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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Twelfth Sunday after Trinity |
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August 26, 2007 Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 Whatever Solomon makes two important points in this first chapter of his book. The first, which I spoke about last week, is that life is boring. The second, is the topic for today’s sermon, and it is the cause of, or the reason why life is boring. Namely, life is meaningless. I remember well the days of the hippies, and their motto, “Drop out, tune in, turn on. It referred to the view that life is meaningless, and the best way to get through it is to stop striving after material things, “drop out” of the rat race, “tune in” to the sheer meaninglessness of life, and “drop in” on LSD. In the 1960s, meaninglessness was the view of a vocal minority. Today, it is widespread and is the prevalent view of life among the children and grand children of the hippie generation. It is expressed to perfection in their motto, “whatever.” Imagine this conversation. You are walking through the mall and are stopped by two young boys who say, “Hey, you, where’s the movie theatre?” Somewhat offended by their “Hey, you,” you reply, “My name is Mr. or Mrs.” and you supply your last name using the traditional, formal form of address. To this, the teens reply, “Whatever.” That word, “whatever” conveys several layers of meaning, which the boys are communicating to you. In the first layer they are saying that your name doesn’t matter to them. In the second layer they are saying your preference to be addressed in a respectful form of address doesn’t matter to them, because you don’t matter to them except as a source of information about the location of the theatre. But in the third layer, and on a much larger scale, they are saying your preference for formal address, your whole view of life, in fact everyone’s view of life is empty, vain, and meaningless, because life itself has no meaning. Therefore, it doesn’t matter. You can see that it is a short hop from “whatever” to “don’t bother.” If life has no meaning, no plan or purpose to it, why bother to apply yourself to anything? Why bother with school, or a job, or family, or anything that gets in the way of your pleasures for the moment? And so, “whatever” has robbed many of today’s young people of their initiative to make a life for themselves. But theirs is not the first generation to feel this way. Solomon felt the same way 3,000 years ago. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” He is saying all of life, and therefore, all manner of pursuit in life, is meaningless. Again, Solomon is not reciting the philosophy of a favorite teacher, or even voicing the “spirit of the age.” He is speaking from his own experience in life, and he voices his conclusion from having tried it all. Solomon gave himself to the pursuit of wisdom. We may read this as the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Solomon was renowned for his wisdom. Yet he realized there were things he would never understand, and that these were some of the most important issues of life. So he concluded that the pursuit of knowledge is a meaningless pursuit. Young people today are throwing away their opportunities for education with both hands. Now it is no secret that our public school system is broken. It was once the envy of the world, but now is outclassed by many nations. But, whether the school is first rate or fifth rate, the education is there for anyone who wants to get it. I know many public school teachers with whom I disagree radically on fundamental issues of life. But I don’t know any who will not bend over backwards to help a child who shows any sign of interest, get an education. The problem is that many don’t want an education. Why are American students so apathetic about education? Because, to them, life is meaningless, so, why bother? Solomon turned to the party circuit. The pursuit of pleasure and mirth. This is a time honored tradition, and is prevalent today. Why do people drown their lives in pleasure, booze and drugs? In part because they find no meaning in life, and the weight of that thought is too much to bear, and in part because, if life is meaningless, then the pleasure of the present moment is all they have. It is the same with all the other things I talked about last week; art and culture, wealth, fame, success on the job. Solomon tried them all and he found them empty and meaningless, and without power to make life worth living. Do you know why he found them meaningless? Because, once you take God out of the picture you remove the meaning of life. Remove God, and you reduce the universe to chance and chemical reactions. Remove God, and you remove morality. Remove God and you remove purpose. You remove good and evil, and right and wrong. Remove God and you remove the reason for anything. There is no reason for manners, or modesty in dress, or family, or relationships, or work, or being a good citizen or a kind person, or driving your car in a responsible manner. Remove God, and all you have left is, “whatever.” That is exactly the point Solomon is trying to make in his book. And he knows because he tried it. So have others. The German philosopher, Nietzsche said God died in the 19th century, and an astute observer added, “and man died in the 20th century.” Surely Western culture is slowly but surely abandoning God, and the further we get from Him the deeper we sink into despair and decay. Look at America. Crime, corruption, hate, violence, and abuse are killing our country like cancer. And every new solution offered by our various institutions simply creates more problems. But with God, everything is different. With God life means something. It has purpose. We have a reason to do everything. With God, we are alive, and “whatever” is dead. But we cannot simply adopt “god” as a philosophical principle because the idea of a god is good for people and good for the world. It is good for us, but we must have something far greater than an idea adopted for purely utilitarian purposes. We must have not the god of philosophical speculation, we must have the Living God. Only the true Creator can make sense out of life, and sense out of death. Only the true God can give the answers to all our great questions and all our great problems. Only Divine help can change the souls of people, and thus, change the world. And let me tell you, no god of any religion offers this, except one. In that religion there is a story of a world created good but gone horribly wrong. In that religion there is a story of a world lost in darkness, very similar to that described by Solomon. In that religion there is a story of people caught in a death trap of evil and sin with no way out; of people justly under the penalty of everlasting banishment from the One Thing that is everything they need and want, but don’t know it, and when they find out, they resist it because it reproves their sin and calls them to repent and do right. In this religion there is a story of a wonderful God who somehow became a man and lived in this world, and set aside His rights and privileges, and lived and laughed and cried, and finally died, just like other men, except for two things. First, He died for our sins. He died on a cross, and He bore in His own flesh there the wrath of God for the sins of the world. He died, not for His crimes, but for ours. Second, He rose again. Do not look for His body in a tomb or an ossuary. They are not there. He is risen. And He offers meaningful life, and forgiveness, and peace with God as a free gift. All you have to do is let Him give it to you. That “religion” is Christianity, and that God is Jesus Christ. He is the God we need. May God grant us the wisdom to receive 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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