In the book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, wanted to go into botany to answer the question, "Why do asters and golden rod look so beautiful together?" She was quickly set straight by her professors and advisors that botanists do not worry about beauty, that is not science. With science, the goal is to isolate the thing being studied and take it apart to see how it works and what are its basic components. This is part of the wisdom from below. Science has given us a great many things and science has given us the illusion of control and of separation.
The wisdom from below argues who is the greatest as shown in the gospel story this morning. We have the Fortune 500 companies which in a decade or two, it will be the Fortune 10, controlling all aspects of business. In the 1990's, there were 40 major banks, now there are 4 and they are too big to fail. We have our food system controlled by 4 major companies, but thank God Cargill is here in Minnesota so we can reap the benefits. We have Disney, which controls much of our entertainment now. And the list goes on and on about how capitalism, which is supposed to encourage competition, is just another word for consolidation or merger or monopoly.
The wisdom from below argues as long as it doesn't happen in my back yard, it doesn't affect me. In the Twin Cities, in Eden Prairie they shut down a massage business because it used a sauna and the people didn't like the smell of the smoke, and in northern Minneapolis, an incinerator was shown to have a negative impact on health for the people who lived in that neighborhood, but it was necessary for the business of the Twin Cities, so just as long as poor and people of color were only being affected, it was the cost of doing business.
Jesus tells us the one who is the greatest is the one who serves all. James, in his letter, instructs us that the wisdom from above is peaceable, pure, and without a trace of partiality. The Hebrew word for 'wisdom' is Sophia. She is the one who calls and instructs in the book of Proverbs. She is the one who leads the world and humans to Shalom or peace, not defined as the absence of conflict, but the fullness of harmony. Yes, science has shown us that our universe is made up of vibrating energy, upon which the building blocks of the parts of atoms come together and create electrons, neutrons, and protons. We cannot take humans out of nature and we cannot separate ourselves from each other. What affects one of us, will affect us all.
To save life upon this planet and to save ourselves, we need to seek Sophia, the wisdom from above that shows us how we are all related and the ways in which we, all of humanity, can get what we need and how all life can flourish in eco-systems without pollution and global climate change. Robin Wall Kimmerer found an answer to her question, "Why do asters and golden rod look so beautiful together?" (I know that Bruce and Nancy are reading this book, so giving them a spoiler alert). They answer is with two different beautiful colors side by side, the plants are more likely to attract pollinators.
May we learn from the wisdom from above, planting and creating the beauty that attracts all life, living in harmony, and healing our world and our neighbors. Amen.
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