Recently my dear grandmother of 90+ years passed away, and I was given the spntaneous opportunity to honor her during her funeral. While I had many fond memories of her, all I could think of at the time was the way she inspired our entire family with strentgth, courage, and faith even as she was wasting away during a long withering vigil. I contrasted the unwavering life of this frail little flower, against the crumbling towering shells of the mightiest governments, businesses, and religous institions of our time. And I wondered if this little woman flower planted by the streams of God, embodied the foolishness of the cross. Afterall, the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Let me be honest here; the cross makes for a great decoration in our sanctuaries, and it's not too bad as jewelry either...but as a way of life it is just foolishness to those of us who are still hoping and gainst hope to make sense of this world. We may be drowing in despair and even in body, but as long as we have hope that the right strategic planning will save us, the cross remains foolishness.
Now on the other hand, to those of us that have given up hope, the cross starts to makes sense. It's just like it was written long ago, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
Now from time to time I'll read some business book by some guru who takes some success story and explains it using the wisdom of 20 / 20 hindsight. According to these books, all one has to do is to recreate the exact technological, organizational, economical, and geo-political conditions of the success story, and they will enjoy the same results. Each book reads like a page from Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Draw your plans, evade your problems, dominate your compeititon, motivate your workforce, and capture your loot.
This library of 21st century wisdom literature continues to rise at a geometric rate, even as failures also multiplies exponentially. "In 1957, the average life expectancy of a company in the S&P 500 was 75 years. Today it's just 15 years. A decade and a half from now, most of the companies in the S&P 500 will be ones we've never heard of."
In the rubble and debree of our post-industrial world, where is the wise with the the answers? Where is the educated with the winning strategy? Where are those who with the right policies? Hasn't God shown what the the wisdom of this world really amounts to? All our dreams are like broken eggs, spilling out their promises while all the king's horses and all the king's men write books about how to protect their own fragile shells. So can we really rely on experts either in theology, and science? It almost makes sense that it pleased God to save simple men who believed in simple preaching about the simple cross!
Yet still the religous require signs of miracles and power and organizational success before they listen to preaching, and the educated require acedemic and professional certification before they'll listen attend seminars or buy books. But the earliest apostles, certified only by dusty feet and rough hands, resonated with people from every culture by preaching about someone who was crucified, humilated, weak, embarrased, and seemingly defeated by the established powers in this world. This is obviously not what the religous right have in mind! And it certaintly isnt what the educated liberal admires!
Of course it is arrogant to even concern myself with the flaws of other people. The religous and the educated aren't my responsibility! What about myself? What do I really believe? Even away from the business world, in the safety of my church, does serving still offend me? Then the cross is foolishness to me! To I feel it is sometimes unwise to forgive offenses? Then the cross is unwise to me. Do I think it is prudent to search out the worst in others? Then I find the cross imprudent. Do I always keep records of what I give to be a "good steward?" Then the cross is poor stewarship by my definition. Is loving the poor in speech, dress, or position in our church a task for other people? Then the cross is not for me.
Perhaps the greatest weakness of the Christian is not believing the wrong doctrine, but a harboring a competing belief that the cross is not applicable in every case. What weakens a Christian is the secret thought that the cross is actually an unwise approach to the world. The cross may work in church, but perhaps not in business or other practical enterprises.
But then again, there is the matter of my grandmother. She overcame all and preserved her childhood faith till the end, and in doing so preserved three generations of Christians who came after her. I don't know of many CEO's, professors, or politicians who have done as well with their institutions.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."
(* S&P figures taken from Arkadi Kulmann 6-2010 Ivey Business Journal)