Dr. Peter Enns was my New Testament professor during my first year of college. This year in chapel, he did a three part teaching on Ecclesiastes. The timing was perfect, because just this summer I found that this book is one of my favorites, but I was puzzled by it. Imagine my surprise when Enns, one of the professors to has taught me the most, and has taught me to think, the most, was going to speak into the book that I wanted so much to understand.
These are some of his words that I captured on paper.
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Week 1
Why have a job?
Meaningful life
Buy a house
What does all that matter? I'm gonna die anyway.
That's a summary of Ecclesiastes.
Enns loves this book. Because it's more honest about things than we sometimes dare to be.
Nothin matters. Everything is meaningless. No matter what all your efforts, you'll have nothing to show for it because you're gonna die. God is to blame because he set it up this way.
The authors wants this sour note.
Totally stupid. Everything is stupid.
What do we gain for our toil?
He's punching you between the eyes and grabbing you by the throat. He won't let you go. And don't write him off.
For him nature does not declare glory of God. He's having a bad day. Nature tells of the meaninglessness.
Nothing new. Don't hold on to anything because it's nothing new and nothing that will last.
Verse 11. People are not remembered after they die and this cycle won't end.
Don't find comfort too quickly.
Even family is quite forgotten! I [Anna] don't even know my paternal grandmother's name.
He wants you to be depressed and shift to this uncomfortable state.
Steve Jobs has affected a lot of us. Do we remember when he died?
Are you depressed yet? If yes, mission accomplished. And this is in the Bible. Where do you find honesty like this?
No wiggling out, no quick answer. He keeps you there for 12 chapters.
It might be surprising to learn what he says to get you out of this.
Week 2
Maybe the Israelites didn’t always have it all together.
Week 3
In a faith crisis. Absent in his life, he feels God is downright mean.
We all have cohelet moments. We are disappointed or angry when God is a no show.
What does it look like for us to keep going in these moments? What diff does it make? What diff does Jesus make?
These moments are part of our journey and communion with Christ.
Three things Enns has learned:
Whatever it is, be honest with God. We are conditioned to put on make up and pretend everything is ok for God.
Enns was a great father except for a 25 year period when he was just winging it. Hard to believe that his daughter went through a time when she didn't like him at all. What a blessing that she could be honest with him! She trusted him enough. Do I trust God enough? Do I trust his love enough to be in his face the way chohelet was?
Second thing: when God seems absent, maybe he is actually teaching you something. One of the paradoxes of the Christian faith- when he seems most distant is when he is most present.
You are not leaving God behind, you are leaving your thoughts of God behind.
Mother Teresa said no, she will not pray for clarity.
Clarity is the last thing you are holding onto and need to let go of.
Mother Teresa: "I've never had clarity, I've had trust."
Maybe he is teaching us to let go.
Third thing: hardest one to explain. It's a grand mystery. But it's a key to the Christian life. Our God is a suffering God. Jesus suffered for us so we don't have to, but that's only PART of it. It's something that he does WITH us, not just FOR us.
"I know what the Bible says I just don't always understand it"
God suffers with us. No matter what we are not alone.
We also suffer with him. It is how he meets us and how we meet him. Cohelet moments may be allowing you to connect with God is a way no other thing can.
Phil 3:10. Becoming like him in his death. It's a package deal. Can't have one without the other.
His life is a pattern for us.
Cohelet is not the problem child of the Bible. He is our hero. He is not broken, and neither are you. He doesn't need to be fixed. There is no quick fix. There is only walking with God daily, trusting, no matter what you feel like. You almost can't lose.
These are some of his words that I captured on paper.
_________________________________________________________________________
Week 1
Why have a job?
Meaningful life
Buy a house
What does all that matter? I'm gonna die anyway.
That's a summary of Ecclesiastes.
Enns loves this book. Because it's more honest about things than we sometimes dare to be.
Nothin matters. Everything is meaningless. No matter what all your efforts, you'll have nothing to show for it because you're gonna die. God is to blame because he set it up this way.
The authors wants this sour note.
Totally stupid. Everything is stupid.
What do we gain for our toil?
He's punching you between the eyes and grabbing you by the throat. He won't let you go. And don't write him off.
For him nature does not declare glory of God. He's having a bad day. Nature tells of the meaninglessness.
Nothing new. Don't hold on to anything because it's nothing new and nothing that will last.
Verse 11. People are not remembered after they die and this cycle won't end.
Don't find comfort too quickly.
Even family is quite forgotten! I [Anna] don't even know my paternal grandmother's name.
He wants you to be depressed and shift to this uncomfortable state.
Steve Jobs has affected a lot of us. Do we remember when he died?
Are you depressed yet? If yes, mission accomplished. And this is in the Bible. Where do you find honesty like this?
No wiggling out, no quick answer. He keeps you there for 12 chapters.
It might be surprising to learn what he says to get you out of this.
Week 2
Maybe the Israelites didn’t always have it all together.
Martin Luther- “Love Him? Sometimes I hate Him.”
Honesty that sometimes we don’t embrace.
We play church.
God understands.
We expect the wrong things when we read it.
This book is not telling us how we should think, it’s telling us how we do think sometimes.
It's a mirror and we look and see ourselves in it.
Ch 12 --> Cohelet is done talking and narrator will evaluate what he's been saying for 12 chapters
1. Cohelet is wise. You can't blow him off.
2. Wisdom hurts. Not there to make you feel good.
Words of the wise are like goods, like firmly fixed nails.
Don't baptize your lack of organizational skills in a Bible verse.
At the end, what do you do?
Fear God. Keep the commandments.
It's dark, you want to give up, you don't want to be an Israelite.
Solution? It's not a quick fix. It's a path. Keep walking. Be and Israelite.
That was their solution.
I don't feel like it, it makes no sense -- it doesn't matter. Keep walking.
For the Israelites the "path forward" was being an Israelite anyway, even when they didn't want to.
Week 3
In a faith crisis. Absent in his life, he feels God is downright mean.
We all have cohelet moments. We are disappointed or angry when God is a no show.
What does it look like for us to keep going in these moments? What diff does it make? What diff does Jesus make?
These moments are part of our journey and communion with Christ.
Three things Enns has learned:
Whatever it is, be honest with God. We are conditioned to put on make up and pretend everything is ok for God.
Enns was a great father except for a 25 year period when he was just winging it. Hard to believe that his daughter went through a time when she didn't like him at all. What a blessing that she could be honest with him! She trusted him enough. Do I trust God enough? Do I trust his love enough to be in his face the way chohelet was?
Second thing: when God seems absent, maybe he is actually teaching you something. One of the paradoxes of the Christian faith- when he seems most distant is when he is most present.
You are not leaving God behind, you are leaving your thoughts of God behind.
Mother Teresa said no, she will not pray for clarity.
Clarity is the last thing you are holding onto and need to let go of.
Mother Teresa: "I've never had clarity, I've had trust."
Maybe he is teaching us to let go.
Third thing: hardest one to explain. It's a grand mystery. But it's a key to the Christian life. Our God is a suffering God. Jesus suffered for us so we don't have to, but that's only PART of it. It's something that he does WITH us, not just FOR us.
"I know what the Bible says I just don't always understand it"
God suffers with us. No matter what we are not alone.
We also suffer with him. It is how he meets us and how we meet him. Cohelet moments may be allowing you to connect with God is a way no other thing can.
Phil 3:10. Becoming like him in his death. It's a package deal. Can't have one without the other.
His life is a pattern for us.
Cohelet is not the problem child of the Bible. He is our hero. He is not broken, and neither are you. He doesn't need to be fixed. There is no quick fix. There is only walking with God daily, trusting, no matter what you feel like. You almost can't lose.
