Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 br...
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Much of the Old Testament wisdom literature is concerned with what we would call "being clever," not in outwitting people, but in understanding how life works and cooperating with it and benefiting from it. Wisdom demands that we examine each circumstance that surrounds and impinges upon our lives. Our response won't always be the same. As the right word at the appropriate time displays the difference between a good comedian and a pathetic clown, so Jesus at one time said, "Whoever is not against us is for us," and at another stated, "Whoever is not with me, is against me." He was talking about different circumstances and to apply his words we must be wise.
Whereas much of our faith directs us to change life, Ecclesiastes 3 instructs us in identifying how life works at particular times. Then we decide when to "push against the river," and when to "go with the flow."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Here are some additional thoughts that the writer of Ecclesiastes might have about time if he lived in a different day:
How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you are standing.
-- Will Rogers
Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.
-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), novelist
SUNDAY
If there is no wind, row.
-- Latin Proverb
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
-- Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998), author, philosopher
That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, poet, philosopher
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
-- Mary Anne Radmacher, author
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
-- Thomas Edison (1847-1931) inventor, entrepreneur
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
-- Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.
-- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, prime minister, author, Nobel Prize winner
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
-- Talmud (attributed)
The child who enters life comes not with knowledge or intent, / So those who enter death must go as little children sent. / Nothing is known. But I believe that God is overhead; / And as life is to the living, so death is to the dead.
-- Mary Mapes Dodge
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Time. Right now we are on the brink of a new year, and time seems to stretch before us like a never-ending road. Maybe the road you see is a road from Montana: completely straight, completely flat, and completely predictable, with little roadside markers. Time to sow, three months ahead. Time for peace, next four weeks. Maybe the road you see is a road in southern Ohio: gently rolling, a little bit of excitement on some gentle hills. You can't see everything that's going to happen, but it's Ohio, after all, and they don't have dangerous things like landslides and cliffs in Ohio. You can't see your roadside markers; instead, you look forward to pulling over now and then to have a picnic in a meadow or to watch a herd of deer move across a field. The time ahead is yours to shape. Or maybe the time that stretches before you is a different road entirely: a crowded Manhattan street, a boulevard lined with trees, the road leading home. What scenery will you pass on this year's journey?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
I love reading Southern fiction and one of my favorite authors is Ferrol Sams, a Georgia physician. He has written books about the life and times of a youth named Porter Osborne and all the mischief that accompanies growing up.
In The Whisper of the River, Porter is ready to go off to college. It's his last summer at home, and his mother Vera is really annoying him. Porter feels that her sole mission in life is to irritate him by finding countless chores for him.
All summer, Porter had known that it was a time to keep his silence, just as his mother had known it was a time to keep in her heart. But now he is leaving. For his mother, Vera, leaving is a time for casting away. For the teenage boy, it's a time for speaking, cautiously. With eyes brimming, Vera prepares to let Porter go. "Oh, my son," she says. "I'm going to miss you. Walk with God and grow in grace."
It's time to go. Porter gives his mother a dutiful hug and kiss and says good-bye. Suddenly Porter is flooded with feelings of regret for being annoyed by his mother, realizing how much he does care for her. Still, there is a time to outgrow mothers, or so he thinks.
Life does have its rhythms. There are rites of passage, such as leaving home for the first time and arriving at a new place. These rhythms establish the tone of our lives. Ecclesiastes merely reminds us once more of a universal truth of life, there is a rhythm to our existence.
Revelation 21:1-6a
There is a longing for the new that's especially powerful in our society. In advertising, the single word "New," followed by an exclamation mark, signifies something worth buying. Yet this is not the newness the author of Revelation is talking about. This newness is more than mere novelty. It is a return of the old: but the old made glorious, beautiful, and true.
This would have been vividly clear to John's readers. Many of them had visited Jerusalem. A few short years before John wrote Revelation, the Romans had pulled down the temple, leaving but one wall standing -- known to this day as the "wailing wall." When John tells of a new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven, he's assuring his readers they no longer need to focus on the past, on the glories of days gone by: that God is capable of working new wonders, even out of the rubble of broken dreams.
Revelation is not so much a book of terror and woe, as it is a promise of hope. The new Jerusalem is not some distant goal to which we aspire to escape. It is, instead, a promise of God's determination not to desert this world and a pledge to "make all things new."
Revelation 21:1-6a
Helen knew in her heart that she needed to make a change in her life. She thought she would be further along with her career and was frustrated with the empty promises of her employer. She experienced disappointment after disappointment. It was time for a change.
She looked at the index at the back of her Bible under "New Beginning" and found several scriptural references. One of the suggested passages was Revelation 21:5 "See, I am making all things new." This is exactly what Helen was longing for. Deep down she wanted to help people. When she was in high school she dreamed of becoming a nurse. After she graduated her life took some unexpected turns, she would tell you some "wrong turns."
On New Year's afternoon Helen decided that it was not too late to enroll in college and begin working on a nursing degree. The next day she contacted the college. "It's never too late," she told her friend.
In the years since that day Helen has found working in the hospital meaningful, she particularly enjoys meeting and providing patient care. She has also encouraged some other "later in life" would-be students. "If I can do it -- so can you!" Helen claims that she has experienced a new sense of purpose in her life, "this is where I belong," she says.
Revelation 21:1-6a
On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake rocked the city of San Francisco. What the earthquake didn't destroy, fire did. Much of the city lay in ruins, but plans were quickly put into place to rebuild the city. City and state officials downplayed the extent of the damage believing that if people knew the true story, they wouldn't invest in San Francisco's reconstruction. Building standards were lowered, some estimate by as much as 50%, in the rush to rebuild the city. Part of the rush to rebuild had to do with the Panama-Pacific Exposition that was to be held in the city in 1915. Indeed, by the time of the exposition, very few signs of the earthquake and fire were visible. It is a tribute to the determination of the citizens of San Francisco.
John foresaw a time of a new heaven and a new earth, complete with a new Jerusalem. His vision, however, reveals higher building codes not lower, and because the city is being built to the creator's standards and in the creator's time frame, there is no rush.
Matthew 25:31-46
Looking back on his life, Maurice described himself at seventeen as the town's most competitive at everything. He competed for grades, the best athletic performance, and to date the prettiest girls. He became a Christian during his first year in college. In order to be faithful to his new Lord he experienced giant changes in attitude. For whom did he now strive to do his best? Where and how would his reward return to him? Before, he'd never struggled with such problems. He just rushed full speed ahead, no matter who was in his way.
Having a wife and children developed his capacity to love. His vocation as social worker broadened his concerns as well as his skills in caring for others. Last December, at the age of 69, he retired from the department of human services. He was stunned at the many speeches in his honor, speeches that would have pleased him at seventeen but only embarrassed him now.
Matthew 25:31-46
Today is a celebration of a new year -- and what New Year's celebration would be complete without the traditional midnight vigil, the ball drop, the champagne, sparkling grape juice, and gathering of family and friends? This holiday's traditions bring us together out of a unique kind of hope. It's not the hope of Christmas or Easter, which reassures us that things are still good between us and God. This hope is the hope that something will change, the hope that the old things will indeed pass away and new opportunities, friends, and experiences will be found. New Year's is not a time of balance so much as a time to throw ourselves into our dreams of the future, even if that magic in-between feeling only lasts until the ball drops on the stroke of midnight and that future becomes the present.
Matthew 25:31-46
Most of us come to church to hear a word of hope, a word of encouragement. We hope to receive "warm fuzzies" from those friends we see once a week. We also come to encounter Jesus, the good shepherd, who loves and cares so tenderly for us.
Unfortunately, those "cold pricklies" are very much a reality of life. Today's gospel lesson brings one of the so-called hard sayings of Jesus to the forefront. His subject is judgment day, a topic we would just as soon forget.
No sooner has the excitement of the first Advent begun to fade than we are faced with the second Advent, when Christ comes to judge both the living and the dead. What legacy will you leave on this earth? What have you accomplished to make this a better place for all of God's people?
Every day is the first day of the rest of your life, a time to remember your baptism and give thanks, a time to begin again. The New Year especially is a traditional time to consider making life changes, setting new goals, breaking old habits. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
Much of the Old Testament wisdom literature is concerned with what we would call "being clever," not in outwitting people, but in understanding how life works and cooperating with it and benefiting from it. Wisdom demands that we examine each circumstance that surrounds and impinges upon our lives. Our response won't always be the same. As the right word at the appropriate time displays the difference between a good comedian and a pathetic clown, so Jesus at one time said, "Whoever is not against us is for us," and at another stated, "Whoever is not with me, is against me." He was talking about different circumstances and to apply his words we must be wise.
Whereas much of our faith directs us to change life, Ecclesiastes 3 instructs us in identifying how life works at particular times. Then we decide when to "push against the river," and when to "go with the flow."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Here are some additional thoughts that the writer of Ecclesiastes might have about time if he lived in a different day:
How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you are standing.
-- Will Rogers
Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.
-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), novelist
SUNDAY
If there is no wind, row.
-- Latin Proverb
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.
-- Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998), author, philosopher
That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, poet, philosopher
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
-- Mary Anne Radmacher, author
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
-- Thomas Edison (1847-1931) inventor, entrepreneur
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
-- Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.
-- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, prime minister, author, Nobel Prize winner
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
-- Talmud (attributed)
The child who enters life comes not with knowledge or intent, / So those who enter death must go as little children sent. / Nothing is known. But I believe that God is overhead; / And as life is to the living, so death is to the dead.
-- Mary Mapes Dodge
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Time. Right now we are on the brink of a new year, and time seems to stretch before us like a never-ending road. Maybe the road you see is a road from Montana: completely straight, completely flat, and completely predictable, with little roadside markers. Time to sow, three months ahead. Time for peace, next four weeks. Maybe the road you see is a road in southern Ohio: gently rolling, a little bit of excitement on some gentle hills. You can't see everything that's going to happen, but it's Ohio, after all, and they don't have dangerous things like landslides and cliffs in Ohio. You can't see your roadside markers; instead, you look forward to pulling over now and then to have a picnic in a meadow or to watch a herd of deer move across a field. The time ahead is yours to shape. Or maybe the time that stretches before you is a different road entirely: a crowded Manhattan street, a boulevard lined with trees, the road leading home. What scenery will you pass on this year's journey?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
I love reading Southern fiction and one of my favorite authors is Ferrol Sams, a Georgia physician. He has written books about the life and times of a youth named Porter Osborne and all the mischief that accompanies growing up.
In The Whisper of the River, Porter is ready to go off to college. It's his last summer at home, and his mother Vera is really annoying him. Porter feels that her sole mission in life is to irritate him by finding countless chores for him.
All summer, Porter had known that it was a time to keep his silence, just as his mother had known it was a time to keep in her heart. But now he is leaving. For his mother, Vera, leaving is a time for casting away. For the teenage boy, it's a time for speaking, cautiously. With eyes brimming, Vera prepares to let Porter go. "Oh, my son," she says. "I'm going to miss you. Walk with God and grow in grace."
It's time to go. Porter gives his mother a dutiful hug and kiss and says good-bye. Suddenly Porter is flooded with feelings of regret for being annoyed by his mother, realizing how much he does care for her. Still, there is a time to outgrow mothers, or so he thinks.
Life does have its rhythms. There are rites of passage, such as leaving home for the first time and arriving at a new place. These rhythms establish the tone of our lives. Ecclesiastes merely reminds us once more of a universal truth of life, there is a rhythm to our existence.
Revelation 21:1-6a
There is a longing for the new that's especially powerful in our society. In advertising, the single word "New," followed by an exclamation mark, signifies something worth buying. Yet this is not the newness the author of Revelation is talking about. This newness is more than mere novelty. It is a return of the old: but the old made glorious, beautiful, and true.
This would have been vividly clear to John's readers. Many of them had visited Jerusalem. A few short years before John wrote Revelation, the Romans had pulled down the temple, leaving but one wall standing -- known to this day as the "wailing wall." When John tells of a new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven, he's assuring his readers they no longer need to focus on the past, on the glories of days gone by: that God is capable of working new wonders, even out of the rubble of broken dreams.
Revelation is not so much a book of terror and woe, as it is a promise of hope. The new Jerusalem is not some distant goal to which we aspire to escape. It is, instead, a promise of God's determination not to desert this world and a pledge to "make all things new."
Revelation 21:1-6a
Helen knew in her heart that she needed to make a change in her life. She thought she would be further along with her career and was frustrated with the empty promises of her employer. She experienced disappointment after disappointment. It was time for a change.
She looked at the index at the back of her Bible under "New Beginning" and found several scriptural references. One of the suggested passages was Revelation 21:5 "See, I am making all things new." This is exactly what Helen was longing for. Deep down she wanted to help people. When she was in high school she dreamed of becoming a nurse. After she graduated her life took some unexpected turns, she would tell you some "wrong turns."
On New Year's afternoon Helen decided that it was not too late to enroll in college and begin working on a nursing degree. The next day she contacted the college. "It's never too late," she told her friend.
In the years since that day Helen has found working in the hospital meaningful, she particularly enjoys meeting and providing patient care. She has also encouraged some other "later in life" would-be students. "If I can do it -- so can you!" Helen claims that she has experienced a new sense of purpose in her life, "this is where I belong," she says.
Revelation 21:1-6a
On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake rocked the city of San Francisco. What the earthquake didn't destroy, fire did. Much of the city lay in ruins, but plans were quickly put into place to rebuild the city. City and state officials downplayed the extent of the damage believing that if people knew the true story, they wouldn't invest in San Francisco's reconstruction. Building standards were lowered, some estimate by as much as 50%, in the rush to rebuild the city. Part of the rush to rebuild had to do with the Panama-Pacific Exposition that was to be held in the city in 1915. Indeed, by the time of the exposition, very few signs of the earthquake and fire were visible. It is a tribute to the determination of the citizens of San Francisco.
John foresaw a time of a new heaven and a new earth, complete with a new Jerusalem. His vision, however, reveals higher building codes not lower, and because the city is being built to the creator's standards and in the creator's time frame, there is no rush.
Matthew 25:31-46
Looking back on his life, Maurice described himself at seventeen as the town's most competitive at everything. He competed for grades, the best athletic performance, and to date the prettiest girls. He became a Christian during his first year in college. In order to be faithful to his new Lord he experienced giant changes in attitude. For whom did he now strive to do his best? Where and how would his reward return to him? Before, he'd never struggled with such problems. He just rushed full speed ahead, no matter who was in his way.
Having a wife and children developed his capacity to love. His vocation as social worker broadened his concerns as well as his skills in caring for others. Last December, at the age of 69, he retired from the department of human services. He was stunned at the many speeches in his honor, speeches that would have pleased him at seventeen but only embarrassed him now.
Matthew 25:31-46
Today is a celebration of a new year -- and what New Year's celebration would be complete without the traditional midnight vigil, the ball drop, the champagne, sparkling grape juice, and gathering of family and friends? This holiday's traditions bring us together out of a unique kind of hope. It's not the hope of Christmas or Easter, which reassures us that things are still good between us and God. This hope is the hope that something will change, the hope that the old things will indeed pass away and new opportunities, friends, and experiences will be found. New Year's is not a time of balance so much as a time to throw ourselves into our dreams of the future, even if that magic in-between feeling only lasts until the ball drops on the stroke of midnight and that future becomes the present.
Matthew 25:31-46
Most of us come to church to hear a word of hope, a word of encouragement. We hope to receive "warm fuzzies" from those friends we see once a week. We also come to encounter Jesus, the good shepherd, who loves and cares so tenderly for us.
Unfortunately, those "cold pricklies" are very much a reality of life. Today's gospel lesson brings one of the so-called hard sayings of Jesus to the forefront. His subject is judgment day, a topic we would just as soon forget.
No sooner has the excitement of the first Advent begun to fade than we are faced with the second Advent, when Christ comes to judge both the living and the dead. What legacy will you leave on this earth? What have you accomplished to make this a better place for all of God's people?
Every day is the first day of the rest of your life, a time to remember your baptism and give thanks, a time to begin again. The New Year especially is a traditional time to consider making life changes, setting new goals, breaking old habits. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
