Blunt Words
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
-Psalm 111:10
As a clergy person I have many, many, many interactions with people who have been wounded by the church and carry strong feelings of resentment. Many, Many, Many of them hate this verse because many were raised in a tradition that portrays God as a fearsome judge, almost like a punitive “Elf on the Shelf,” who watches you constantly from a cloud, just waiting for you to be naughty so that you can be swiftly punished. As they grow up, they can come to reject this idea, sneer at it, laugh at or resent it. But they don’t always move on to adopt new images for God and reject the idea of God altogether. Our childhood images of God are really deep rooted and powerful, and sometimes we can’t seem to shake them. So God just gets thrown out with the dirty bathwater.
In this famous verse, “fear” is perhaps not the right translation of this word for our modern ears. “Respect” or “Humble Awe” may match the original meaning of this verse better. It is expressing that the realization that God is far bigger than we are - bigger than our lives, our deaths, our ideas, our times, our ability to fathom - that it is God at the center of th universe, not we ourselves. This verse is not describing the bloodlust of a punishing God, but the moment we recognize our own personal humility and awe that comes with recognizing that God is God and I am not God. That truly is the beginning of wisdom - when we take ourselves out of the center of the universe.
But some verses are no longer self evident to their original meaning. Not surprising, since they were written millenia ago and translated centuries ago. Such verses require a careful teasing out of their meaning. Otherwise, these old words can strike like a blunt instrument to the soul of a person who has been spiritually hurt by the idea of a punishing God.
How, then can we talk about God? How then do we use mere words to express profound and deep ideas of faith? We’ll be considering this on Sunday, particularly in reading Paul’s words to the Corinthians. Come wrestle with us.
