimony of Lady Wisdom is calling to us:

"Give heed to my reproof and I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. But because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you... like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you... Because you hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, you have none of my counsel... therefore you shall eat the fruit of you way and be sated with your own devices. Your waywardness kills the simple, the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster."