Hey All,
In Spiritual Formations Henri Nouwen tells the story of a university
professor seeking Zen. The professor walks into the Zen master’s house and
explains the reason for his visit and his desire to learn all he can from the
master. The Zen master served the man some tea. He poured the professors cup
full, and then kept right on pouring. The professor watched and exclaimed,
“What are you doing! The cup is full no more will tea will go in!” The Zen master
responded by saying, “Like the cup you are full of your own opinions and
speculations. How can I teach you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
For the past few weeks now (1,
2,
3)
we’ve been wading through Ecclesiastes and exploring the worldview of Qoheleth.
The reason for this study is because when I read Ecclesiastes I can see that my
cup is full of my own misguided hang-ups, ideas, wants, and beliefs and that I
am in desperate need of emptying my cup. I easily slide into a worldview
dictated by my various desires, passions, and abilities. I start to lose sight
of the fact that God’s name is not Carl. Ecclesiastes helps me to let go of
those notions. Ecclesiastes is a spiritual enema. It helps clear out our heads
and hearts so that God can help us put together a perspective and worldview in
keeping with God’s will for us. A worldview rooted in love, charity, grace,
mercy, and serenity.
This week we’ll be covering chapters 2
and 3.
To change things up we’re going to let YouTube help us with the gist of these
two chapters. Chapter 2…well actually the whole of Ecclesiastes can be summed
up by these:
Ralph Stanely: O Death:
I love that line “O Death won’t
you spare me over till another year” that is followed later by Death’s reality
“…having mercy is out of your (Death’s) reach.” Death is inevitable to all. You
can eat all the right foods, be as smart as Mr. Hawking, exercise like Richard
Simmons, and pray till you’re blue in the face it doesn’t matter ‘cause death
will come a callin’ on us all.
The Notorious B.I.G: Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems:
In this
song Puffy raps, “Ten years from now we’ll still be on top.” Quick question: Can anybody
tell me whose album Bad Boy just released? Yeah…
Loudon Wainwright III: Hard Day on the Planet:
“We don’t seem to learn; and we
can’t seem to stop.” Find an alcoholic or addict and ask them if this is true.
Liza Minnelli: Life is a
Cabaret:
When I read chapter 2.24 I think
of the crescendo in this song, “Start by admitting from cradle to tomb it isn’t
that long a stay. Life is a cabaret old chum…and I love a Cabaret.” Yes it’s
all a fleeting gasp of air but it’s the only breath we’ve got so we might as
well enjoy it.
Denis Leary: Life’s Gonna
Suck:
I kid, I kid…Okay Chapter 3:
The Byrds: Turn! Turn!
Turn!:
Any non-academic look at Ecclesiastes is legally obligated to reference this song at least once.
There are things in Ecclesiastes 2
and 3 that we are going to explore further. First, if we are to make the best
of our time here under the sun it would behoove us to admit that we’re
powerless over a whole lot of things. Secondly, things that we pursue under the
sun with tenacity, like a good marriage, status, intimacy with our fellow man,
a good time, and what not, while not inherently bad or evil, could lead to our
destruction or the destruction of others. Now that’s a bold statement which we’ll
come back to. But in order to do so let’s first flesh out what I mean by our
powerlessness.
Jesus acknowledges that as we walk
through the transition from Genesis 2’s garden to Revelation 21’s city things
aren’t going to be as they should be. In Mark 14 a woman poured expensive
perfume all over Jesus’ head to the surprise of Judas who claimed that it was a
wasteful act. Jesus replied by saying, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering
her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with
you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for
my burial.” In Matthew 24 Jesus tells his followers that “…you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take
place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” These verses bring me to
two conclusions. One, as followers of Christ we are to stand with the poor and
oppressed, to care to for the sick, to provide for the orphaned and widowed,
clothe the naked, and put away our swords. Second, we have to acknowledge that
just because we are doing those things doesn’t mean that poverty will be
eradicated, that no more children will be orphaned, that no more wives will
lose their husbands, that all those who are naked will be clothed ,and swords
will most certainly not easily be beaten into plowshares. Does that mean we’re off the hook and we can
just stand on the road waiting for Godot? Absolutely not! It means that we are
free to focus on the problems and shortcomings of our own hearts, marriages,
families, friendships, relationships, towns, counties, states, and nations. We
can’t solve the world’s problem but we can tend to our little corners of the
globe and do the best we can to create systems and ways of living that are
nurturing, sustainable, loving, and merciful in those corners.
The second thing to explore in
Ecclesiastes 2 and 3 is that some of the things of this world, while not inherently
bad or evil, can lead to our destruction or the destruction of others if we
pursue those things obsessively. Money is a prime example. It is often said
that money is the root of all evil. This is not true. Money is not evil. Money
is a tool like a hammer. Like a hammer, money can be used to create
or destroy.
The pursuit of money is not evil if money is being pursued in order to create
things out of love. I attended a fundraising event recently for a transitional
home. The sole purpose of the event was to gain money. It was not evil or wrong
for the folks who run that home to pursue money in order to achieve the vision
and dream God has placed on their hearts for that place. However if they start
asking for more than they need and start raising money just to raise money well
then they will have lost the plot.
In the same way the pursuit of
what Qoheleth describes in Ecclesiastes 2:11-14 “the Good Life,” or in my
context the “American Dream,” only
becomes immoral if that life is brought about at the expense of another’s well
being. If we pursue safety, comfort, sustenance, and a livelihood in a way that
is harmful to another human being’s safety, comfort, sustenance, and livelihood
then we are in the wrong. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray that God will give us
our daily bread. The prayer is for our
daily bread not my daily bread. It’s
a communal prayer. Bonhoeffer points out that there is enough to go around for
everyone. It is only when we take more than we need that folks go without. I
can tell you that in my own life I’m taking part in harming another when I’m
clinging too tightly to some perceived need.
When my waking thoughts are consumed by a particular concern or want then I am
in danger of over stepping my bounds and taking more than I need.
Like the Zen master, God has
chosen to wait until we empty our cups and become willing to receive what God
has to offer us. God wants a relationship with us and nothing kills a
relationship faster than one party forcing their will on another. God wants us
be open to the worldview God has. To be able to see the world as God sees it,
to weep when God weeps, to marvel at what God marvels at, to experience the
world as God experiences it. God wants to be the Cindy Lou Who to our Grinch.
The Grinch was only able to really embrace Christmas when he let go of his
opinions and prejudices and opened his mind and heart. Ecclesiastes can help us
acknowledge the limits and fleeting nature of wisdom, labor, good times, and
life in general and let go of our pursuit of those things. It is only from that
point that we will be open to the life God has to offer us. Ecclesiastes helps
us to see that once we empty ourselves of the belief that money, wisdom, toil,
or revelry or the like will give us meaning we are ready for God to fill our
cups.
Have a good one,
Carl
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