Enjoy This Life!
đż Life is full of absurd twists â plans unravel, beauty surprises us, sorrow and joy collide. Ecclesiastes doesnât hide that tension, but shows us how Godâs gifts of joy can make us resilient in love
đ Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1â13
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toilâthis is the gift of God.
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đ¶ Music and Memory
The Limelighters, Pete Seeger, and The Byrds brought todayâs text to the public ear back in the early 1960âs. The song, Turn, Turn, Turn uses most of the text from Ecclesiastes, and rearranges the pieces to make a plea for peace. Pete, being Pete, really made a splash with the song among the folk song set, and the Byrds brought it to the folk rock group. Whatever the tune, the words continue to resonate with us today.
To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
The juxtaposition of life's highs and lows is presented, like in the Bible, as a representation of how we experience the world around us. Weâve been there, right? We go to the beach slathered in sunscreen, and the clouds roll in. We rush to clean the house for guests, and their flight is delayed. We are so upset about the state of the world, and a child looks up at us and giggles. We live in this absurd reality of thinking we have it all together and watching it be blown apart. Or, believing that everything is a mess and discovering a corner of beauty in a particular cloud formation that makes sense.
There are all of these conflicting experiences that teach us about where God is and how we respond to the challenges and gifts that we receive. We laugh. We weep. We kill. We heal. Weâre born. We die. It is the absurdity that the entire book of Ecclesiastes observes and declares, and, if the book were only about that, we would be left wondering, âWhatâs it all about, Alfie?â
â The Questions of Qohelet
Fortunately, Ecclesiastes (aka Quohelet/The Preacher/The Assembler) continues their exploration of the human condition in the verses that follow. They ask, What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes embraces the dichotomy of our experienced lives. He acknowledges that it doesnât appear to make sense. I mean, why build if itâs going to be torn down or fall? Why keep something if weâre going to throw it away? Why heal if we know weâll experience killing again, and again, and again?
The biblical scholar Choon-Leong Seow notes that these questions point us toward the âlimits of human agency and ability to comprehend God.â He says that our inability to âfathom what God has done from beginning to endâ is not a cause for despair, but an opportunity to search for what we can reach. Professor Seow directs us to focus on what we can see and experience of God as an act of resistance to futility.
In other words, the existential absurdity of the tension Qohelet describes is released in the recognition of God's gifts, despite the absurdityâŠand it requires practice.
đ± Practicing Joy
Ecclesiastes describes that practice like this: I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toilâthis is the gift of God.
Quohelet describes embracing joy and satisfying moments as the spiritual gift that keeps giving.
There is nothing better for peopleâŠ
And how do we do that which is better for us? Allow me to describe my day, and feel free to note for yourself similar activities.
â A Day in Joy
I tend to be a pretty early riser. We get up most days by 5:30 and I make my way to the coffee machine in the kitchen. There is a window over the sink that looks out through some branches onto whatever sky is waiting for me each day. In the spring and summer, I am often greeted by misty dark blue skies that hint of the sun rising beyond the trees. In the fall and winter, the sky stays dark and there are stars that gather between the branches, moving just a little bit each day to make room for new celestial delights. Anticipating the sky each day makes me happy. It brings me joy. Whatever the window reveals is a gift.
I savor my second cup of coffee and the time I have talking with Martha about what we have planned for the day at work or for play. Weâve lived in ministry long enough that we know an emergency might arise that throws those plans out the window, but there will be another time, another day to do what we couldnât do today.
We get dressed, have breakfast, and head out the door. Martha has planted a lovely Medieval Fantasy Garden (thatâs what weâre calling it these days) along the walk, and itâs a joy to see what colors are peeking through the greens to send us on our way. We hear the soft sound of grass or the crunch of leaves underfoot. Martha often whistles on her way to work, and that brings me joy.
We do our paperwork, make our calls, meet our people, share our gifts to level the playing field and promote the faith concept of equity, and regroup at some point to hear how the day has gone, or call a friend to hear about their day, or go on a walk in the woods or a cemetery, which we have dubbed âan adventureâ because that makes us sound more interesting than we know we are. We talk about mostly mundane things, copy machine troubles, kids who wouldnât sit still, an idea for an upcoming project, and what weâre having for dinner. I always forget what weâre having for dinner, even if Iâm cooking.
We eat while watching a show that brings us joy. We talk about whatâs happening while we watch. We do the dishes. Read. Listen to music. Tuck the cats in for the night. Go to sleep, knowing that while we were busy trying to find Godâs joy, children were starving in Palestine, and children were afraid of being bombed in Israel. Gun violence rocked a familyâs world somewhere in the United States, and refugees were deported for trying to show up for a hearing. Impoverished people were cut off from resources that could help them survive, and senior citizens were abandoned by family and friends. Policies were unleashed with the sole purpose of vengeance, and leaders whom we thought we could count on disappointed us.
đ« Joy as Resistance
Sometimes we feel guilty about trying to find Godâs gifts of joy in our days. We feel guilty about naming the absurdity of life honestly, but in doing so, we discover that our hearts are made free to receive joy as Godâs gift. And that joy is what makes us resilient in love.
We recognize, like Ecclesiastes, that it is a form of resistance to the nasty stuff that happens around us. It is a way of affirming our belief that Godâs love will win. Itâs a way of demonstrating that Godâs grace is different, life-giving, and awesome. Itâs a way of saying, even though these terrible things are happening to us and around us, and to those we love, we are deeply loved and completely held in Godâs care.
đ Conclusion
Like the Preacher who penned todayâs lesson, I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toilâthis is the gift of God.
I know that enjoying this life gives us the strength to do the important work we do on Godâs behalf. It builds resilience in us so that we can endure the difficult times and help others through their challenges. Enjoying this life is not a frivolous pursuit, but an integral part of nurturing our spiritual response to Godâs love.
I wonder what that will look like for you? I hope that you will not only give it some thought, but also put it into practice.
It is the stuff of longevity.
It is the stuff of times of stones, weeping, war, and killing.
It is the stuff of God.
Love this Todd