Preaching Proverbs

I admire poets who have the ability to say something beautiful and meaningful with just a handful of words.  When I find a poem that I like I read it over and over again.  It seems the more I read a good poem the more it satisfies and amazes me.

During the summer months I typically like to leave the lectionary behind in order to preach on topics or on books of the bible that I wouldn’t normally get to if I was strictly following our church’s lectionary calendar.  This summer I have found myself drawn to the book of Proverbs.  Like the great poem, Proverbs falls into that genre of scripture that requires slow, reflective reading. You can’t read the whole book of Proverbs in one sitting.  If you try, its short sayings will quickly run together, become tediously boring and ultimately forgettable.  But taken one at a time, proverbs peel open like an onion revealing layer after layer of beauty and wisdom.  Here are just a few examples to whet our appetite:

A word fitly spoken

is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11

Just as water reflects the face,

so one human heart reflects another. Proverbs 27:19

These proverbs are beautiful and perhaps say just as much as any fifteen-minute sermon ever could.  Proverbs can also be funny and inspire us to laughter.  Like this one from Proverbs 17:28:

Even fools who keep silent are considered wise;

when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.

Abraham Lincoln wryly adapted this proverb to say, “It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Preaching on proverbs, then, is a bit intimidating because I certainly don’t want to be considered a fool!  Nor do I want to misuse ancient wisdom sayings that are often very difficult for us modern day believers to interpret.  Proverbs contain much wisdom, but, like all scripture, they need to be read and interpreted keeping the cultural context in which they were written in mind.  Proverbs can also be difficult because sometimes they will contradict each other as they address specific situations and honor the complexities of life.  So care must be taken to not broadly apply proverbs to situations to which they were never meant to be applied.

But, even though they may be challenging, proverbs are also wonderfully appealing because their teachings are practical and they can help us live righteously in all the ‘common’ moments of life. Commenting on the book of Proverbs, Old Testament scholar Ellen Davis writes, “What makes it possible for the proverbs to come alive even today among people of biblical faith is that they shed light on things all of us worry about.  Proverbs are highly concentrated, and sometimes riddling, reflections on common elements of human experience.  Proverbs are instruction on the art of living well.  They are spiritual guides for ordinary people, on an ordinary day, when water does not pour forth from rocks and angels do not come to lunch.”[1] So I am excited about this summer sermon series on Proverbs. I know I will learn a lot and I pray that my sermons, inspired by these great sayings, will speak words of wisdom and truth to a congregation whom I believe are hungry for guidance on an ordinary day when water does not pour forth from a rock and angels do not come to lunch.

May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my mind, and the feelings of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Amen.

---

[1] Ellen F. Davis, “Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs,” Westminster Bible Companion, (Westminster John Knox, Louisville, KY, 2000), pgs. 11-12.