July 1, 2025
Have you ever wrestled with finding meaning and fulfillment?
Did you ever think you had it all figured out only to have life come crashing down around you?
I have.
One of my (Jared) favorite books in the Old Testament is Ecclesiastes. The word is Greek for “the one who gathers an assembly.” There is an unnamed speaker whose words are gathered up and briefly commented on.
What this teacher has to say is sometimes very confusing. At times, it seems a little out of step with other things in the Bible. Sometimes it’s hopeful, and yet it can turn on a dime to being downright cynical and hopeless.
It’s the perfect Biblical book for our moment in history. If you are anything like me, you can sometimes be hopeful and then turn downright cynical. I somehow doubt that I am alone in that.
It is a poetic book. It speaks more in riddles and metaphors than in any sort of truth statements. As a matter of fact, the narrator who compiles the book on behalf of the main speaker questions some of what the speaker has to say. For this reason, for centuries, commentators have struggled with how it fits in the Bible.
It is a book of wisdom, but it isn’t always very wise. Sometimes, some of the advice strikes you as a little bit foolish. Sometimes it is confusing what the speaker is trying to say.
So what is it about? It’s about something else that can sometimes be poetic, wise, foolish, and confusing. Twenty-seven times in the book, we are told that it is about “life under the sun.”
You and I live the same human life as the three people we meet in the book. They are the speaker, the narrator, and the narrator’s son. Like them, we are trying to find our way in this life under the sun.
For this series of poetry, asking questions, and searching for answers under the sun, I have put together a playlist of songs. Some of the songs remind me of the book in some way. Some I can tell you why; others just make me feel like the speaker is telling us to feel. The sermon titles through this series will borrow from songs on the playlist.
The first sermon title is MMMbop by Hanson. It sounds fun, but listen to the words. It’s all about the meaninglessness of life under the sun. This word is used 39 times in the book and is best translated as “smoke” or “vapor.” We will talk about that more, but it sometimes means pointless and sometimes it means fleeting. The thing to acknowledge as we look at it together is the way we try to grasp it and hold it, but we simply can’t keep a handful of smoke.
If you are tired of trying to grab a handful of smoke in this life under the sun, I would love it if you would join us as we explore the meaning of the ancient book that may offer us a couple of answers. Even when it doesn’t, it gives us courage that we are not the only ones to ask.
Jared and Jason