September 15,2024
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
"AM Radio of Scripture"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
September 15, 2024 Based on Proverbs 1:22-30
My dad used to tell me this story about this time when he was a kid, and he built his own AM radio using a kit. He grew up in Quincy Florida, a small slow rural farming community a good ways outside of the capital of Tallahassee. Mostly he used his radio to search the dial and find local stations to listen to music. Sometimes he said, when the weather patterns were just right in the atmosphere as he searched the dial he would pick up Spanish language broadcasts from central or South America, thousands of miles away. One time, he swore he found a French broadcast. He said it worked sometimes because AM radio wavelengths are so long they can travel much further and bounce off the atmosphere to follow the curve of the earth. He described AM radio almost as this fantastical device because all around us at all times are all these radio signals from all around the world are shouting out. Without a radio you’d never know, but with a radio, you can tune in and see what these silent waves are saying.
This always fascinated me. Anytime I found myself with access to an AM radio, I’d go through its frequencies searching for languages other than English. But I’ve never seemed to have any luck and mostly these days I can only seem to find static or Pentecostal preachers on AM radio.
Listen to “Woman Wisdom” our scripture says
Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
I love this passage. Mostly because it contrasts so greatly with how I've understood God's voice in the world. I’ve always pictured that passage about Elijah up on a mountaintop listening for God. A hurricane force wind blows by, so strong it breaks stones, but God isn’t in the wind. And then an earthquake rumbles the earth, but God isn’t in the earthquake. And then a fire roars through, but God isn’t in the fire. But then after all of that, Elijah hears a thin quiet sound, a still small voice that is the voice of God speaking.
In Contrast though, our passage today tells us that God’s wisdom isn’t quiet, or thin or still small… and it isn’t remote in this world, removed to some far-off mountain top.
No, in our passage today, God’s voice is loud, proud, and in public. God’s wisdom is shouting in the streets. Raising her voice above the crowds in the city square. She is in the mix of this world competing to be heard. In our passage today, you don’t have to be some zen Buddhist monk meditating in the Himalayas to discern God’s near silent wisdom, instead God’s wisdom is in the cacophony of sound swirling around us at all times.
God’s wisdom is among all of the voices trying to compete for our attention. But even still though, our passage tells us, Wisdom has a hard time breaking through. Even still people choose to listen to other voices and follow the sounds other than God’s wisdom.
We are awash in so many different voices trying to shout over one another to get our attention so that we listen, that we believe, that we follow. Voices of fear, voices of doubt, voices of hatred, voices of greed, voices of ego. How do we filter through the noise to hear God’s wisdom? How we dial in the frequency to hear God’s voice of love, of justice, of hope shouting out? What AM Radio do we have at our disposal to Zero in on God’s voice? What tool could we use?
I have an answer that might surprise you, mainly because it comes from a familiar source that you haven’t heard me reference in any of my sermons before... John Calvin, the protestant theologian, pastor, and reformer who began the Swiss wave of reformation that would eventually produce Presbyterianism by way of Scotland.
In Calvin’s writing, the Institutes of Christian Religion, he writes this:
Just as old or bleary-eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God. (John Calvin, Institutes I.vi.1) [1]
and then in another place:
For just as eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern nothing distinctly; so, such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused. (John Calvin, Institutes, I.xiv.1) [2]
In other words, according to Calvin, Scripture is the tool we need to discern God’s voice shouting out in the world. To know which voice belongs to God and hone in on it
Calvin sees the scripture as the glasses Christians put on in order to put our world into focus, in order to recognize where God is, and what God is doing. We read these ancient stories because they clarify our own story. We hear how God was shouting out long ago and how the people then heard God’s voice and it allows us to see where God is still speaking, and how we might pay attention. We hear these ancient ways of count intuitive wisdom, how people long ago discovered God’s way of humility, of justice, mercy, of love, and chose to live in that way, and we better understand our own lives.
Scripture is our AM radio which not only allows us to tune in to the cacophony of radio signals around us, but also allows us to dial into God’s exact frequency.
Friends, God’s wisdom is still shouting out loud in the public square. God’s voice is still clamoring for our attention and urging us to follow a new way.
May we spin the dial, scan the frequencies, and tune into God's wisdom for our lives.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE Prelude IV for Piano “Wisdom is Radiant” Mark Andersen
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
INTROIT “Enter God’s Gates with Thanksgiving” Nick Vangeloff
*CALL TO WORSHIP by Dr. Lisa Hancock
One: Beloved, the voice of Wisdom calls to us from the street corner, the grocery store aisle, the noisy dinner table, and the quiet places of our hearts. Will you listen?
All: Yes, with God’s help, we will listen!
One: Wisdom calls to us with hard truths, showing us where we’ve strayed in our hearts and as a community and urging us back onto God’s path. Will you follow?
All: Yes, with God’s help, we will follow!
One: Wisdom’s call persists through the twists and turns, the rough patches, the barely discernible paths forward, and the moments we feel completely lost. Will you hold onto Wisdom wherever she takes you?
All: Yes, with God’s help, we will hold onto Wisdom!
One: Then Beloved, let us worship God together as we cling to wisdom on our journey along the path of salvation paved with God’s love.
All: Yes! Let us worship God together! Amen.
*HYMN 741 “Guide My Feet” GUIDE MY FEET
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION by Rev. Andy James Bob Concitis
We long for wisdom, O Lord, but prefer that it be our own. We turn away from the ideas of others and ignore the possibility and promise that come from life together with you. Most of all, we drown out your gift of Wisdom as she seeks to get our attention, for we believe that we know better or would prefer to decide where we make her welcome. Forgive us, loving God. Bring an end to the self-righteousness that ignores you and awaken us anew to the Wisdom that comes only from you. Show us how to walk in your ways and listen to your promise each and every day… Individual confession offered in the silence
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 659 “Know That God Is Good” MUNGU NI MWEMA
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Canticle of the Sun” Marty Haugen
SUNG PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION 174 “Come and Seek the Ways of Wisdom” MADELINE
All are invited to sing.
SCRIPTURE Proverbs 1:20–33
Listen to “Woman Wisdom”
Wisdom shouts in the street; in the public square she raises her voice.
Above the noisy crowd, she calls out. At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
“How long will you clueless people love your naïveté, mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
You should respond when I correct you. Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
I invited you, but you rejected me; I stretched out my hand to you, but you paid no attention.
You ignored all my advice, and you didn’t want me to correct you.
So I’ll laugh at your disaster; I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
when terror hits you like a hurricane, and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will seek me, but won’t find me
because they hated knowledge and didn’t choose the fear of the Lord.
They didn’t want my advice; they rejected all my corrections.
They will eat from the fruit of their way, and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
The immature will die because they turn away; smugness will destroy fools.
Those who obey me will dwell securely, untroubled by the dread of harm.”
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
CHILDREN’S CLASSROOM Jeremy Carroll
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE followed by the Lord’s Prayer on screen
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
On Sunday's where our music includes African American Spirituals a special free will offering is taken up to support the Columbus Cultural Orchestra, a group whose work empowers, educates, and equips uncredited black musicians in our community.
OFFERTORY “For the Beauty of the Earth ” Conrad Kocher; arr. Doris Gazda and Larry Clark
Guest Musicians: Meagan Gaskill, flute; Laura Pitner, oboe; Jim Legg, clarinet
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 709 “God We Honor You” ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Loving Creator, we dedicate these offerings with hearts guided by your wisdom and grace. As we gather on this September Sunday, may our gifts embody the teachings of Proverbs, spreading honor, kindness, and justice to all. Use these offerings to uplift those in need, fostering hope and peace in our community. May your wisdom be shouted out through our actions and generosity in this place and out on the streets.
This we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
*HYMN INSERT “Wisdom Calls”
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “May God Support You All Your Days” Lee Hastings Bristol Jr.
POSTLUDE “Guide My Feet” arr. Lloyd Larson
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452