Foolish and Small
© Oh Sparrow Music 2024. Alex Fleeman.
Sisters and brothers
I thank God for you
For He put the truth in your heart
And we need each other
If we're gonna make it through
And I don't need you to be powerful or smart
For God chose you
Though you're foolish and small
He shines His truth
Through the weak and not the strong
So let's take our courage
Not from wisdom or signs
But from Christ crucified
Yes, from Christ raised to life
As for me, I'm a steward
Of the mysteries of God
I'm His servant, and I hope to be found true
Sister, you are a temple
Of the Spirit of the Lord
Brother, you're a lamp
The gospel can shine through
For God chose you
Though you're foolish and small
He shines His truth
Through the weak and not the strong
So let's take our courage
Not from wisdom or signs
But from Christ crucified
Oh, from Christ raised to life
Let the one who boasts
Boast in the Lord
Let the one who boasts
Boast in the Lord
Let the one who boasts
Boast in the Lord
Let the one who boasts
Boast in the Lord
For God chose you
Though you're foolish and small
He shines His truth
Through the weak and not the strong
So let's take our courage
Not from wisdom or signs
But from Christ crucified
Oh, from Christ crucified
Yes, from Christ raised to life
REFLECTION
My daughter has been coming home from third grade talking about roasts. The insulting kind, not the crockpot kind. Apparently, roasting is the playground activity of choice among today’s eight-year-olds, and from the tidbits shared at the dinner table, these kids are about as clumsy at it as you’d think.
As a stick-in-the-mud mom, I’m not a huge fan of kids that age slinging around the most cutting insults they can think of in the name of roasting.
And yet?
In 1 Corinthians, Paul low-key roasts his readers. And it turns out I loved his take downs so much I wrote a song based on them. It’s kind of a relief (and dare I say kind of fun?) to be gently put in your place every now and then.
“Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.”
“For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.”
The Corinthians are weak babies! They’re poorly spoken and unimportant! Foolish and small.
I wonder if it felt like a relief for the Corinthians to hear Paul’s rebuke. I need to hear it. That all our agonizing over diplomas, titles, money and power is utterly pointless, and Christ is the only wisdom there is. Less a roast, more a reorientation.
The pep talk I need in the morning is not an affirmations list of how capable and worthy I am. Instead I need a reminder of my own foolishness; I need to laugh at my feeble hubris and blind sense of importance, and find deep refuge and hope in God’s incomparable wisdom, love, and mercy toward me.
Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord!
-Alex
