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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Eleventh Sunday after Trinity |
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August 19, 2007 Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 I’m Bored I want to talk today about one of the major social problems of our time. It is a great contributor to many of the other problems that plague our society, yet it is hardly recognized as a problem at all. It is the problem of boredom. People are just plain bored. Look at the younger generations, for example. Not too many generations ago children were in the workforce. Elementary school age children worked long, hard, dangerous hours in factories and sweatshops and mines and farms. And they worked not to buy new trinkets, but to put food on the family table. We, as a culture, have done much to get children out of that predicament. We have passed laws against child labor, and built schools to give them a chance to do something safer with their lives. In addition, we have formed extra-curricular activities, and summer athletic leagues, we have given them movies and TVs and cell phones and cars and computers, and everything you can think of under the sun. Kids today have more free time, more freedom, less work, less responsibility, more money, more things, and more time to enjoy their things. And what do we hear from kids today? “I’m bored.” But boredom is not just limited to kids. Adults are bored too. Many, if not most of the people I know are bored with their jobs. Many of you may remember the pop song, I don’t remember the name or the group who did it, only the words, “everybody’s working for the weekend.” There is much truth to that. I often hear people say, they can’t wait till the weekend, or vacation, or this holiday or that holiday, but I never hear people enjoying a vacation, say, “I miss my job so much.” Now, I do sometimes hear people say they can’t wait to get back to work on Monday, because it will get them out of the house and away from the kids, but that’s a different social problem. Perhaps we’ll talk about that too, some other time. They are not just bored with their jobs. People today are often just plain bored with life. Here again, we have more time, more freedom, more money, more leisure, more toys, and we’re bored to tears. And this is across all lines of race and class. At a social event I was standing within earshot of young adults of two of Virginia’s wealthiest families. They didn’t know I heard them, but I did, and their conversation went something like this, “Get drunk last night?” “Yeah, wasted. You?” “Yeah, I don’t remember nuthin.” “Must have had a great time.” These were the pampered rich. They had everything, yet the only thing they could think of to do was drink away their boredom. And they’re not alone. People today have all the modern appliances. We often eat out or get “carry-out” on the way home. We have boats, horses, vacation homes, and every imaginable luxury, And we’re bored to tears. I wonder, could part of the hectic pace that is so prevalent in our culture be due to our need to relieve our boredom by filling every minute with so much stimulation we don’t have time to notice how bored we are? And, I wonder, could the illegal drug and alcohol pandemic be due in part to bored people just looking for their next thrill to help them forget how bored they are? If boredom truly is a social problem, ours is not the first generation to notice it. Solomon wrote about that very issue almost a thousand years before the time of Christ. He didn’t use the word, “boredom.” He wrote of vanity. “All is vanity.” But, if you listen to his story you find he is just plain bored with life. Now Solomon was a man who had it all. He had power, money, possessions, fame, houses, land, servants. There was no finery or luxury of that time, that he didn’t have, and he indulged his every whim. Yet life had brought him to the point of total boredom. Listen to his own words. Hear the boredom in them. “One
generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.”
“The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down.”
“The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the
north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again
according to his circuits.” “The
rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from
whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that
which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under
the sun.” “I have seen
all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and
vexation of spirit.” Solomon did not come to this conclusion in a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life. Solomon was not reiterating the teachings of a philosopher, or some favorite teacher at school. We sometimes adopt ideas simply because we admire the person who holds them, but Solomon did not become bored because someone told him he should be. He was bored because he had tried it all, and none of it gave the thrill and meaning to life he wanted. He gave himself to the pursuit of wisdom. But he found that the increase of wisdom brought a corresponding increase in sorrow. Furthermore, there are anomalies in life that simply defy human wisdom. Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the good suffer? Why doesn’t God, who claims to be good and who promises that the meek shall inherit the earth, do something about it? Finding that wisdom didn’t give the answers he wanted, he finally got bored contemplating such issues, so he turned to folly. He turned to mirth. He turned to parties and revelry and drunkenness. I see this in the alcohol and drug problems that are rampant in our nation. I see it in the club hopping, the campus keg parties, the drug use. I think people are bored with life and just want to escape from their boredom. A man once came to a minister and confessed a growing problem of alcohol abuse. The minister said, “When you face the issue that is driving you to drink, you will quit drinking.” I believe there are many things that are driving people to drink and drugs today, and they won’t stop until they face, and conquer those things, and one of them is boredom. The problem here is that the parties get boring. And, unless you want to become an alcoholic or an addict, drugs and alcohol become boring too. Solomon became bored with them. Solomon became bored with the whole party circuit. Next, Solomon gave himself to building wealth. He became fabulously rich, by opening ports in his country and transferring goods from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea through his land. But he soon had everything money could buy, and he became bored again. So he tried art and culture, and he built great cities and palaces. And one day he just said, “this is boring.” Someone said classical music is just a thin veneer over our savagery. If the music is simply a way to make an appearance, he is right. And the same can be true of art, architecture, and culture in general, for these things must be an expression of ourselves to have any deeper meaning. Trying to conform to a certain form of music that means nothing to us, is boring. So here is the conclusion of Solomon. It is found in Ecclesiastes 1:14. It says; “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” You have heard me say that the Bible is relevant to our situation today. Certainly this book could have been written by any number of people today. It truly is like reading today’s paper, or the latest best selling book, or watching some of the contemporary films, or listening to the words of popular “music.” And I want to say to you that, just as the biblical assessment of the problems is as up to date and relevant as today, so is its answer and solution. And the answer is Christ. Solomon found temporary relief in his pursuits. They all helped for a time. But soon he began to see the emptiness, the vanity of them, the boredom of them. I say there are people today trying to end their boredom in the same ways, and finding the same results. Those forms of escape cannot bring long-term help. But one thing can. One person can. His name is Jesus, and He lived and died and rose again to give meaning and hope to life by freeing us from the burdens of sin and unbelief. Life as His disciple is often tough, but never boring. God grant us grace to trust Him. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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