My Dear Friends,
Are you having a great day, a good day, an OK day, or a grim day? Only you know, but one thing is for sure, we don’t all have great days every day. So if you are having a tough one, my heart goes out to you, and Bless you. It will pass.
I had the pleasure of taking the service at the Forum in L’Alfaz de Pi yesterday, and the first reading was from Ecclesiastes. It is so striking that I have printed it in full:
Ecclesiastes 1.2-11
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains for ever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes round to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
‘See, this is new’?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
It sounds pretty grim stuff, and is not the uplifting message we long to hear. But the beauty of our scriptures are that they are real. The writer of Ecclesiastes, like the writer of the Psalms tells it like it is. Some days (and some psalms) are full of joy, happiness and the praise of God. Others are days when everything seems to go wrong. Some psalms (and days) feel like we want to rant and rave at God wondering where he is in the calamity of our lives. All this reflects the different moods and experiences we each go through.
In the reading above the Teacher is telling us it all seems pointless, and meaningless and life is just like trying to wade through treacle. Have you ever had days like that? I know I have. The fact that scripture describes it helps, because I realise I am not alone.
But as you know, at our services there are more than one reading, the psalm for yesterday began with these words
Psalm 90.1-2
1 Lord, you have been our refuge ♦
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the earth and the world were formed, ♦
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Reminding us that God has always been there, and always will be even when we can’t fathom it. We ask the question about pain and suffering most deeply when it is close to us, and God feels far away, but our scriptures again come to our help, and remind us of his presence.
Then our Gospel reading was from Luke, only 2 sentences
Luke 9.7-9
7Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 9Herod said, ‘John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he tried to see him.
Herod, that complete ratbag who had beheaded John the Baptist who spoke out against him. Yet word was getting round about what Jesus was doing. By now he had raised Jairus’s daughter, fed the 5000, healed the woman with the haemorrhage and the Gerasene demoniac and sent out the twelve (among many other things)
Word is getting round, and John wants to see Jesus!
The three readings come together beautifully. Even when life seems pointless and the going is tough, and God seems far away, there will always be stories of the great things that God has done, and is doing, and even the hardest mind can be moved by them.
As many of you know, I am pretty dreadful at singing, but I gave it a go as I concluded my little sermon.
‘Praise to the holiest in the height
And in the depths be praise’
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.
Tomorrow will be a better day.
As ever,
Fr Marcus