Today’s Word offers one of the most sobering phrases that you’ll ever hear in Scripture: “All things are vanity…” The sobering part is that this sounds like it’s saying that this all just a waste of time. “For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?” NOTHING!
Now this tone of futility in today’s First Reading from Ecclesiastes, one of the Wisdom Books of Solomon, seems to be quite the “downer,” but these books are very dedicated to a reflection on the value of wisdom in the midst of the reality of life, and how it moves on in the same vain for all of us! For example, here’s another verse from one of the Wisdom Books attributed to King Solomon: This one, appropriately is from the Book of Wisdom (aptly titled – don’t you think?): “Those who despise wisdom and instruction are doomed. Vain is their hope, fruitless their labors, and worthless [are] their works.”
Scholars tell us that the phrase, “Vanity of vanities” is a Hebrew superlative expressing a supreme degree of futility and emptiness. Vanity is taken from the Latin word “Vanus,” meaning “emptiness.” One of the many translations out there refers to “Vanus” as “vapor,” connecting it with a futility that is similar to trying to catch the wind, or deciding on where the breeze begins or where it ends…
So let me jump off here and add that our faith also tells us that the wind is the source of all creation, the RUAH – the Breath of God, and from this breath comes all life, and all light, and all that is beauty! It brings us food and all that keeps us alive and offers us true wisdom. So, it’s all God, as God is the source of everything, and present to us always! And while his creation moves forward, and the sun rises and sets on us all, no matter our curse or fortune, no matter our obscurity or status, no matter our failure or success in business or relationships or communication skills… God’s wisdom can be breathed in by us all as this “vapor” is all around us!
My friends, if we pursue God, and wisdom, life is NOT futile, and nor is our work a waste of time. For as St. Paul puts it to the Colossians in today’s second reading, “Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all,” and I’ll add that, like the wind and wisdom, are around us all at all times… All we have to do is include them in our lives!
And with regards to all our “stuff,” it’s all a blessing. It’s all icing on the cake. It’s all on loan so that we can use it for the glory of God, and the care of his children and of his magnificent creation! Some of you know this, and others might be surprised by it, but some parishioners and I have a band. We especially like to play during the summer, and when we play, whether in an establishment around town or by the pool at a family party, it’s usually the music of our childhood with an occasional Jimmy Buffett tune. The Lord has blessed me and has surrounded me with true friends who know how to play music, and together we try to share a few smiles with this great community of ours. Now some might legitimately question whether your Deacon should be involved with such things… Last night we helped raise a couple of thousand dollars for a local charity, so trust me when I say that the love of the Lord and his infinite wisdom is truly all around us, and as close as the air we breathe, for in the midst of another Saturday night, a handful of good people answered an invitation and gave of themselves to help the homeless!
So our Lord simply offers this: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions…” It consists of God and of his love. It consists of our journey of faith and our pursuit of wisdom. It consists with the giving of ourselves freely and wholeheartedly, so that all might grow in wisdom to know the Lord and share his love!
Jesus continues… On this night your life [may] be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” – You can’t take it with you!
I’ll close by harkening back to my Youth Ministry days, when I heard a great presentation that was offered at my very first National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in 1988. The speaker gave what he called “a good ol’ Pentecostal Sermonette” he called “Titles vs. Testimonies.” It went something like this:
Now this tone of futility in today’s First Reading from Ecclesiastes, one of the Wisdom Books of Solomon, seems to be quite the “downer,” but these books are very dedicated to a reflection on the value of wisdom in the midst of the reality of life, and how it moves on in the same vain for all of us! For example, here’s another verse from one of the Wisdom Books attributed to King Solomon: This one, appropriately is from the Book of Wisdom (aptly titled – don’t you think?): “Those who despise wisdom and instruction are doomed. Vain is their hope, fruitless their labors, and worthless [are] their works.”
Scholars tell us that the phrase, “Vanity of vanities” is a Hebrew superlative expressing a supreme degree of futility and emptiness. Vanity is taken from the Latin word “Vanus,” meaning “emptiness.” One of the many translations out there refers to “Vanus” as “vapor,” connecting it with a futility that is similar to trying to catch the wind, or deciding on where the breeze begins or where it ends…
So let me jump off here and add that our faith also tells us that the wind is the source of all creation, the RUAH – the Breath of God, and from this breath comes all life, and all light, and all that is beauty! It brings us food and all that keeps us alive and offers us true wisdom. So, it’s all God, as God is the source of everything, and present to us always! And while his creation moves forward, and the sun rises and sets on us all, no matter our curse or fortune, no matter our obscurity or status, no matter our failure or success in business or relationships or communication skills… God’s wisdom can be breathed in by us all as this “vapor” is all around us!
My friends, if we pursue God, and wisdom, life is NOT futile, and nor is our work a waste of time. For as St. Paul puts it to the Colossians in today’s second reading, “Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all,” and I’ll add that, like the wind and wisdom, are around us all at all times… All we have to do is include them in our lives!
And with regards to all our “stuff,” it’s all a blessing. It’s all icing on the cake. It’s all on loan so that we can use it for the glory of God, and the care of his children and of his magnificent creation! Some of you know this, and others might be surprised by it, but some parishioners and I have a band. We especially like to play during the summer, and when we play, whether in an establishment around town or by the pool at a family party, it’s usually the music of our childhood with an occasional Jimmy Buffett tune. The Lord has blessed me and has surrounded me with true friends who know how to play music, and together we try to share a few smiles with this great community of ours. Now some might legitimately question whether your Deacon should be involved with such things… Last night we helped raise a couple of thousand dollars for a local charity, so trust me when I say that the love of the Lord and his infinite wisdom is truly all around us, and as close as the air we breathe, for in the midst of another Saturday night, a handful of good people answered an invitation and gave of themselves to help the homeless!
So our Lord simply offers this: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions…” It consists of God and of his love. It consists of our journey of faith and our pursuit of wisdom. It consists with the giving of ourselves freely and wholeheartedly, so that all might grow in wisdom to know the Lord and share his love!
Jesus continues… On this night your life [may] be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” – You can’t take it with you!
I’ll close by harkening back to my Youth Ministry days, when I heard a great presentation that was offered at my very first National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in 1988. The speaker gave what he called “a good ol’ Pentecostal Sermonette” he called “Titles vs. Testimonies.” It went something like this:
"My friends… What’cha you gonna live for, your titles or your testimony?"
· Pharo had a title, but Moses - He had a testimony!
· Nebuchadnezzar had a title, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – They had testimonies!
· Pilate had a title, but Jesus… Jesus had THE testimony!
So what’s it gonna be? You gonna settle for a title, or are you sharing your testimony, because I’m here to tell you, you are gonna die! And when you do, I can promise you this: We’re gonna gather here, then take you to the cemetery and come back to the church and eat potato salad! And when we do, what would you rather us talk about, your title or your testimony? Let’s just say that a discussion on titles will make for a really short lunch… Y’all work on those testimonies, OK?
· Pharo had a title, but Moses - He had a testimony!
· Nebuchadnezzar had a title, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – They had testimonies!
· Pilate had a title, but Jesus… Jesus had THE testimony!
So what’s it gonna be? You gonna settle for a title, or are you sharing your testimony, because I’m here to tell you, you are gonna die! And when you do, I can promise you this: We’re gonna gather here, then take you to the cemetery and come back to the church and eat potato salad! And when we do, what would you rather us talk about, your title or your testimony? Let’s just say that a discussion on titles will make for a really short lunch… Y’all work on those testimonies, OK?
As long as testimonies are true and not contrived, as long as we listen with an open heart without built-in biases. We are all God's children who have experienced vastly different lives. People listen though their particular filters....and it's hard to do otherwise because we don't know what we don't know. It is not so much the telling of "our story" that is important, it is the telling of how God changed our lives in and through that story. We fulfill Christ’s call to serve as his witness through our testimony - “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 When we share our testimony, we proclaim that Christ is real, his words are true, and nothing can prevent his promise to build his church. In Matt 16:13-20, Jesus asks who the people say He is, and then asks who the disciples say He is. Peter says that Jesus is the Christ – the son of the living God and tells them that this declaration of faith is the rock on which He will build His church. SP
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