In Sunday’s lectionary, the book of Proverbs personifies wisdom and understanding as a woman. There are segments of our culture that characterise women as emotional and say that that’s a problem. And sure there is plenty of emotion in this reading from Proverbs – “…I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” Emotion allied with understanding is wonderful, though. But (to generalise too much maybe) men are emotional too – and in some cases without understanding. The emotions of fear and anger are not in themselves bad, but without understanding, they provoke instant and destructive action. From Friday nights in town centres to the smoking cities of Ukraine, the emotions of violent (mostly) men are being played out in acts of mindless destruction.
Kindly, the grey cloud
settles on the hills, nestles
among the wet trees.