Absolute Absurdity

Bryce begins our series in Ecclesiastes, teaching out of Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. The tone for the book of Ecclesiastes wastes no time being set. No sooner have we been introduced to Qoheleth (the Teacher, David's son, king in Jerusalem) than we meet his resounding refrain - "Absolute futility." Vanity of vanities. All of it is in vain, a striving after the wind. This word - hevel - is a foundational construct throughout the book. It has the connotation of breath or wind. It is vaporous. It's this word that Qoheleth will use to try to capture the fleeting absurdity of life lived here under the sun. And in this first chapter, he starts reflecting on the types of things he's observed that bring him to this conclusion of hevel.

Much labor produces little. Generations come and go and barely make a mark. Life is cyclical and mundane. The sun comes up and goes down. The wind blows in circles. Streams flow to the sea endlessly and yet the sea never gets full. This is how life feels. We do and we do and we go and we go and we toil and spin and go to sleep to do it all over again and what is there to show for it? Other than weariness? Unsatisfied. And nothing is novel. It's all been done before. Like Star Wars sequels. Can anyone say, "Oh look! This is something new!" No, it's all tired. And nothing that was really gets remembered. Which means we won't be either.

This book of Ecclesiastes is going to have lots of perspective for us - plenty of lessons for us to take away. We will look to grow in biblical wisdom for how we think and live here and now. As we go, we will find surprising sweetness. Not fake, superficial sweetness but deeply rooted, well-reasoned, built for the hard parts of life sweetness. And that starts here. By learning to not expect life under the sun to deliver more than it can. By contenting ourselves to observe its absurdity and not be sent into a tailspin. Life under the sun is bizarre. And that's okay.