WEATHER ALERT:

Wednesday, February 5, Childcare at Leawood, West, Overland Park will not be open during morning due to local public school systems announcing late arrival schedules.  All church buildings will operate on regular schedule. However, at Leawood, West and Overland Park, programs requiring childcare will not be held prior to noon Wednesday.

IMPORTANT:

On Sunday, February 9, we’re moving our regular 5 pm worship service to 4 pm so everyone can get home in time to watch the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.

Another link about God’s supreme gift of wisdom

July 19, 2024
SHARE

Daily Scripture

Job 28:23-28, Hebrews 1:1-3

Job 28
23 God understands [wisdom’s] way;
        he knows her place;
24     for he looks to the ends of the earth
        and surveys everything beneath the heavens.
25 In order to weigh the wind,
        to prepare a measure for waters,
26     when he made a decree for the rain,
        a path for thunderbolts,
27     then he observed it, spoke of it,
            established it, searched it out,
28     and said to humankind: “Look,
        the fear of the LORD is wisdom;
            turning from evil is understanding.”

Hebrews 1
1 In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. 2 In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. 3 The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. After he carried out the cleansing of people from their sins, he sat down at the right side of the highest majesty.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

The book of Job, like Proverbs, wrote a poetic picture of God’s wisdom. The New Testament letter to the Hebrews used that imagery about Jesus. “This imagery is picked up even more eloquently in Hebrews 1:2–3…. The motif of wisdom and its associated imagery was employed by Israel’s sages and poets to search out the nature of the inner life of God and his powerful and eternal word. In the New Testament the story and imagery of wisdom is discovered as a garment ready made for the figure of Jesus.” *

  • Seminary professor John Goldingay noted how Job 28 applies to his seminary students’ quest: “The key to acquiring insight isn’t huge physical or intellectual effort. Lo and behold, it is the qualities that the beginning of the story told us that Job has: submission to God and turning from evil (see Job 1:13–22).” ** What can help you ensure that, in any field, you direct your huge intellectual or physical efforts toward having greater insight into God’s wisdom for life?
  • Scholar N. T. Wright summarized Hebrews 1:1-3: “God had for a long time been sending advance sketches of himself to his people, but now he’s given us his exact portrait. With this idea, written as a grand and rather formal opening to the letter, the writer invites us to look at the whole sweep of biblical history and see it coming to a climax in Jesus.” *** Why do you need to know the “whole sweep of biblical history,” not just a few verses? Why do you need to know Jesus as the climax of it?
Prayer

Lord Jesus, lead my mind and heart beyond theories, abstractions and rigid ideas. As I come to the Bible, help me find you and open my heart to your life-giving wisdom. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of Darren Lippe

Darren Lippe

Darren Lippe serves as a Couples Small Group co-leader & Men's Group Leader, while volunteering in a variety of other capacities at Resurrection. He and his wife, Doris, first met in a Resurrection Single Adult Sunday School class in 1997 and were married in what is now the Student Center. They are empty nesters with 2 college-aged sons, Matthew and Jacob.

My wife, Doris, & I have been enjoying short Americana-esque trips like stops along Route 66, or visiting Big Brutus (a huge electric shovel) in West Mineral, Kansas, or the monument outside Clear Lake, Iowa commemorating “The Day the Music Died.” This phrase was coined by folk singer, Don McLean, in his 1971 #1 hit song, “American Pie.” It refers to February 3, 1959 when a small plane, carrying rock & roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & “The Big Bopper” (J.P. Richardson) from their concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa to their next gig in Moorhead, Minnesota, crashed in a farm field 6 miles outside of Clear Lake.

Aside: I’ve always wondered if the person who coined the phrase, “One hit wonder” came up with any other expressions?

“American Pie” is a song of disillusionment with the American Dream that started on “The Day the Music Died” when we shifted from the heady/confident days of the post-war 1950’s to the turbulent 1960’s & 1970’s.  

The song begins poetically, “A long, long time ago” as a young Don McLean, then a paperboy, reads the shocking headlines of the death of his musical idol, Buddy Holly. Don had been an asthmatic youth who was confined to his bed for long periods of time; his only recreation was listening to Buddy Holly, on the radio. 

Aside: Interestingly, Buddy’s fans were so passionate about him & his trademark bow-tie, that they would begin to throw their own bow-ties up in the air at the end of a concert. Thus, promoters were reluctant to book Buddy because they feared their patrons would wreck the halls with bows of Holly. (Editor: ouch!)

The song then becomes a stream of consciousness as McLean makes references to Buddy Holly’s widow, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, James Dean, & the Rolling Stones. He then begins to reflect on the culture with Charles Manson, the assassinations of JFK, MLK, & RFK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kent State, the Vietnam War, & society’s scorning of church, faith, & God. (I would submit, that considering our own chaotic times, “American Pie” is actually a song of hope; the American Dream didn’t cease in 1971 as some feared it might, but rather bounced back with great fanfare a few years later.)

Aside: A little Rolling Stones humor: Adam & Eve are walking around the Garden of Eden when they see Keith Richards & his guitar. They ask God, “Where did he come from?” God replies, “I don’t know.  He was here when I got here.”

So, what might this mean for our theme today? As one understands the back-story of “American Pie,” it helps the song’s lyrics to have greater impact. When I facilitated 7th Grade Boys Sunday School, our curriculum was divided into 3 sections: Old Testament, Gospels, & Acts/Paul’s letters. I noticed the boys had diminished enthusiasm for our Old Testament discussions. So, tying in their familiarity with the Star Wars franchise, I suggested that we needed to tweak our perspective of the Hebrew Bible. What if, ala Star Wars, we viewed the Old Testament as a prequel, providing invaluable stories about God & His Chosen People that could then boost our understanding of Jesus & His ministry? Consider a quick example:

In Luke 4:16-20, Jesus outlines that His ministry will bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, & freedom to prisoners & the oppressed. Sounds good. But then you add in the context that Jesus is citing a prophecy of Isaiah that is typically read on the Day of Atonement referencing the Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee, cited in Leviticus 25:9-10, was to occur every 50 years & was a time of great celebration, liberation for all, & renewal across the land. (Trivia: Leviticus 25:10 is engraved on The Liberty Bell.) With this additional context, Jesus’ statements would have been extremely meaningful to His original audience &, thus, our understanding of the impact of His jaw-dropping message is enhanced.

Perhaps today is a good day to reflect on what we’ve been learning about God & His Word as of late. If we feel stagnant in our spiritual journey maybe we should begin preparing to join a Bible Study/Small Group this fall, so we can start adding to true wisdom as we age.

For those too young to be approaching a milestone birthday like Pastor Adam, click here for a recording of Don Mclean singing, “American Pie” live at the BBC in 1972. Forewarning: It’s a 9-minute video. The recording of “American Pie” was too long to fit on one side of a 45 RPM record, so it was split between Side A & Side B. (And now we’ve confused everyone who was born after 1974 – Editor.)

Doris & I at the Monument:

© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* Article “Wisdom” in Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit and Tremper Longman III, general editors, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998, p. 957.
** John Goldingay, Job for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013, p. 135.
*** Wright, N. T., Hebrews for Everyone (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 3). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.