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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany

February 12, 2024

Invitatory

The Lord has shown forth his glory; Come let us adore him. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Proverbs 27:1-6

Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;

          a stranger, and not your own lips.

A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,

          but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming;

          but who can stand before jealousy?

Better is open rebuke

          than hidden love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

          profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Meditation

I remember when the first volume of the series “Chicken Soup for the Soul” was published. Following the enormous popularity of the book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, it was, as titled, a compilation of “inspirational” stories and commonplace observations that presented wisdom as a kind of comfort food – easy to comprehend and even easier to digest. There are now more than 320 different books in the “Chicken Soup” collection that dish up for various demographic groups the same simplistic fare. It’s obviously tempting, as the huge volume of their book sales show. We’d like to believe that life is good in a very casual sense, and that our greatest problem is that we make it unduly complicated. Platitudes convey this instant allure; but in doing so, they tend to mask over reality rather than insightfully reveal it.

I rarely read the book of Proverbs. When I do, I often feel like I’m venturing into a similar compilation of platitudes; only these are both ancient and outdated – “Chicken Soup for the Long Expired Soul.” The verses above, however, caught my attention. The first seems evident enough; the kind of reminder we all can use. It serves as a nice invitation into thoughtfulness. The second requires a little more discipline and trust. And each succeeding verse strikes a bit more deeply, reaching well beneath the banal, pulling at matters that we tend to keep tucked away: the insidious nature of foolishness and wrath and anger and jealousy.

The concluding thought has the most bite, especially for our time. For we want to believe just the opposite. We judge friendship by how assiduously we avoid wounding someone; just as we want to trust that kisses offered make someone less of an enemy. The proverb seems to have inverted the relationships. We can imagine kisses that might be deceiving; it’s harder to admit that wounding someone can be an act of fidelity. If this is wisdom it’s well outside the realm of comfort food.

The power of these proverbs, that distinguishes them from platitudes, is that they can’t be accepted with a simple nod. They’re provocative, almost invasive, because they tug at the confusions and conflicts that afflict our most intimate selves. They show us a reality that, most of the time, we’d rather just pass by.

But if we wrestle with these verses, they disclose us at the heart, wounding us like a friend, faithfully. For when our deepest contradictions are revealed and known, a whole new freedom to be present arises – which is the intrinsic emphasis of the Gospels.

Prayer

You come to us, O Christ: you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. All times and seasons are yours, and in you all things hold together and are brought to completion. Draw us by your Spirit into communion with you and one another and make us and all things whole and free in the full force of your deathless love.