On "Wisdom has built her house"

by Patricia Carlson LaChance

How wonderful to hear the words she and her in Proverbs 9:1-6, the Old Testament reading for the Sunday closest to August 17 in Year B. Wisdom has built her house. I feel like paying attention to Solomon's words, to revisiting the part of Proverbs that he wrote-just because he called Wisdom she. In doing this, Solomon honors women who read these words; and he reminds men to remember and honor the wise mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and . . . wives? . . . who have taught them about important things. The wise women of his tribe taught Solomon a thing or two about what goes around comes around, certainly a lesson relevant to life in the twenty-first century, but you would have to hear more than six verses.

They're such little words, she and her. I wonder how many Anglicans around the world, sitting in church on August 20, 2000, actually heard this short passage at all. Six verses read in a monotone. If your mind wandered to "Wow, look at those fabulous altar flowers" or "Is that thunder I hear?" you missed it and you won't hear it again for three years. We'll get an ear full of Moses, Abraham, and Paul in three years, and not in six verses at a time, either. What do those passages say that's more important to living out and living in the Christian life than what Solomon learned at the feet of women? Oh, I know we can pick up the Bible anytime we feel like it and read this chapter. But hearing it read aloud in church-that's different. Imagine the sound of Wisdom has built her house read by a man in a rich baritone voice with the oomph! and conviction given to reading from, say, Ephesians, Put on the full armor of God.

I wonder how many were privileged to hear a sermon based on this reading. What an opportunity preachers had to introduce us, who have been raised to believe everything godly is about He and anything about "she" (no capital, no italics, no emphasis) is-by default-well, something less than holy, to a way of thinking about godliness rarely presented from the pulpit. I mean, what about Mary Magdalene? Jesus healed her. She became one of a group of women who were his road managers. She was the first person that the risen Christ presented himself to. She was even referred to as the apostle to the apostles. Look what happened to her memory. She's been called a hooker when there is nothing written to substantiate that accusation. Even homes for recovering prostitutes or for unwed mothers have been named Mary Magdalene Home for Women. What an opportunity spiritual leaders had for bringing She to the We of Godly.

I have heard since childhood that Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived-remember the story about dividing the baby in half? He is telling us where he got all that wisdom . . . she has built a house. The possibilities of that one verse are endless. What house could that be? We hear so much about family values, keeping families together. We all know one killer of marriages-the wandering eye, the greener pasture. How many parishioners about to hop that fence might be given courage to rethink their plan, and how many that are already in that sweet-smelling clover might decide to get a grip on reality, upon hearing verses 17 and 18: Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious, but little do they know . . . Well, okay, maybe just one hungry soul might get it, but that's no better odds than The wages of sin are death. I wonder how many preachers missed their chance to tell modern-day folks what Solomon heard at his grandmother's knee.

Imagine a sermon encouraging, no, insisting upon our spending time listening to the wise women of our religious community, learning from them, honoring them, celebrating their ministries. Wisdom has built her house. A sermon with she and her and wisdom-all in the same breath-encouraging us that the smarts Solomon soaked up in the kitchen, on the porch, in the garden are available to us right here in our own church. "Look around, folks, Wisdom has built her house." That would sound so good.

Three years from now I hope we get a sermon on this Old Testament reading. A hymn or two would be nice. Are there any hymns already written on the subject? Maybe even a new ritual to honor the wise women of our community, because Wisdom has built her house.

Patricia Carlson LaChance and her husband live and own a cabinet shop in League City and continue to make music in the Lunatic Gospel Fringe group. She is a member of the Rotating Circle of Brigid's Place.