Today(Jan 24), my cousin handed me the reading I am to do tomorrow for the funeral of her mom, my aunt Bernice. It is the one we all know but worth a rethink. Chapter 3 1-13. It is the reading we are familiar with - "there is a time for everything..." There is a time for everything and many moments in our lives for all we are to experience and do. But we experience and do trying to understand "everything" and yet cannot. That is a good place to be in a weird way. We accept ourselves and others better when we are in that empty place. That seems to be the prominent theme to Ecclesiastes. The upbeat portion though is that we 'rejoice in our work.' Though we cannot understand all, we can practice obedience to God's law to treat our fellow well and work. Here is an interesting example of turning from sacrificing to practicing obedience, turning from the letter to the spirit of God's law. Ch 4 verse 17 "Guard your step when you go to the House of God. Let your approach be obedience, rather than the fools' offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil." And follow that with Chapter 5 verse 17 -19 - read aloud at our gathering. "Here is what I recognize as good..."
Ecclesiastes, like the other books of wisdom, tries to tell us how to live and begins with recognizing that we are not God which gives us a place to be on earth without trying to understand everything. We are full of our own vanities and self-estimations. Happiness is found in accepting our station in life, working and enjoying it while trusting in the Lord for the rest
Ecclesiastes, like the other books of wisdom, tries to tell us how to live and begins with recognizing that we are not God which gives us a place to be on earth without trying to understand everything. We are full of our own vanities and self-estimations. Happiness is found in accepting our station in life, working and enjoying it while trusting in the Lord for the rest
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