[When I was asked to fill in as the Gospel Doctrine teacher for the first week of the new schedule with 25-minute lessons, I realized from the start that the lesson would go more or less like this.]

I have a few things to say, and then I have one question.

[I started off by letting people know what they could expect from the lesson so they wouldn’t worry that they’d never get a chance to speak. There are other ways to approach a lesson, but it’s important to signal at the start that the teacher has prepared something worth listening to, and that people’s contributions will be welcomed. “We’ve got lots of material to cover today” and “Did anyone read the lesson?” aren’t great opening lines.]

A quick note before we begin: Not long ago, the Church gave us some new guidance about the Bible translations we use. Usually we use the King James Version, but the new guidance also mentioned some other options, like the New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version. The KJV isn’t a bad translation. When I took some Biblical Hebrew courses in college and got to the point where the homework was “translate this chapter from Hebrew to English,” I quickly discovered that the KJV translators knew their Hebrew. But the English language has changed over the last 400 years. Usually it’s not an issue, but I noticed the antiquated language several times while reading the chapters for the lesson this week, so the quotations today are from the NIV. You can follow along in any translation you like.

[Do you want to teach a lesson about Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, or do you want to instantly lose 50-90% of your class by belittling the Bible translation they use every day? Choose one.]

Today we’re looking at Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are often described as “wisdom literature.” That means two things: first, these books have a lot to say about what wisdom is; and they contain a lot of examples of wise sayings.

[With more time, I might have asked a few questions like “what is wisdom” or “what does it mean that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” to draw out class members’ background knowledge, but I couldn’t afford to lose control of five minutes if a class member got long winded, so the initial approach was straight exposition.]

Let’s hear some examples of wise sayings:

[I passed out the quotes to read on small slips of paper before class. With only 25 minutes to work with, you do not have time for people to fumble around with their phones looking up verses or hesitating to volunteer. One of the things that makes experienced teachers more effective is figuring out how to distribute small pieces of paper efficiently while wasting as little class time as possible.]

• Proverbs 11:28: Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
• Proverbs 13:11: Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
• Proverbs 15:1: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
• Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
• Proverbs 22:1: A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
• Proverbs 22:6: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
• Proverbs 31:10, 15-16: A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies…She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

Now if you’re a certain type of person, you’re starting to think: Well, what about that wicked but rich and successful person? What about that righteous endeavor that didn’t work out? What about the child who is turning from the way they should go before they can even vote?

If you’re having those thoughts, you’ve discovered something important about the limits of wisdom, and maybe you’ve made the jump to Ecclesiastes:

• Ecclesiastes1:1-2: The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
• Ecclesiastes1:12-14: I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

But why should we assume that the correct order to read is first Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes, as if Ecclesiastes is the inevitable outcome of Proverbs? A particular problem of our time is mistaking cynicism for intelligence (or as it says in Proverbs 1:22, “mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge”). Remember, it’s Satan who wants us to think that every cop is a criminal.

[No one appeared to get the Rolling Stones reference, and I was sad.]

People say things like, “Well, every politician is corrupt,” but that’s not a smart observation, and it’s not true. It only serves the interests of the corrupt.

If you really know and understand something, you see all sides of it, including its problems. If you’ve ever been around Americans visiting a foreign country for the first time, you’ve probably seen that there are two basic reactions: either “This is the best place in the world and I never want to go back, the USA is so dumb,” or “This place is so dumb, they don’t even have ice cubes or football, I can’t wait to go home.” But hopefully with time and maybe multiple visits, people come to realize that the United States and American culture really do have their strengths, but we can also learn things from other countries. If you really know and love a place, you understand both its strengths and its limitations.

[Everything up to this point took around 10-12 minutes, which is about what it takes to set up an important question so that it doesn’t fall flat. Maybe you can walk into a classroom and get people to share spiritual experiences right from the start, but not many teachers can, and I, blessed with the charisma of a flattened cardboard box, am not one of them. Teachers need to set up questions so that people respond thoughtfully, instead of with superficial replies or resentful silence. But it takes time and preparation. I wrote the first lesson outline on Thursday, revised in on Friday, finalized it on Saturday, and taught in on Sunday, probably spending around two hours on it in total.]

So my challenge to you is to read backwards, from Ecclesiastes to Proverbs. If you’re currently living in Ecclesiastes Land, how do you get back to Proverbs? How do we get from “everything is meaningless,” to recognizing both the problems and the promise of “raise up a child” or “pride goeth before a fall”? Even after recognizing the limits of wisdom, it’s still important to live righteously and avoid pride. So what does it take to get there?

[This was my one question. Discussion ensued, with a lot of good suggestions, including extensive answers about faith, hope, repentance, forgiveness, gratitude, keeping a journal, and building good habits. And that was all the time we had. In 25 minutes, you only get one move. If it falls flat, having a couple of backup questions queued up isn’t a bad idea. But the notes above give you an idea of about how much it takes to set up one meaningful question that will lead to good discussion and thoughtful answers. You only have time to do it once, or maybe twice at most, so choose carefully and make it count.]