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August 20, 2006

1 Kings 2: 10-12, 3: 3-14

An Understanding Mind

As I read this scripture about Solomon, I was thinking about the influential leaders of our world and time. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, JFK. Some would say that these people provided great leadership for the world and the people they represented. While other leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Mussolini have been judged by the world as horrible leaders because of their crimes against humanity. But regardless of how they are perceived by society, these leaders have influenced the world in one way or another.

So I asked myself, what makes a good leader? What makes an influential leader? Power? Might? Fighting for the cause of the common man and woman? Keeping the masses in fear? As I kept reading and studying this scripture about Solomon, the answer seemed clear. “Give your servant, therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil…”

The Solomon presented in this part of the Scripture is humble and pious, searching out and following the laws of God. A respected king, a loved king. This is the Solomon that we remember from our childhood and Vacation Bible Schools. He did great things for Israel. He built the Temple. Solomon even used his gift of wisdom that God granted to solve a dispute between two mothers. This is the Solomon that Israel likes. This is the Solomon that we remember. This is the Solomon who is a great leader and potential to lead the Kingdom of Israel to great things.

Until we read the rest of the story. Like Paul Harvey, who brings us the rest of the story of many famous people, the scriptures bring us the rest of Solomon’s story. Solomon gets sidetracked along the way. He marries foreign women, which goes against God’s law and begins to follow their ways of worship. He enslaves his people and increases their taxes to fund the opulence of his palace and lifestyle. He turns away from his God, angering God and eventually leading to the division of Israel into two kingdoms.

So what happened? Solomon starts his reign in the way of the Lord. What happened? He follows the statutes and commandments of God. It even says that he loved the Lord. Did it all become too much? Was the power too easily used and abused? What happened to Israel’s great leader? Where did he lose his way?

The only answer that I could come up with to these questions is that Solomon forgot his roots. Solomon forgot where he started. Solomon forgot the source of it all: God. Solomon forgot to use his gift of an understanding mind.
He started to think that he could did all on his own. He put his needs and want for a palace before building the House of the Lord. Solomon took advantage of the trust of his people, was distracted by the other gods of his foreign wives and forgot to go to God for words of wisdom and visions.
His reign followed the pattern of Deuteronomistic History, which can be found throughout the Old Testament. When people worship and follow God’s laws, the people are blessed and kept safe from their enemies. When the people fall away from God and begin to worship foreign gods, God becomes angry and the people suffer.
The author of 1Kings wanted to explain why things start out well for the reign of Solomon, that he started out as a devout servant of God who is wise and just but soon after his death, the first political act is a division of Israel into two kingdoms.

Words of wisdom and God seem to be the theme for me this week. It has been an interesting week at the church. I have been scheduling visits with our shut-ins and people on our concerns list and with each visit, I began to realize that I am the minister of Midway Christian Church. I am someone’s minister!
People are looking to me for answers and guidance. But these realizations were easy to push to the back of my mind. I focused on moving to Midway and unpacking the many boxes stacked in the parsonage.

And in between the visits and unpacking, I tried working on this sermon and kept having “sermon block”. I sat and stared at the computer screen, waiting for inspiration. Nothing. So I thought I would take a break and unpack a few boxes to jog the creative nature of the Holy. But nothing. Still blocked until this week when Rhonda handed me a note to call back a person seeking assistance. It was like God was stepping in and taking away the obstacles that I had put up to prevent me from realizing that I was someone’s minister.
I listened to the situation and went to a few members of this church, trying to find the answer. There were suggestions. There was helpful advice. But I was told ultimately, the decision is yours.

What!? I tried begging God. Please let someone else make this decision. Please let me keep my illusions and my obstacles. Nope. I tried bargaining with God. God, I took the call to ministry, but no one said anything about this! How about you let someone else deal with this and I try even harder to be your servant. Nope. The decision was mine.

And it was in that moment that I understood what I was suppose to do. This week’s scripture came to mind. “Give your servant an understanding mind. Help me to hear your wisdom.”

And God answered. “You are to welcome the stranger. You are to feed the hungry. You are to reflect my love always. You are not alone in this decision. Listen to my words. Let them guide you.”
So I made a few calls, found a solution and then began to humbly understand what makes a good leader.

A good leader turns to God for wisdom. A good leader turns to God for guidance. A good leader remembers that we are not alone, that God is leading us, and providing the visions to guide our paths.

We have all heard the phrase “Knowledge is power.” We use words like knowledge and wisdom interchangeable in sentences. We all respect knowledge and recognize it as the beginning to the road of success. However, this week, I have learned that knowledge and wisdom are very different.

Knowledge is passive. Knowledge is individualized. Knowledge is reading books, and gaining accolades. Knowledge is what we gain when we take a test or study for a course in school.

Wisdom is active. Wisdom is people-orientated and people inspired. Wisdom begs to be shared with others. Wisdom is what we gain when we listen to each other, when listen to our mentors, when we listen to God. Wisdom shapes great leaders in the world and in the church.

And we become great leaders when we open our hearts, our minds, ourselves to the gift of God’s wisdom which will directs our paths of faith. We are called as people of faith to seek out the wisdom of God. Each time we pray, we ask for God’s guidance in our lives. Through God, we are given the gift of an understanding mind.

This picture of a pious Solomon stands as a wonderful reminder to us as people of God of a “model of faith that seeks first the good of God’s kingdom,.. rather than one’s private interests and [needs]. “Wisdom was given by God upon Solomon’s proper response to God’s invitation…Neither Solomon’s legendary wisdom, which made him an effective ruler in the eyes of the world, nor his other attainments of longevity, wealth, honor and victory over his enemies, is due to his own righteousness… It was God who came to Solomon first… God came to him with an open invitation.”

God is there, offering wisdom and guidance. All we have to do accept the invitation. God is there, offering us the gift of an understanding mind, the ability to discern between good and evil. All we have to do is be open to the gift of God’s wisdom.

Once we have embrace God’s wisdom, we are called to share it with the world. Once we have opened ourselves to God’s guidance, we must share it with others. We must let God’s wisdom form us and others into great leaders of the world and the church.

As Midway Christian Church has discerned God’s wisdom in the past, we are now offered a chance to once again open ourselves to God’s wisdom and guidance. We are given the opportunity to embrace the visions that God has laid upon our hearts and to share that wisdom with the community that surrounds us. God is there, waiting, visioning, and guiding. All we have to do as a congregation is accept the invitation. And who knows? The next great leader may be formed right here!

So let us open ourselves up to God’s wisdom. Let us embrace the gift of an understanding mind that allows us to see the world through the eyes of God, that shows us the ways of peace; and guides us in the way of God.

May we always seek the wisdom of God and ask for an understanding mind. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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