Peace in Our Time

The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was hailed as bringing peace to Europe after signing a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1938. In a speech on the 30th of September he declared that the agreement represented ‘peace for our time’–an ironic declaration as Germany invaded Poland less than a year later and Europe was plunged into war.[i] A similar phrase is found in The Book of Common Prayer’s exhortation, ‘Give peace in our time, O Lord’. Yet in our time, peace is far from perfect.

The latest issue of Case magazine has the theme ‘peace in our time’, and gives focus to our discussion of this most basic human desire. The Bible has much to say about peace. We are to ‘strive for peace with everyone’ (Heb 12:14a ESV), and we are to be ‘peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God’ (Matt 5:9 ESV). However, the foundation of true peace requires the forgiveness of God. It is a peace made possible by Jesus’ ‘blood of his cross’ (Col 1:20 ESV). It is ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom 5:1 ESV). Peace doesn’t simply mean that we are to seek a reflective space, freedom from conflict, tranquillity, or even the ability to focus on God. No, in its most basic form, it simply signals that we have been reconciled to God. All that we do and say in the name of peace should be shaped by this understanding.

There are four essays on the theme. Andrew Sloane helpfully challenges a simplistic understanding of peace by drawing on the biblical concept of shalom in the form of Sabbath rest. Acknowledging how difficult it is to ‘rest in peace’ in the midst of the busyness of our time, he points out that this rest is a gift from God. But it is also a practice that critiques the false picture we can so easily have of where our significance lies.

In a fascinating article, Mike and Nikki Thompson discuss another view of peace in our time, namely how peace is presented in children’s literature. What are the transcendent meanings that are inevitably communicated in much pro-peace literature? The romantic conception these books project of the child as ‘believer, imaginer, redeemer’ and peace-maker is a view that is at odds with the Bible’s teaching on how peace is achieved.

Many things influence the ease with which Christians can live as ‘peaceful aliens’ in this world. Focussing on the impact that public, civic and social institutions can have on this, Bruce Kaye urges Christians groups and churches to seek a better understanding of how the institutions operate in which we spend so much of our lives. This understanding he suggests will give Christians a greater insight into where to focus their energies in order to best witness to the coming Kingdom of Jesus in these contexts.

Dani Scarratt my co-editor of Case magazine, observes that around the world, blasphemy is becoming an increasingly pressing issue - one that threatens peace in our time. Her essay explores the biblical teaching on blasphemy in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of what blasphemy is, and what an appropriate Christian response to it is. Should Christians fight for God’s honour, or is now the time to hold our peace?

The issue is completed with the discussion of two works of significant Christian scholarship. In an extended review, Shane Waugh takes us through philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff’s recently published 'Justice in Love'. Wolterstorff seeks to understand the concepts of justice and love, defending the proposition that justice and love are compatible, and works through the implications for the peace that is brought through forgiveness. In the second review, David Scarratt does some hard yards for us as he reviews Hill and Kruger’s 'The Early Text of the New Testament', which considers the stability of the wording of the books of the New Testament in light of pre-4th century manuscript evidence.

There is much here that will challenge us in this latest edition of Case. Our hope is that you will find it helpful and encouraging. In a world that stretches us, intimidates us, and leaves us feeling inadequate - and, at times, failures - it is good to seek the peace of God. For ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:7 ESV).



[i] BBC On This Day, 30th September 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_3115000/3115476.stm Downloaded 11th January, 2013.

Thomas Watson on Contentment

Thomas Watson (Wiki Commons)

Thomas Watson (1620-1686) is known as one of the great Puritan Preachers. He was educated at Emmanuel College in Cambridge and began his first pastorate in 1646 at St Stephen's Walbrook. Charles Spurgeon said of him: "Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature".

In his book 'The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11' Thomas Watson explores true contentment and how we understand the circumstances of this life in view of the next life. How do we measure the things of this earth, our temporary home, in light of our true and ultimate home?

Paul said to the Philippians in the context of his comments to a church with its share of internal problems, that we are to be content (Phil 4:1-23). Thomas Watson's book is based on Philippians 4:11 - "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content"  (Philippians 4:11). I share this inspirational quote that offers an insight into the place of the conditions of life in the overall sweep of God's purposes for us.

God sees, in his infinite wisdom, the same condition is not convenient for all; that which is good for one, may be bad for another; one season of weather will not serve all men’s occasions, one needs sunshine, another rain; one condition of life will not fit every man, no more than one suit of apparel will fit every body; prosperity is not fit for all, nor yet adversity. If one man be brought low, perhaps he can bear it better; he hath a greater stock of grace, more faith and patience; he can “gather grapes of thorns”, pick some comfort out of the cross: every one cannot do this. Another man is seated in an eminent place of dignity; he is fitter for it; perhaps it is a place that requires more parts of judgment, which every one is not capable of; perhaps he can use his estate better, he hath a public heart as well as a public place. The wise God sees that condition to be bad for one, which is good for another; hence it is he placeth men in different orbs and spheres; some higher, some lower. One man desires health, God sees sickness is better for him; God will work health out of sickness, by bringing the body of death, into a consumption. Another man desires liberty, God sees restraint better for him; he will work his liberty by restraint; when his feet are bound, his heart shall be most enlarged. Did we believe this, it would give a check to the sinful disputes and cavils of our hearts: shall I be discontented at that which is enacted by a decree, and ordered by a providence? Is this to be a child or a rebel?

Contentment is not to be found in the circumstances of life, but rather in the purposes for which our God uses them. For "...we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose." (Rom 8: 28)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:18-19)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

You can find 'The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11' in varied forms on the Web. These range from versions to be read online, copies to buy and a number of free versions. You can find some of them HERE.

The future of Theology

The 2011 New College Lectures will be held from the 27-29 September and will feature three ‘younger’ theologians who will explore the theme, ‘Theology and the Future’. This is a theme that has an eschatological foundation and the hope that resurrection brings (1 Peter 1:3). As well, it reflects a level of discontentment with the way the world is now and a desire to consider how theology might be applied to the world and its future.

If there are new areas to focus our theology and new depths to plumb, we are as Jürgen Moltmann reminded us, always to do this from an eschatological perspective. We are looking toward the days when Christ will make all things new.  Moltmann in 'Theology of Hope' (1967) suggests that:

"A proper theology.. therefore [has] to be constructed in the light of its future goal. Eschatology should not be its end, but its beginning."

Our theme for the Lectures could stimulate many directions. For example, we could simply stand with Karl Barth and call upon a new generation to say the same things, but differently – “…begin at the beginning and in their own way”? Or instead, we might ask different questions to which we seek right answers; applying the Word of God to new areas of life as we impatiently long for Christ's return? How does theology allow us to view the future and does this change the issues to which we turn our attention in the present? Are the key questions being asked of theology from within the Church of Christ or from without? And how does theology help us to respond to these questions?

We live in age where faith and reason are seen by many people as in opposition. New Atheism has sought to paint a future for religious belief as a mystical curiosity without evidence; something to be confined to one’s personal life. Faith, belief and theology are also seen by some as an irrelevance in the university, the professions and in relation to public policy. For these critics, theology is seen as having no future. Religion is painted as a force that divides people, entrenches old hegemonies and leads to social division and strife. But the Christian faith has a contribution to make to our understanding of reality, the world and its future.

Our lecture series will feature three theologians who have been asked to address the theme we have set. What do they see as the relevance of theology for the future? What does the Bible teach us about the future and our relationship to it? What issues that we will face in the future should we be considering?

We hope that many readers of this blog who live within reach of Sydney will join us. Others might share in the event in a variety of other ways including publications and broadcasts of the lectures.

Speakers

The three speakers we have chosen to share their perspectives are:

Prof John McDowell (Newcastle University) will consider 'Theology & the Future of Education'
Rev Dr David Starling (Morling College) will consider 'Theology & the Future of the Church'
Rev Dr Michael Jensen (Moore College) will consider 'Theology & the Future of Humanity'

Special Edition of Case Magazine

We have also asked our lecturers to write articles based on their addresses for the September edition of Case Magazine (this will be released just after the Lectures). In addition to the above speakers we have asked two other theologians to write for the same edition of the magazine:

Dr Greg Clarke (Bible Society) will write on 'Theology & the Future of the Bible'
Dr Rhys Bezzant (Ridley College) will write on 'Theology & the Future of Worship'

The above edition of our quarterly magazine will be available to regular subscribers and on sale as a single issue.

The promises of God in the midst of anxiety: The Consolations of Theology

We live in an anxious world filled with anxious people. Whether it is our anxiety concerning when the Global Financial Crisis might end, the threat of terrorism, whether human’s are causing global warming, the future of our job’s or our children, the signs of anxiety are everywhere. What do we do with anxiety? What does it mean for the human condition? Is it an inconvenient threat that we need to deal with medically or through counselling? Or do we pander ourselves with little luxuries in the hope that the anxieties of life go away? What about some of the other maladies of our age (or perhaps all ages)? What do we do about anger, obsession, despair, disappointment or even pain?

A recent book edited by Brian Rosner reminds us that the Bible has much to teach us about consolation that is immensely practical and that will lead us towards becoming the people God wants us to be? Rosner’s wonderful collection of essays records some of the papers of a conference that attempted to offer a theological perspective on all of these human conditions. It draws together what some significant theologians have said about the consolations of God and the individual authors’ insights concerning the Bible’s teaching.

Overview of the book

‘The Consolations of Theology’ was the outcome of a conference at Moore Theological College in Sydney that used the structure of Alain de Botton’s book the ‘The Consolations of Philosophy’ to consider the work of six theologians and what their work has to say about the consolations of God in the midst of the struggles, challenges and disappointments of life. Just as de Botton had followed the pattern of Jean Gerson and Thomas More who had in turn followed the genre of the pioneering work of the philosopher Boethius in the sixth century, the speakers at the Moore College took de Botton’s work framed by philosophy and instead applied a theological frame. The resulting publication has six rich and challenging chapters:

• Richard Gibson considers ‘Lactantius on Anger’
• Andrew Cameron considers ‘Augustine on Obsession’
• Mark Thompson considers ‘Luther on despair’
• Peter Bolt considers ‘Kierkegaard on anxiety’
• Brian Rosner considers ‘Bonhoeffer on disappointment’
• Robert Banks considers ‘C.S. Lewis on pain’

A quick summary of one chapter might give you a flavour of this wonderful 160-page book.

Peter Bolt on Anxiety

Dr Peter Bolt frames his chapter with Paul’s words to the Roman church, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Hebrews 8:19) and proceeds to offer a discussion of the anxiety of our age that he reminds us is little different from previous ages. “To be human in this fallen world is to be anxious” for all have been anxious since sin entered the world through Adam. But the Bible suggests that rather than conquering us and leading us to despair and immobility, that anxiety can, indeed should, move us towards anxiety for the things of God (1 Corinthians 7:32) and his people (2 Corinthians 11:28; Philippians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 12:25).

Peter Bolt then unpacks Kierkegaard’s writing in the nineteenth century on anxiety as dread (“Angst”). Kierkegaard argued that anxiety must be distinguished from fear, since animals share the latter. Fear relates to real threats while anxiety reflects the mere possibility that something might happen or come to pass. Kierkegaard also stressed that anxiety must be distinguished from despair. Despair he suggests reflects us giving up on becoming the people God wants us to become, whereas “anxiety arises from the act of us becoming spirit, of becoming who you were created to be. It arises from the possibility that exists in the actual experience of our freedom”.

Bolt then summarises Kiekegaard’s ideas on the relationship between sin, freedom and anxiety this way, “there is a severe disturbance in all of creation, and we human beings are caught up in this objective anxiety. There is a profound disturbance at the core of our being as we live as part of a world subjected to frustration” (Bolt, p.92). The whole world is groaning in anxiety (Romans 8:19 reinforces).

As creatures that have had their relationship severed with God we live under the shadow of death. Bolt in presenting Kierkegaard, suggests that this is “an objective anxiety, a core insecurity, built into them” but there is a subjective anxiety that “arises when a person has set before them the possibility of becoming spirit”. Kierkegaard argued that anxiety is necessary “that the individual must feel the anxiety of the moment of decision, and by choosing to act, so they become human…as we stand in the moment, we stand as a being before God, who must become spirit. As we feel the anxiety of our freedom’s possibilities, we need to act in order to become the person that God wants us to be.” Kierkegaard also talks of anxiety “about evil”, that anxiety about evil can lure us to do evil. And he addresses anxiety “about the good”, anxiety that can lead us to be enslaved to NOT choosing to choose the good, to be the person God wants us to be, that God expects of us. This is an anxiety that shuts us off from the good.

Peter Bolt then takes Kierkegaard’s work and considers it in the light of the New Testament. Anxiety should move us towards God not away from him. He concludes:

“Anxiety is not something to flee from; but it is here, in the midst of anxiety that is built in the fabric of our world, that we can hear the promises of the gospel most sharply. It is here I am summoned to believe, to stake my all on the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Bolt argues that, “this is the age of anxiety”. Our very mortality makes us insecure, and we struggle day by day to cope with the anxieties of life, and can succumb to it. As a young 31 year old I can well remember how crowded in I was by the anxieties of life, the security of my young family, my career, relationships, the mortgage, and death. These anxieties eventually lead me to consider the promises of God and I committed my life to following Christ. But this of course did not remove life’s anxieties, rather it simply redirected my desire to depend on God and seek consolation in these anxieties knowing that my life was in his hand. I needed to learn to be strengthened by anxieties not weakened by them, and I’m still learning this lesson 26 years later.

In drawing on Kierkegaard’s thoughts on anxiety of the good, Peter Bolt concludes that our separation from God can so distort us. That is, the very promises of God and the purpose he has for us to live as the person he wants us to be, are seen as slavery rather than the freedom that the Bible promises in Christ. As the parable of the sower tells us like the seeds in thorny ground the word of God is choked and so are we. The Bible promises that there is a future, an eternal one, that nothing can take away. Nothing can separate us from the love of God:

The gospel promises bring us the most profound consolation. With the promise of this glorious future, even in the midst of the groans of our anxious world, there is a tremendous impetus to constantly turn our groans into prayers – to “cast all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Related posts

Freedom to Choose (here)

The culture of control

“The yearning for control has become a kind of modern madness. Stressed and destabilised by the rate of change, we have been looking in the wrong place for a solution to our anxieties and insecurities.”

These are the words of Hugh Mackay from an edited version of a speech he gave recently as the Annual Oration to the Australian Psychological Society of which he is a fellow.

He suggests that the global financial crisis has once again reminded us that most things are out of our control, including “the greed of others; the slackening demand for our resources; the fragility of under-regulated capitalism”.

He suggests that the human tendency at such times is to “crave…stability and predictability…ritual and repetition”, and that as a result, many have tried to take ‘control’ of their personal lives and the world itself in varied ways:

• Reinventing the institution of marriage.
• Transforming the nature of family life (e.g. 25%of Australian families are now single-parent families).
• Having less babies, hence sending the birthrate tumbling to an all time low;
• changing the way we work (e.g. increased female participation; increased part-time work etc).
• Adopting what he calls “positive action” – if we can't solve global environmental problems then “let's clean up the bush, paint the school, join a choir, buy a hybrid car”.
• Retreating into their shells and disengaging – turning attention to the self, including an obsession with the body, home renovations, putting our children in the best schools to "control” them.
• Supporting greater controls for government, the courts and law enforcement.
• Embracing dogmatic and hard-line fundamentalism in many forms – “…religion, economics, environmentalism or medicine and psychology”.
• Excellence or perfectionism – seeking the perfect marriage, the perfect wife, the perfect school for our children etc.
• Happiness – some have put their focus on seeking the secret to happiness.

He suggests that “….we shouldn't be surprised that so many people feel as if they're trapped on a runaway train, or that our consumption of antidepressants has tripled in the past decade, or that about 25 per cent of young Australians are suffering serious psychological distress, or that the incidence of binge drinking and serious assault has increased markedly over this period.”

But…

While Hugh Mackay seems to have put his finger on lots of things that ring true for most of us, his suggestions as to how we might respond to this failure to control our world, fall well short of what is needed. Even in his suggested solution, he has demonstrated simply another hopeless attempt to control the world and our future. I am reminded of Ecclesiastes:

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun? (Ecc 1:2-3).

We toil generation after generation and yet all of life still seems meaningless and futile. As the Preacher writes later, “there is nothing new under the sun”. Ecclesiastes stresses again and again that we have little control over our future. There is little that is ours to command. As Derek Kidner points out in his commentary on Ecclesiastes:

….we cannot extrapolate from the present. Whether things are going well or ill, we have to take them as they come, knowing that the whole picture will change and go on changing. ‘God has made the one as well as the other’ – good times and bad – ‘so that man may not find out anything that will be after him’ (Ecc 7:14)

God is in control

Hugh Mackay, might have put his finger on the ongoing malady of humanity vainly attempting to control its world, but he fails to point to a meaningful solution. He would have done better to have looked for an answer in the biblical words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph 1:11-14):

“11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.”

There are at least three things worth mentioning from this passage. First, that God's desire for us is that we might be secure in his love and power. While Hugh Mackay rightly points out that we are unable to control our world - health, careers, aging, the economy, your family, education, the ills of our world, global terrorism, global warming etc – he misses the point that we can be secure in the knowledge that God IS in control of his world. God has a plan for each of our lives; one that he has planned in advance. Paul of course knew what it was like to feel as if life was out of control. In Romans (8:35-36) he talks about the tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and the threat of the sword. And yet, he knew that ultimately God was in control.

Second, note that God's ultimate purpose in sealing us with his Holy Spirit (v 13) and guaranteeing us an eternal inheritance is for “the praise of his glory and grace”. Our real purpose is not to serve our own good, to gain personal happiness and fulfilment, to change the world for good and so on; no, it is to bring glory to God.

Third, note that the people for whom God gives a guarantee are those who believe in his Son:

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”

In spite of the uncertainties of this world and our inability to control it, God is in control, and he wants us to feel secure in his love and power.

There is another biblical truth to keep in mind (and in balance) with the words of Paul to the Ephesians. It is that, as good as this life can be at times, even when it isn’t ours to control, living this life isn’t the purpose for which God made us. In the Apostle Peter’s first letter he calls on the people of God to live their lives on earth as if they “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11), people who while living on earth for a time and bound for a heavenly eternity.

Hugh Mackay’s response to our inability to control our world falls well short of the biblical explanation of God’s purposes for us. Mackay’s solutions are still grounded in the futility of ‘chasing the wind’. His writes:

“The current obsession with control looks to me like a symptom of a deep unease in our society. The yearning for control is a cry for help. The most useful response to that cry is not to say, "Here's how to get your life under control" but to explain that the deepest sense of wellbeing springs not from mastery of our circumstances - let alone mastery of others - but from mastery of ourselves.”

This is an attempt to control one’s world in yet another form! Mackay, suggests that while we can’t control the world, we can gain new purpose by controlling ourselves! His solution is as follows:

“We need to shift our focus from control to participation and engagement; from resistance to adaptation; from an unhealthy utopianism to a more realistic acceptance of life's disorderliness, its irrationalities, its unpredictability, its disenchantments, as well as its joys, its gratifications and even its occasional small triumphs.”

This different form of human control won't work either. Self control won’t take the emptiness away from human hearts, or the fears and the uncertainties; only throwing yourself at the mercy of the God of the universe and accepting the free gift of grace and forgiveness that he offers in Jesus will do that. We were designed and made by God for a higher purpose than simply to live for a short time on this earth. Simply taking the good with the bad, as Mackay suggests, won't work either, we will still be chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes again helps us, as it teaches that God places some sense of eternity in our hearts:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

There is no need to see God’s unfolding plans for his creation as scary, frustrating or unsettling (while we might experience these emotions at times), there is purpose and pattern in what God is ordaining. It is God given and it is for his praise and glory. For us the challenge is not that life is constantly out of control, but that we can only ever grasp part of the unfolding plans of God. Instead of chaos there is actually a divine purpose. In this life there will be joy and sorrow, fear and confidence, love and isolation, evil and good, a time to live and a time to die. The answer to coping with a world that seems out of control is to understand that it is actually in the control of God, and that he has an eternal a plan for those who trust in Christ. Paul similarly (in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10) tells us that in this life we will "groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling" (v2). We struggle as wait to leave our 'earthly home' for our true destination, an eternal home. It takes the Preacher in Ecclesiastes twelve chapters until he too reveals the answer to the futility of chasing the wind and of humanity's struggles to control the world:

“13The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecc 12:13-14)

One day there will be death and judgement so drop our pretence of self-sufficiency and commit our lives to the creator and God of the universe.


You can read the Sydney Morning Herald edited version of Mackay's oration here

Wisdom under the lino: Making sense of life

I had the joy of demolishing an old bathroom recently in a 110 year-old house (seriously). As I removed the fixtures, peeled layers of masonite and wood from the walls, dismantled built-in cupboards and lifted several generations of linoleum (vinyl) from the wooden floor, the room revealed its secrets. The remains of two earlier internal doorways dating from the 1890s, buckled paint from an over-stoked wood chip water heater (a chip-heater) from the early 1900s, the original paintwork long covered by a second layer of wood panelling. But best of all were some fragments of newspaper; remnants of the ‘underlay’ for perhaps the 2nd or 3rd floor covering dating from the 1950s. A half dozen pages still hidden under the 1950s linen press.

I leafed through the fragments of the old Sydney Morning Herald dated 15th November 1950. I read with fascination of an estimated 200,000 people flocking to Sydney’s beaches to escape the warm weather. The finance section reported record profits for G.J. Coles and encouraging figures for the new Luna Park. Sydney Ferries was in a spot of bother with reduced profits, a capital reduction strategy and plans to hold onto ferries for 8-10 years longer, and (of course) disappointed investors. General MacArthur in his second report on the war in Korea had been appealing to the UN Security Council members to send more ground forces. Column Eight started with a piece about some “New Australians” who had taken an Aussie phrase from their new language too literally and so on.

By the time I had picked up the top third of page 4 (all that remained of it), I started to wonder if this really was a 1950s edition of the SMH. The three stories on this fragment of a page featured:

• The rising road toll and the calls from the Superintendent of traffic for “a greater number of police if we are going to bring to heel those road users who are behaving like lunatics”; and expert comment from Professor Elkin of the technical research committee.
• A Victorian rail strike planned for that day.
• The urgent need to “end the housing nightmare” by rapidly increasing the number of public houses available.

As I bashed away with hammer and chisel I mused over the minimal change in the issues concerning people and the daily life being experienced in Sydney. I was reminded of Ecclesiastes (1:2-11) when the Preacher (or Teacher) opens his book with the words:

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"?
It has been already in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge." And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Ecclesiastes is a much misunderstood book, some see the words of the writer as negative, cynical and depressing, but nothing could be further from the central truth of this short work. While it is disjointed, a bit obscure in language and confusing at first reading, there is wisdom in it that would take many Blog posts to discuss. This is a major apologetic work, as relevant today as it was over 2,000 years ago. The opening verses address my reflections on the newspaper clippings.

The Preacher opens his book by inviting the reader to reflect on the ‘Ground Hog Day’ repetitiveness of life; the sense that all of us can have at times, that our life has the same patterns of work-sleep, happiness-sorrow, birth-death and so on. “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity”. The writer is conscious of the vanity and corruption to which creation is subject (Rom 8:20ff) and begins his book by emphasising the curse on creation that is a consequence of sin and the Fall in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:17-19).

While some readers find Ecclesiastes too negative, this is the writer’s device to bring one’s attention back from seeing this world and our life in it as ends in themselves. The alternative, the key, he hides from the reader for much of the book, but he provides hints alomg the way, almost teasing the reader as he works towards what he sees as the key. The Preacher doesn’t deny that the world can have its own happiness (see for example Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:12; 3:22; 5:18; 9:7; 11:9); but the ‘real’ significance he suggests, is that in this at times confusing world God’s goodness, wisdom and righteousness is revealed. It is in this life that God’s plan of salvation in Christ is made known.

So while a bunch of old newspaper clippings might have lead me to reflect on the unchanging patterns of life and the world, there is a way to make sense of the seeming vanity and meaninglessness of life. While there is “nothing new under the sun” (1:9b), the world must be understood as being from the hand of God (2:24; 5:18-20). This is a message about faith when confronted by the confusion and sometimes pain, of life. He suggests that our life is to be led by faith not in our own strength, cunning, skill and hard work - a lesson I continue to learn!

By human wisdom we cannot hope to fathom the work of God (Eccl. 3:11), despite all our efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its full meaning (Eccl. 8:17). Instead we are to look to God. To revere him (3:14b), to stand in awe of him, for “it will be well with those who fear God” (Eccl 8:12).

The Preacher reminds us that life is brief and is to be lived in humility and trust in God.

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them” (Eccl. 12:1).

The Preacher ends with:

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13-14).

There will be judgment one day, but all will be well with those who trust God, and who seek the forgiveness, for as Peter outlined in his first letter to the exiles scattered across the world:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).