The One About Getting Older, Ecclesiastes, and the Meaning of It All
Dear Congregation
I turned 45 yesterday.
As my son keeps reminding me, I am halfway to 90, which means that no crisis from here on out could reasonably be associated with an age that is anything like “mid-life.” The whole thing has left me rather reflective. Time goes on. We all keep getting older. Until we don’t.
An added ingredient to this reflective state has been that I have spent the week with our church preaching team working through the book of Ecclesiastes. If you haven’t read it in a while, it is a sobering reminder that the seemingly cyclical nature of everything in this material life ought to leave one with a discombobulating sense of meaninglessness. Now I know that some of you would resist that and push back against such as a sort of faithlessness, but the writer of Eccelsiastes would suggest that if we don’t ever feel that sense, then we probably aren’t paying all that much attention to the world.
It is a helpful thing to stop and just let the weight of it sit with us sometimes.
The last chapter of Ecclesiastes deals with getting older. Look at what it says, if you dare. I have used Eugene Peterson’s translation of it, because he gets into the actual meaning of the images in the Hebrew poem.
Honor and enjoy your Creator while you’re still young,
Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes,
Before your vision dims and the world blurs
And the winter years keep you close to the fire.
In old age, your body no longer serves you so well.
Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen.
The shades are pulled down on the world.
You can’t come and go at will. Things grind to a halt.
The hum of the household fades away.
You are wakened now by bird-song.
Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past.
Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.
Your hair turns apple-blossom white,
Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.
Yes, you’re well on your way to eternal rest,
While your friends make plans for your funeral.
Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.
It’s all smoke, nothing but smoke.
Ec 12:1–8 (MSG)
We are currently doing everything we can to avoid - or at least delay - that reality for us all, and there is some wisdom in doing so. There is a real sense in which this decay that leads to death is unnatural for those made in the image and likeness of God. We are making amazing strides in understanding wellness and longevity (one of the largest industries in the world today) and there are many elements of that progress that actually reflect good stewardship and a common grace from God.
And … (that most important of theological words)
Decline and death awaits us all.
I feel its claws, even at the spritely age of 45, and even as I do all I can to push back against its approach. I am no fatalist. I’ll eat clean, keep trying to workout, take the occasional cold-plunge, keep my BMI and BP in check as best as I can. And … I know that any attempt to control my own destiny through prolonging the length of my days is simply an act of chasing smoke, as if I could catch it, and keep it, without it vanishing through my fingers.
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So, what should we do, pastor? Should we just put on some Nirvana records, eat all our feelings and wit for the end?
Well, fortunately Eccelsiastes doesn’t end with smoke. It ends where it began, with God. Just like our lives.
The last and final word is this:
Fear God.
Do what he tells you.
And that’s it.
Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.
Ec 12:13–14 (MSG)
The key to a full life isn’t just in its length, or its fitness, or its success. The key to a full life lies in its recognition of and submission to its Creator. Live a life that recognizes God as God, and therefore endeavors to do what He says, whether that be in the vitality and optimism of its beginning, or the frailty and realism of its ending.
If you’re young and fit and free … Know God and obey Him.
If you’re old and frail and winding down … Know God and obey Him.
If you’re somewhere in the middle and starting to feel like you have to squeeze it for all its worth … Know God and obey Him.
I have no idea how many days God will give me, or you. That’s his business and I trust His hand and His gracious economy of day allocation.
But, I do know that the best way to live in a world shrouded by smoke, is to embrace an urgency of right relationship with your creator.
Know God rightly today. Obey God fervently today. Who knows what awaits us tomorrow?
The music today is along the same theme. It is a song called So Much off of Peter Gabriel’s brilliant album, I/O. I am haunted by this lyric.
The body stiffens, tires and aches
In its wrinkled, blotchy skin
With each decade, more camouflage
For the wild-eyed child within
Now close your eyes for a moment
Look down and look above
All the warmth inside of you
Comes from those you love
Peter Gabriel - So Much (Bright-Side Mix)
Press on, dear friends.
Ross
