As we’re moving toward the end of the summer and the end of our “sermons by request” series, I thought I’d try to address a variety of concerns and ideas that were lifted up by some of you this past May.  There were a number of you who requested topics related to your particular season of life – being a teenager, parenting, growing old, making right choices, inspiration in trying times, finding patience, apathy, I could go on and on.  As a preacher it’s tough to cover any one of those topics in a worship setting as they are directed toward a particular group of persons rather than the community as a whole.  However, in all of those topics, there is an overarching theme that we can talk about.  It’s this understanding of the journey of life and our desire to get from where we are right now to somewhere else.  We often find ourselves looking forward to the future, planning and dreaming for when we have more time, looking for solutions as to what will make life a little easier or better.

In fact, the Christian church and really most faiths are designed to help answer those questions and find those answers.  Our ministries are centered around helping people get their needs met.  Whether it is physical needs such as food or shelter, companionship or spiritual needs – many tend to look toward the church for help.  So it only seems natural, that so many of you would want sermons that addressed your particular needs.

So as I searched for a way to begin to address this changing of season – going from one place to another, I kept coming back to this text from Ecclesiastes.  While some say that Ecclesiastes as a whole is a very pessimistic book, I find comfort in the fact that it represents a pretty realistic view of what it is we call life.

Today’s text speaks to us where we are.  It does not assume that we are all in the same season of life, yet it reminds us that whatever stage of life we find ourselves, we’re all on the same journey beginning with birth and ending with death – filled with similar joys and sorrows.  To everything there is a season… Ironically, the predominant word, time, that is spoken of so poetically in this passage is the commodity with which we are always seeming to run out of.  According to a survey done in 1988 – in a lifetime the average American will spend:  Six months sitting at stoplights, Eight months opening junk mail, One year looking for misplaced objects, 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls, 4 years doing housework, 5 years waiting in line, 6 years eating.  And except for opening junk mail, those are things that we really need to do.  Those are practices of being human that we have just simply come to accept.  And that doesn’t even touch on how much time we spend watching TV, playing video games, or text messaging.  When you think about all that we try to pack into a day or a week, no wonder it feels as though there is never enough time.

Sister Joan Chittister says “We have objectified time and packaged it and made it seem to be itself a thing.  We put it on watches and calendars and schedules.  We make wise remarks about losing it and wasting it and spending it and killing it.  Good capitalists, but poor poets, we use the same verbs to talk about time as we do to talk about money.  We save time and count time and invest time.  We forget, too often, to savor time, to enjoy time, to trust time, all time.  Instead we fill it and wrench it.  We race against it and fight it.  We make it enemy instead of friend.  And so we lose it.”

It’s perhaps a little easier to savor the good times.  To enjoy our vacations, to savor the joy of hearing a young child laugh, to trust the feeling of love when it’s new and exciting.  Yet we spend so much of our life just wanting to get to the next season.  We complain about it being too hot or too cold.  We push our kids to learn to crawl and talk and then complain when they make a mess or won’t stop talking.  Each grade in school we can’t wait until the next year, the next step in life.  And as we get older we might not be as excited about birthdays, but we still cram our days and weeks with so many activities that we’re always busy until the day when our body slows down and we’re not busy enough.

Ecclesiastes invites us to look at time a little differently.  The author of this Wisdom literature explains to us that the purpose of time isn’t to see how much we waste or save.  It is not to see who can make it pass by more quickly.  And the purpose of faith is not to avoid all which we deem to be negative or less than pleasing at all costs.  God has given us the gift of our lives and the time we have on earth to be the only thing that is really worth our time being- fully human, created in the image of God to live each season under heaven.

In other words, we are called to recognize God in every moment of every day at every stage of our lives.  We are to be happy and enjoy ourselves at the beginning and the end of life.  Buddhist monks recite daily the five remembrances – I will lose my youth, my health, my dear ones and everything I hold dear and finally lose life itself, by the very nature of being human.  While that seems a little morbid to read every day, it is true that loss is simply a part of life.  Allowing that reality to shape us can actually open more doors than it closes.  There will be times to laugh as well as time to weep – both equally important on our journey.  Thus we are reminded that though life is not dependable, God is dependable.

Robert Klenck writes, “Over two decades ago, I happened to be in Yankee Stadium on a night when a rookie infielder named Brooks Robinson made his major league debut, entering the game in the middle innings after the regular third baseman was injured.  The first play in which he was involved brought to him, simultaneously, a wickedly skidding baseball (thrown by the center fielder) and a pair of slashing spikes presented by a sliding base runner.  Robinson made the play with skill and courage and the Yanks were retired.

In 1977, near the end of his career, Baltimore fans had a ‘Special Day’ for Brooks Robinson, their great third baseman.  Tributes were paid by teammates and opposing players.  A large gift was made in his honor to the Johns Hopkins Hospital Children’s Center, one of his favorite charities.  Brooks was saluted for his remarkable career; His brilliant play, fine sportsmanship, team leadership.  When asked by a reporter how he would most like to be remembered, he replied, ‘Say, “He liked to play the game.”’

That’s a great insight for all of life.  The writer of Ecclesiastes was cynical about work until he got past the idea that you can’t take it with you.  He finally concluded:  “There is nothing better for a man than that he...find enjoyment in his work.”

Many of you know that on Friday, I delivered the Eulogy for Bob Sexton, one of our church members who died tragically on a fishing trip in Canada.  Bob was a man who lived this scripture.  He enjoyed life until the end.  His passion for the law and his faith in Christ allowed him to live a life centered on helping others find joy through relationships and through his teaching.  One of his daughters remembers going to him for parenting advice and he would respond, “just love them.”  Bob loved his family, loved his friends, loved his job, loved the outdoors, loved life and loved the Lord and through his living he taught others to do the same.  People like Bob are rare, but I’ve had the privilege of knowing a few.  They are those people who seem content in whatever season of life they are in.  They are the people who can live through many storms and still reach old age with a sort of optimistic view of life.  There are those so attuned with God that they are always able to see God’s hand and feel God’s presence everywhere they look.

This is who I believe God wants us to be.  I believe God wants us to be the kind of people who instead of asking how they will get through the drama of being in middle or high school, we savor the moments – good and bad – and allow those moments to shape them for years to come.  God wants us to stop expecting good things to just happen for us and embrace the challenges that are thrown our way.  I think God wants us to stop being so “busy” that we forget to take time to LIVE.

Does that mean that we should forget about our responsibilities?  Live by the motto all play, no work?  Does this give us God’s blessing to throw discipline out the window and allow our children to do whatever they want?  Does it encourage us to run away from our troubles or force us to suffer because of previous decisions?  Of course not.  What it does do – is it reminds us to look for God in the ups and downs of life.

That sounds wonderful doesn’t it?  Such a poetic passage with rich meaning.  Reminding us of God’s power and presence in our lives.  But when it comes to actually living it out, I have a few more questions.  I struggle with the contradictions between this passage and Christ’s teaching – there is a time for war?  There is a time to hate?  How does that fit into our understanding of who we are to be as Christians?  Plus there are implications in this text that God knows and determines when these moments happen and I’m not quite ready to give up this idea that we have free will and that sometimes things happen that really stink.

I could come up with explanations that suit me.  I could probably say something that eases those questions for some of you.  But truth be told, I’m not sure anything I would say to answer those questions would be faithful to this particular text.  If I’m really honest, those are questions that I need to continue to explore.  The fact that there are still questions, though, is faithful to the text.  The questions we still have simply remind us that there is always more to know, more to explore, further to go on this journey called life.

And we do have help.  We have God, we have Christ’s teachings and we have each other.  Which leads us to the other text that we read today from 1 Thessalonians.  This epistle clarifies our empty desire for a roadmap.  It confirms that we do not know what will happen when but invites us to take comfort in the fact that we are not alone.  Sure, there will be dark times, but we are children of the light and God will not leave us in the dark.

So HOW do we rely on God?  For one, prayer.  Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today, I had to spend the first 3 hours in prayer.”  What does it look like for you to start each day in prayer?  If you are not already doing this, I’d suggest trying it.  Another way that we rely on God is by learning all we can about Christ’s teachings and our faith journey.  That means being open to Bible studies, recommitting ourselves to worship, showing our children that our faith is more important than anything else by making it a priority.

Next, we have the teachings of Christ.  The model that Jesus set for us can help us make decisions along the way.  The journey from birth to death is not a straight and easy path to follow.  We will often find forks and bridges and short cuts in the road and will need to decide which way to go.  While we might not always choose “right” while sometimes there might be two right paths and others there might be multiple wrong paths, and when we choose wrong or we are impacted by someone else’s wrong choice, we are encouraged to pick ourselves up and try to do the next right thing.  We can’t protect ourselves or others from the reality of life.  We can drive ourselves crazy trying, but the fact of the matter is in order to be fully human we must go through all the seasons no matter how many moments we are living on this earth.  The best way to protect our children is by giving them the tools they need to handle the hardships in life not to shelter them from them.  When we mess up, we can own up to our weaknesses, find joy in working through the consequences and gain strength as we continue on this journey.

The end of the epistle today says “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build up each other as indeed you are doing.

That being said, I’d like to issue a challenge to you all today.  Take a look at the Ecclesiastes text when you get home.  Or, if you prefer, listen to the song written by Pete Seeger.  As you look at it ask yourself what season or moment in time do you have trouble with- where do you find yourself getting stuck, what do you run from or what are you challenged by?

In the next few weeks I encourage you to set some goals that will help strengthen you through the next steps of your journey.  How will you embrace the toils of your journey and find joy in life?  In today’s epistle we are reminded of the importance of covenant community.  Be sure to find that somewhere.  It’s important to have the kind of people surrounding you who will support you no matter what.  It is also important to find persons who you trust to tell you the truth.  Who will support you on your journey?  Who will hold you accountable for your goals?

Finally, how will you help others find that same joy?  How will you teach the children and others how to love and be loved?  How will you teach them how to fail and how to let go?

If you’ve been here the last few weeks, you know that Pastor Deb asked you to be thinking about, praying for and talking to 4 people who you might be able to share God’s love with.  What season are those persons in?  How might you invite them into this community so that they might find faith, hope and love at all times?

Let us pray:  Dear God.  We’re all on the journey of life with different paths from birth to death.  We have some shared moments along the way which helps us to find the strength to keep going.  Show us now the ways in which you are with us at each moment.  Help us to see your work so that we might experience happiness at all points on the journey for the gift of life that you have given us.  Amen.