USE YOUR INTELLIGENCE

A meditation by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

June 3, 2001

Text: "they began to speak in other languages." (Acts 2:3)

First Reading: Romans 8:14-17

Second Reading: John 14:8-17

Increasingly universities and colleges are no longer relying solely on SAT scores, but are asking interested students to write essays that will help the admissions offices determine their qualifications for entrance. One of our students shared with me the following article she was asked to write about.

The article was written by Isaac Asimov entitled, "What is Intelligence, Anyway?" "What is intelligence, anyway? When I was in the Army, I received a kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a big fuss over me. (It didn’t mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with KP as my highest duty.)

"All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think so, too. Actually, though, don’t such scores simply mean that I am very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by the people who make up the intelligence tests—people with intellectual bents similar to mine?

"For instance, I had an auto repairman once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored well, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was. Yet, when anything went wrong with my car, I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles—and he always fixed my car.

"Well then, suppose my auto repairman devised questions for an intelligence test. Or, suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself to be not very smart. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.

"Consider my auto repairman, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say, ‘Doc, a deaf-and-dumb guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc. The next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?’

"Indulgently, I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto repairman laughed raucously and said, ‘Why, you…jerk, he used his voice and asked for them.’ Then he said smugly, "I’ve been trying that on all my customers today.’ ‘Did you catch many?’ I asked. ‘Quite a few,’ he said, ‘but I knew for sure I’d catch you.’ ‘Why is that?’ I asked. ‘Because you’re so damned educated, Doc, I knew you couldn’t be very smart.’ And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there." (Reprinted courtesy of Ralph M. Vicinanza, Ltd.)

Our student had the choice to answer one of two questions. 1. Is there someone in your life that you feel is particularly "intelligent?" Please describe the nature of his/her intelligence and use concrete examples to illustrate your point. Also, if possible, refer to Asimov’s piece in your essay. Or, 2. How do you define "intelligence?" How does this compare with Asimov’s definitions of "intelligence?" Please use concrete examples to illustrate your point, wherever possible.

Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit is all about how we use the intelligence God had given us. That’s why there’s the elaborate description of all the voices speaking together. This past week I talked with a mother whose son in enrolled in the Sylvan Institute. He’s had difficulty with reading. He didn’t really start to speak until he was three years old. Now, she says, she can’t shut him up. However, his retention is limited. He can read a story out loud one minute and, when she asks him what it’s about the next minute he can’t tell her. But when she asked him to draw a turkey for Thanksgiving he not only drew the turkey, but the pilgrims, the table decorations, the flowers that adorned the dining room, and all the people who were gathered for the occasion.

Again, it’s the difference between Asimov and the auto mechanic. This past week I got an e-mail from my sermon researcher, Jim Ryba. It was called "The Weakest Link." It asks you to answer three simple questions. First, you are participating in a race. You overtake the second. What position do you finish? Ready for the answer? If you answered that you arrived first, you’re wrong. Since you overtake the second and you take his place you arrive second!

The second question is, if you overtake the last when do you arrive? If you answered that you arrive second last that’s impossible. You can’t overtake the last. It’s a bad question, so there’s no correct answer. The third question involves some quick math. Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Add 30 to that, then another 1000. Now add 20 and then another 1000. Finally, add 10 and what’s the answer. Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. The brain always jumps to the highest decimal, which will confuse us when we’re asked to do addition in our minds quickly.

The message of Pentecost is there is no weakest link. God has given each one of us a precious gift, bit it a farmer, a mechanic, a carpenter, a portrait artist or a public speaker, whatever. That’s the gift of the Spirit within us and we have the God given opportunity to use those gifts to the best of our ability and to God’s glory and honor. Our student learned that when she wrote her essay for college. The admissions office knew it as well when they accepted her. Let us now take those gifts and put them to use for God’s sake. In so doing, we’ll make each day a Day of Pentecost in our lives.

Thanks be to God,

Amen