“Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.” That’s how the Teacher starts his talk around the table. He says it and everyone nods. We do too. We nod because we have experienced the sorrow, the frustration, the pain, even the emptiness of life under the sun. This is how he starts his table talk, but this is not his end. The Teacher helps us live with a childlike faith to honestly face the quandaries of existence in this fallen world. We can enjoy life’s little pleasures as gifts from our gracious God. We can roll with the punches and look realistically at the problems of earthly life. We can even laugh in the face of such trouble. The faith inspired by the Teacher is resilient. Even death cannot shake us. We learn to live resiliently with the simple faith of a child.

This weekend we’ll be looking at Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. The sermon will, in a way, serve as an introduction the life of faith God calls us to live. What is this life? It is not a life under the sun. That is meaningless. It is, rather, a life above and beyond the sun that God invites us to live. Can’t wait! I won’t be empty or vanity or meaningless.