Wisdom is to be had closer than one’s heartbeat. The first moral judgement a child makes, at a very early age: “That’s Not Fair.” When an older brother or sister grabs up the last two cookies in the jar. “That’s Not Fair.” It’s innate, automatic.
And there’s the beginning of wisdom.
And as some wit has said (sometimes attributed to Abe Lincoln), you can fool some of the people all the time, and you can fool all the people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time. And you definitely can’t fool this small child watching all the cookies being snatched away.
Wisdom readily at hand.
This last November 3rd America roared back: “That’s Not Fair.”
When one person owns as much as 53 percent of all of us; when 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck; when people see their good, upstanding neighbors of color dragged out of their houses and cars — or shot — by ICE – “That’s Not Fair!”
In the wisdom of one’s heart resides a kernel of decency, an innate fairness.
Pascal said: “The heart has reasons of its own which reason comprehendeth not.” Wisdom.
“Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her…To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding, and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care…”[1]
Our founders had a high regard for the innate wisdom of the citizens of this land – their sense of right and wrong, their sense of fairness.
As Jefferson wrote to his friend Richard Price in 1789:
“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
And that they did last Tuesday.
We have become disgusted with the corruption of this administration – that the president has monetized the office in his second term to the tune of $2.2 billion.
That billionaires and millionaires can dump $200 – $300 million into our elections at a single stroke.
That this president is buddy-buddy with Putin who is giving Iran targeting information in the midst of that war to kill American troops. AND we are buying diesel from Russia, giving Putin more money to fund his illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.
In the post-election commentary I heard much wisdom, call it maybe common sense.
Instance: When the MSNOW crew was discussing the next steps that Democrats would need to take, Republican commentator Michael Steele said something most profound.
When you get back in the House or Senate, the first thing you will have to do is throw your arm around that person who just days previously was calling you the vilest, most despicable things, and ask, “How can we join together to get something done for this country we both love?” Now there’s a lot of wisdom in recognizing the humanity of one’s most ardent opponent, maybe even enemy. Wisdom “unfading and easily discerned.”
Wisdom raised her voice in the incredible stories of truth and grace of some of the candidates who won.
Keisha Lance Bottoms told of her great, great, great grandfather in Georgia who was a slave. A state document of that time listed his value as a human being as a little over $1,000. In another document he had signed, his signature was simply an “X.”
Now here, generations later, in that same state who held her forbearers as slaves of minimal worth – In that same state Kiesha was going to be the first Black governor of that same state. Americans resonated with the wisdom of that moral arc. Yes, bending toward justice.
People resonated to the story of a youthful candidate for the Senate in Texas.
James Talarico told a story of how his father sank into the bottle and the violence he inflicted on his family. One night, James Talarico’s mother, Tamara, chose her son over fear.
She packed their meager belongings into her Ford Escort and fled. She ended up at the motel where she had been working and begged the owner to let her and her small child stay until they could find some place permanent.
He let her stay there in one of the rooms until they found better accommodations.
She soon found a very small apartment in East Austin. It was so small that she had to turn her closet into the nursery. She put up pictures and decorations. And no one could tell her that this wasn’t the best nursery ever.
Soul-filled wisdom without any prompting leaps to that story. Wisdom beckons to any warm beating heart.
The winners in Texas, James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa were outspent by gazillionaire money five to one, yet the wisdom of the Texas electorate rejected wholesale that obscene attempt to buy Texas. People power prevailed.
The Wisdom of the people chose last Tuesday to “set things to rights.” And, knowing the American people, we will soon discover ways to reach across the aisle to make this nation work for those who have been shut out, locked out, disrespected and counted as nothing.
We will fix the tax code so even our trillionaire, Mars-obsessed plutocrat will pay his fair share.
We will fix the incredibly bad decisions of the Supreme Court giving the president complete immunity for any act of office, no matter how illegal or immoral. We will correct the perversion of the 2nd Amendment that allows weapons of war on our city streets and in our schools.
Oh, yes, we will have investigations bringing sunlight to the pay-to-play politics of this administration and the emoluments galore. By the way, did you get a present from the Emirates of a $400 million airliner?
“That’s Not Fair?” It may take time, but eventually Wisdom will make her voice heard, even at the eleventh hour.
We will give walking papers to the likes of Stephen Miller who has unleashed ICE terror on our communities of color. Along with RFK, Jr., who is responsible for a plague of measles unleashed on our people. A disease previously an extreme rarity in America. Now hospitalizing hundreds and killing many unnecessarily.
Jefferson knew something of a Wisdom residing in the American soul. Even though this arc is long, long, long, eventually we wise up. And do the right thing (though it took a tragic war to remediate Jefferson’s moral blindness that considered a Black slave to be 2/3 of a person).
I give thanks daily for this divine gift of Wisdom, that insisted that I count, that I have worth. That you count and have worth. And together we can work out what this means to the Glory of God and the good of all our neighbors. As that song from the musical Hair put it, “Let the sunshine in, let the sunshine in, the sun shine in.” Oh yeah! Amen.
[1] Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16, NRSV.
November 8, 2026
Pentecost 24, Proper 27
“Wisdom Right at Hand”
The Rev. Dr. John C. Forney
Amos 5:18-24; Canticle for Wisdom (Wisdom 6:17-20);
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
