Saturday morning
The northern sky from the seventh level of Harbour Village as we left for PCB after a busy and fruitful and frankly exhausting day's work reclaiming 7H to make it ours again.
A bright day with beautiful clouds and a cool Gulf breeze at least for us who were right on the Bay. With all the car windows down, it whipped through and made the car so pleasant that I drove from StAndrews to PCB in the open air.
Today is Saturday, which means tomorrow is Sunday, and I was looking at the various Bible readings prescribed in the Lectionary. In Track 1 we are reading from the OT prophets, tomorrow Hosea, so won't hear it, but I was intrigued with the Track 2 OT reading from Ecclesiastes, which my grandfather Gentry called "Preacher". In Track 2, the OT reading is selected specifically to presage the Gospel reading in some way, and I don't remember ever seeing it more relevant than this:
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me -- and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
++++++
And look at the Gospel reading:
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
++++++
Couple of thoughts. First although the narrator throughout the NRSV Ecclesiastes calls himself Teacher, in the KJV he calls himself Preacher. The Hebrew word is קֹהֶ֣לֶת pronounced Kohelet or Qoheleth, that a couple of online concordances, including Strong's (which my seminary dean contemned) translate preacher. The word is from קָהָל kahal or qahal, which means assembly, convocation, congregation. So take your pick, teacher or preacher. At the outset, he says he is king, the son of David. Which most obviously would be Solomon, but I suppose could be any king in David's line? I like the book.
The other thing is the art published with The Text This Week,
painted in 1926, the name is "Miser" and it's by Margret Hofheinz-Döring, 1910-1994. It looks the very picture of greed, stinginess.
RSF&PTL
T
A bright day with beautiful clouds and a cool Gulf breeze at least for us who were right on the Bay. With all the car windows down, it whipped through and made the car so pleasant that I drove from StAndrews to PCB in the open air.
Today is Saturday, which means tomorrow is Sunday, and I was looking at the various Bible readings prescribed in the Lectionary. In Track 1 we are reading from the OT prophets, tomorrow Hosea, so won't hear it, but I was intrigued with the Track 2 OT reading from Ecclesiastes, which my grandfather Gentry called "Preacher". In Track 2, the OT reading is selected specifically to presage the Gospel reading in some way, and I don't remember ever seeing it more relevant than this:
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me -- and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
++++++
And look at the Gospel reading:
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
++++++
Couple of thoughts. First although the narrator throughout the NRSV Ecclesiastes calls himself Teacher, in the KJV he calls himself Preacher. The Hebrew word is קֹהֶ֣לֶת pronounced Kohelet or Qoheleth, that a couple of online concordances, including Strong's (which my seminary dean contemned) translate preacher. The word is from קָהָל kahal or qahal, which means assembly, convocation, congregation. So take your pick, teacher or preacher. At the outset, he says he is king, the son of David. Which most obviously would be Solomon, but I suppose could be any king in David's line? I like the book.
The other thing is the art published with The Text This Week,
painted in 1926, the name is "Miser" and it's by Margret Hofheinz-Döring, 1910-1994. It looks the very picture of greed, stinginess.
RSF&PTL
T