The other day at hockey, as we were watching our daughters play, I got talking to one of the other Dads. The game was a little one sided and there were many optimistic passed that went astray. We started to talk about the exuberance of youth versus the wisdom of age. He spoke of a full back he had seen, still playing in his fifties who never seemed to hurry, but was always in the right place, and many of the younger players just couldn't seem to get past him.

It is like in the football that we watch on TV. Every now and again there is a flash of brilliance by a player that goes beyond the things that a coach can teach. It is an instinctive or intuitive response to the situation - it depends on the training, but goes beyond expectations.

In both our first and second readings from God's word, there is the mention of wisdom or wise action. We tend to sometimes see the word wisdom and equate it with knowledge. In a society that is driven in the quest for knowledge, we tend to see the world in terms of this. And our whole framework is in these terms. We reward the well educated, equating value with years in school and certificates in frames, and seek to evaluate the person by the letters after their name.

There is more to a person than an education. When Solomon was faced with the taking over of the family business - God promised him help and he could ask for one quality that could quantify his rule. And he chose wisdom and not knowledge. Indeed at the end of Ecclesiastes he says; "The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd. Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh."

Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh." But in our society, there is the focus on the study to expense of wisdom.

This is not something new. It has been a process that has been going on for the last 200 years, but in our generation, things seem to have come to a head. During my generation, the worship of knowledge (or science) has seen us practically destroy our environment and the sciences of money - economics - destroy our society. The Olympic games, which were to be a good thing for our nation, have seen us pay at least half a percent extra on our loans because that is what the economists recommend.

Now for young Colby, the world ahead is difficult to predict. Simon and Karen want what is best for him. Baptism of infants is the asking God to bless this child and lead him into the kingdom and we do this by faith trusting that no matter what path Colby will take, he will be never beyond God's reach. It is perhaps one of the greatest acts of faith other than our own personal confession of faith for we trust in the character of God to make these things happen. But I want to put in a plea here. For we often see our responsibility in bringing children in the faith in terms of educating them in the faith. We seek to give them knowledge but not wisdom. Truly I tell you, it was the ones with knowledge that grumbled in the narrative from John that was our Gospel this morning. You see the problem with facts or knowledge is that they come from interpretation and should not necessarily be confused with truth, which is absolute and is found in the person of Jesus Christ. The bible, which I truly believe as God's liberating word, has been used by the educated to justify the horrid of activities from holocaust to apartheid.

I am not a Luddite - (that is one of a group of people who used to smash machines in the industrial revolution) but unless we temper our knowledge with wisdom, then we are in great danger as a society. I am not opposed to genetic modification, but I fear that it is being left in the hands of the same group of people that split the atom, gave us global warming and agent orange and who forecast that DDT would solve all the world's agricultural problems. Read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

The world needs wisdom. It needs wise people and Simon and Karen, Melinda and Glenn this is your calling as you take your part in bringing Colby up in the faith and practice of the church. Indeed each one of us who are parents or godparents must take this task seriously. So how do we do it?

Our psalm tells us this: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. The starting point for wisdom is God. In seeing the world through his eyes, we are called to see the bigger picture. Our calling as individuals and as a church is to so present to others the living reality of God, that they will begin their own relationship with him. The starting point for Solomon and indeed for each of us is to seek God for it, and to acknowledge him is indeed the beginning of wisdom.

I am conscious of the fact that one lady I visit fortnightly was born before the invention of powered flight. (incidentally, did you know that the wingspan of a Jumbo is greater than the distance of the Wright Brothers flight. It is my contention that it is wisdom and not knowledge that enables us to cope with the changes.

What follows is a piece entitled "We are survivors!!" from the Farncombe Review (from the parish of St John the Evangelist, Farncombe, Surrey. It was written by someone born before 1940. As you listen, I ask you to be conscious of the great changes that have happened in the period of just over 50 years. If children like Colby are to survive there is the need to connect them with the certainty of God in and uncertain and changing world: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom

We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen food, fax machines, plastic, contact lenses, videos, frisbees and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens, before dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, duvets, air conditioning ..... and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?). We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent, a Big Mac was an oversized raincoat and "crumpet" we ate for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating, dual careers and when a "meaningful relationship" meant getting along with your cousins and "sheltered accommodation" was where you waited for the bus.

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We had never heard of FM Radio, tape decks, word processors, artificial hearts, yoghurt and young men wearing earrings. for us "time-sharing" meant togetherness, a "chip" was a piece of wood or a fried potato, "hardware" meant nuts and bolts and "software" wasn't a word.

Before 1940 "Made in Japan" meant junk, the term "making out" referred to how you did in your exams, "stud" was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and "going all the way" meant staying in the double-decker bus to the depot.

Pizzas, McDonalds and instant coffee are unheard of. In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mown, coke was kept in the coal-house, a joint was a piece of meat you had on Sundays and pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a grandmother's lullaby.

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the ways in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder we are confused and there is a generation gap......BUT by the grace of God we have survived. - Alleluia!

We cannot tell what the future holds, but The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.