…don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the chicanery of the chic.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls..” 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (the Message)
When or how April Fools Day (today) began isn’t quite clear, but for many it’s a time for harmless pranks and jokes. Perhaps your friends and family indulge; perhaps not. I didn’t drum up an elaborate prank this year (I have been known to do so now and then); my mind is on the harmful, insensitive, and destructive actions that are being perpetrated on the poor and vulnerable, the powerless and unwitting, by powerful people and groups which claim to be wiser, smarter, more capable than anyone else. Worse yet, claiming that the hurt they cause is somehow done in the name of God.
This goes beyond foolishness. It goes against everything that Jesus taught. And as we enter the last few weeks of Lent and prepare for Holy Week, perhaps we can find hope in knowing that the Christ proved the foolishness of the world ultimately powerless to stop the promise of God’s love. And in doing so hear more clearly God’s call to love and serve the neighbor.
April 1, 2025
Pax,
Pastor Scott