(a sermon preached on 17th Sept, based on Ecclesiastes 12)

Remember God. Remember God when you wake up; “thank you Lord for this morning, that you have restored my soul”; when you go to the toilet “thank you Lord that these bits of mine are working”; when you eat your breakfast, when you find yourself in a long queue of traffic, all the way through your day – “Thank you Lord”.

 

Oh good grief! These verses from Ecclesiastes I think might be the most depressing of this whole book – here we have grasshoppers so old that they drag themselves along, we have the mythical imagery of the Silver Cord – that connects our lives to our bodies, the Golden Bowl that holds our lives within our bodies.

 

Oh before, before you get to that age when there is no pleasure to be found in anything – before you get to that age – learn the practice, the discipline, of Remembering, Remember your creator.

 

So this sermon is about Remembering God, and the presence and the peace of God throughout each day, through out our lives. Some of you have told me how Getting old isn’t much fun. I suspect you’re right – so start now with your daily remembering that God is with you – it will feed your faith, your hope and your love  – I think it might help you find some pleasure and joy in life and it might help you cope with the struggle of how very meaningless life can be.

 

The book of Ecclesiastes is famous for its Meaningless-ness – Meaningless, everything is meaningless. Different translations go for Vanity of Vanities, or Futile. The word is used 38 times in this book.

 

But, the Hebrew word is Hevel, Havel and it means Vapour or Smoke – and so you have both a sense of the passing moment, the way a Sea-Fret might be seen first thing in the morning but then its gone. But also in the sense that smoke, which can look quite solid, a really thick smoke you can waft it about – but you cant grasp it – so Havel also has about it this sense of Enigma. And life is an enigma, and it is a passing vapour.

 

This enigma of Life, throughout the book of Ecclesiastes is seen through two big lenses: Time and Death. Time just seems to zip by faster and faster, and yet nothing seems to change. Nations rise and fall. We have peace and then we have war, we have low inflation and then we have economic fluctuations. We have things we cannot possibly control like Earthquakes, and we have things like Dams that burst – things that are beyond the powers of ordinary people, but someone somewhere should have been taking care of.

 

Now perhaps it’s a little unfair to say ‘Nothing changes’ – we have things that Solomon didn’t have – we have Wifi and medicines – all sorts of things and some of them are good.

 

But, do you remember that old film Crocodile Dundee? The journalist points to Ayres Rock and says who owns it? And Dundee says “No one owns it”. In a thousand years it will still be there but all the people who think they own it will have come and gone. Its meaningless to discuss who owns it.

 

So, Time is a great equaliser as it will see the death of us all. And Death is a great equaliser as no matter whether you are wise or a fool, or rich or poor – no matter who you are Death comes for us all.

 

So then what shall we do in the meantime? – to find Meaning in life? Some people go in search of Wealth, or a Career, or Pleasure or Status. Good for you.

But Ecclesiastes points out that there’s often a debilitating amount of stress and anxiety that comes with it, and if you succeeed, very often you’re too old to really enjoy it.

And it’s all well and good to live for the pleasures of the weekend but Monday always comes around.

 

The problem that Ecclesiastes is pointing out is that the World doesn’t work the way you feel it should work.

We tell our children that if they want as meaningful life then to apply themselves and study hard and get good jobs so that they can pay off their university debts and begin to pay off their mortgages – but there’s no real guarantee that any of that wisdom will work. Goal posts are often moving.

 

And this is why the book of Ecclesiastes is so essential to your faith. It challenges our presumptions that the world works the way we think it should work.

 

So the idea of this Hebrew word Hevel – rather than seeing it as the problem – whereby everything is meaningless – it becomes the solution.

 

If we can begin to accept that there are so many many things that we chase after thinking they will bring meaning but actually in the grand scheme they don’t.

No one says, on their death beds, I wish I’d spent more time in the office!

 

So maybe the way forward here is to accept Hevel, to accept that so much in life is a passing vapour, a mist. So much of our lives – especially regarding Time and Death – we just don’t have any control over.

 

But Ecclesiastes surprisingly points to the Gift of God — its God’s gift that we should eat and drink and enjoy our work. To see life as a gift.

So the old saying from a Disney cartoon called Kung Fu Panda – “Yesterday is History, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that is why it is called the Present!”

Cheesy but its good!

 

LoTR film says of Hobbits in general – ‘it’s no bad thing to celebrate a simple life’. And the character Thorin, on his deathbed mutters to Bilbo – ‘If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.’

 

You’ll see enough people on the News later who could do well to learn that, but start off with yourself.

 

This is a call to enjoy the simple things in life. To enjoy your food, enjoy family and friends, being part of a community.

 

There are different ways we can do that.

We can look to Legacies. And Consider what it is that we are leaving behind.

Our Treasurer would think it remiss of me not to point to some leaflets at the back of the church encouraging you to financially remember your church in your Will.

And well Yes,

but Consider also the relational legacies we are leaving.

 

I have inherited a vast amount of photos – particularly photos of my Mum before my Dad – and two albums just of their wedding day – I have one whole album only contains pictures of people coming in to church.

No doubt these people were important to them, but alas Time and Death have already made them a passing vapour. So alas, to me, they are meaningless – and so in due time they will go off to the Tip. Sorry.

 

But that’s not the same as saying they were meaningless – these were people that filled my parents with love and hope – at least enough to get invited to the wedding – and in their own way they supported my Mum and Dad, and that in turn led to me, and so the legacy of these people, the legacy of my Mum and Dad – is me.

 

So yes Hevel, a passing vapour, an enigma, that time and death have taken. But not meaningless.

 

So here’s a challenge to me and to you – and this is what the last chapter of Ecclesiastes is trying to get at – where the Author is poking us, provoking us, to think about What we think makes for a meaningful life.

 

Ecclesiastes is calling us to enjoy the simple things, the gifts of God in our lives – it’s a call to be Thankful, to live a life of Gratitude, to keep short accounts with people, forgive quickly, bless and love and hug, and be glad where you can be, because there is enough pain and enigma in life.

 

The Author of Ecclesiastes even has a word for me saying – Burying yourself in books in the hope that you’ll find all the answers there, alas that wont work.

 

So then says Ecclesiastes –  Fear God, Keep His Commandments – so fear God – yes this God, revealed in Jesus Christ, who along with His angels constantly tells us not to be afraid,

And follow the commands of Jesus – to Love one another.

 

And one way to do that is to Remember God. Remember God throughout your day, when you’re shopping, washing up, as you lie down to sleep –

 

Remember the gifts of God, the goodness of God.

And I think that that will help

as we struggle with the Enigma that that is life,

as we struggle with its fleetingness, and so much that is beyond our control.

 

And perhaps as we remember God, that will help us to stay close to Him and to enjoy our drink our food our friends. Amen.

(Photo is of Sam, Abi, and myself enjoying Icecream – see text above about food!)

 

 

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