(Second in a series of three posts… maybe four)
“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”- Proverbs 2:1-6
In late Summer 1973 I had just returned to Texas from Ohio for my second year of education at Texas Lutheran University… coming back a week early allowing me to catch up with new found friends and re-acclimate myself to a part of the country I had quickly come to love… and in that week I remember an outdoor concert in San Antonio showcasing a number of local musicians and featuring Michael Martin Murphy… having only one album recorded and just before we all knew he wanted to be a ‘cosmic cowboy’… or chase ‘Wildfire’ down from Yellow Mountain… everyone looked forward to his playing “Geronimo’s Cadillac”… his classic justice song sharing his understanding of how the native Americans were treated resulting from the 10’s of 1000’s of Europeans who had been arriving one boat at a time for almost 400 years… singing…
“Warden, Warden, don’t you know
That prisoners have no place to go?
They took Ol’ Geronimo by storm
Ripped off the feathers from his uniform
Jesus tells me, I believe it’s true
The red man is in the sunset too
Took all their land and they won’t give it back
Sent Geronimo a Cadillac” (v. 2)
… MMM’s summation of what happened to the warrior chief and medicine man, Geronimo… for wanting to protect the land his ancestors had occupied for almost 10,000 years… or at least longer than anyone could remember… and just so you know… I love singing this song as it was one of many lullabies I tucked my children into bed with each night… and if you do not know much about Geronimo and his philosophy and love of life… here’s a short quote to peek your interest…
“I cannot think that we are useless… or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds all listen to what we have to say.”
But… don’t forget the people around us are watching and listening, too… now more than ever… and still it is good to ask just what is ‘wisdom,’ anyway? Where does it come from? How do we get it? What do we do with it… once we think we have some? Put into perspective, please, that the wisdom of the native Americans was being catalogued via an oral tradition long before others were writing down sacred truths… and long before there were the religious traditions we now lean on for our ‘way of life’ these days.
In the book of Proverbs… we read… ‘wisdom comes from the mouth of God’ and it seems Geronimo would agree even though his life experience was far different from the European culture he faced… sensing that wisdom was both an accumulation of knowledge along with insight to apply that knowledge effectively… no matter where you are from or the name of God one uses to describe a holy relationship… Faith matters…
And from… St. Pauls’ Letter to the Romans… “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…” (ch.1:20) Chief Seattle would echo…”Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect…” as I’ve said often… ‘we remain wonderfully and mysteriously connected.” All of us…
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana. Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
