Grace

GRACE

Introduction

This message was first delivered on Palm Sunday in the Season of Lent when it is one week until Easter. I wondered at the time,  Can we pull together Grace and Lent – Commitment - Palm Sunday? We’ll have to see.

Why Speak on Grace? 

I wanted to speak on grace because my thoughts and experiences for some time have impressed upon me how important grace is. Indeed, some of our members thought it important enough, some 40 odd years ago, to name our church building, our congregation, Grace Mennonite Church. The story of how and why that name was chosen for our group has probably been written down by sister Anna Schroeder in her recently completed history of our church, but I haven’t had the privilege of reading that yet.

As I was saying, I was becoming aware of how important the grace of God is, especially as God expresses it towards us. At the same time, I was seeing how important it is that grace is lived out in our lives.

The Word Grace

The word grace is found 170 times in the Bible according to a concordance of the New Revised Standard Version. It is a word that has several meanings in different contexts. We all have some idea of what it means. If you are like me though, I suspect your understanding of the term is a little vague, not crisply clear. I believe in fact, that in all its fullness, the grace of God is really as much a concept as a word.

Definition

To begin with, let’s look at what grace means. Then we’ll see what grace does and makes possible, what we will do, or should be doing, when we are living in the grace of God. We can then see how that links up with Commitment, our Lenten theme today.

As Anna Schroeder reminded us two weeks ago, much of our New Testament first appeared in Greek. If we want to make a proper study of the word grace as it appears in the Bible then, we should begin with the Greek word and its definition. Ideally, one should go back and study what the Hebrew meanings of grace are in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, I have never made myself familiar with Hebrew. In any case, the meanings of grace in the New Testament are more important for the Christian faith.

1. The Greek word for grace is Charis. It is similar to the verb ‘charidzomai’, which appears to

come from the same root and means “to give freely or graciously, as a favour…to forgive, pardon… to show oneself to be gracious to someone”. I noticed also in looking these words up, that the Greek word for ‘joy’, ‘charan’, is very similar. In fact, there appear to have been times when the words were used interchangeably. Indeed, if we have grace, or have been shown grace, we should be joyful.

Another similar word is ‘charisma’, “a gift freely and graciously given”, from which is derived charismatic. Originally, at least in Christian thought, that word referred to someone who was the embodiment of grace, who was believed to be someone who really displayed in his or her lives the presence of the Holy Spirit. It now usually refers more generally to anyone who has the gift or ability to influence, to lead, to impress, even simply to charm.

Charis is used to mean ‘graciousness, attractiveness…favour…gracious care or help, goodwill’, to refer to the ‘[state of having] favour with someone’. In particular, it is used to describe “the possession of divine grace s a source of blessings for the believer, or …a store of grace that is dispensed, or a state of grace (standing in God’s favour) that is brought about...by God in Christ”.

2. When we look at grace in English,  the Webster dictionary defines grace as:

“a pleasing quality, favour, goodwill, thanks.”

In fact, our Webster dictionary lists 11 definitions and applications of the word. I think the fact that the meaning that has to do with God is given last illustrates all to aptly the place given God in most of our society. That definition reads:

“the unmerited love and favour of God toward [humanity]” and “divine influence acting

in [persons] to make [them] pure and morally strong”, the condition of a person thus in-

fluenced”.

We can benefit, in looking at the notion of grace, from taking a look at some of the other definitions of grace. Considering them can only broaden our understanding of the grace of God.

1.     One is “beauty or charm of form…expression”. If we really know God, would we not describe God this way?  

2.     Another is “a sense of what is right and proper; decency”. Again, does this not add to what we might talk about when we refer to being gracious, and isn’t God infinitely gracious? This

also has to do with beliefs and values, which in turn guide our actions, whether we are always aware of it or not.

3.     Thirdly: “disposition to grant something freely; favour, goodwill”. That would apply to the reference to God’s actions in extending his favour to us.

4.     “Mercy; clemency”. Those are really synonyms to describe an aspect of grace, of what it is that God offers us because of His graciousness.

5.     “Temporary exemption” – doesn’t God give us a lot of these? Perhaps every day we do things that deserve punishment, but God, being who God is, and having done what he did through His Son, extends his favour beyond he day-to-day judgments we could incur. The goodwill shown by granting this delay is itself grace.

Quotes and Sources:

When an elderly black slave was asked what grace was he answered, "Grace is what I should call giving something for nothing".

The famous eighteenth century New England evangelist Jonathan Edwards wrote: "As grace is first from God, so it is continually from him, as much as light is all day long from the sun, as well as at first dawn or sun-rising".

One of the Radio Bible Class’s writers, Paul van Gorder, put it well in a small volume entitled Enemies of Grace: “Grace is that eternal principle of God’s character that causes Him to bestow His goodness and love and salvation on the undeserving…the unmerited favour of God…toward condemned and unworthy sinners”.  Aren’t we glad that is part of God’s eternal character? Isn’t that so reassuring? That is part of God that will never change.

Words that have evolved from grace

We can also get an idea of what grace is from considering the many words that have evolved from grace or have a common origin. These include words like 'grateful', 'gracious', or the French ‘gratuit’, which, of course, means 'free'. Grace is free. Then, there would be the opposite words, like 'ungrateful' and ungracious.

Well-known Christian author Phillip Yancey wrote a book in 1997 called Whatever Happened to Grace?  In it he makes two points: 1. Grace is something the world desperately needs, and

which the Church possesses and should be able to

dispense. He then goes on to say though that people too often don't find grace in the Church. Does that mean the Church has lost the gift of grace? We, in the community of the faithful, at the congregational and personal level, each have to examine our own lives to determine whether in fact we do show grace to one another. More importantly, do we extend grace to those who are not yet of the Church, and who are looking for grace? 

My apologies to those of you who may have read Yancey’s book, and so will know this tale, but I want to read the first story he relates.

READ FIRST STORY OF YANCEY’S BOOK

Here was this woman, in great need spiritually, and she believed she could not turn to the church for help. Is she right? Can the sinners, the publicans as they were referred to in Jesus day, not turn to the Church for grace? Jesus forgave the prostitute he met. He forgave the criminal hanging on the tree with him. He forgave the Samaritan woman who had had many partners. What do we do when we encounter such people? Who are the publicans, the criminals, the Samaritans in our world?

The second point that Yancey makes is that…                                                      

2. Talking about Grace can be a very boring, very dry topic if we begin to analyze it as a theological

subject. It is better relayed through action and stories. Indeed, the more I got into this subject, the closer I came to this date, the more I realized that grace is not easy to talk about.

But, let’s have courage and move on. First of all then - 

1. Grace is a state we can find ourselves in:

The state of grace is that sphere, that place, of God’s favour and presence within which we as believers live.

If we look first at the Old Testament, Grace, as such, is not mentioned very often. It appears 39 times,

compared to 131 in The New Testament. When first mentioned as such in the Old Testament, it refers to finding favour in someone’s sight, and this is one of its most common usages all through the Old Testament. This is then first of all a certain position one finds oneself in.

 

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and was spared from The Flood.  Lot found grace in the eyes of God when he was spared from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jacob, returning home after years of self-imposed exile, wanted to find grace in the sight of his brother Esau, whom he had wronged years earlier. Moses asked for grace in the sight of God when God was angry with The Children of Israel in the desert and threatening to destroy them.

You will have notice the repeated use of the phrase “in the eyes of”, or “in the sight of”. There is a sense that when we are in front of someone, vulnerable, perhaps afraid, in danger, or ashamed and embarrassed for who we are or what we’ve done, that what we really want and need at that moment is grace. All of these examples I just gave you had this in common. Each of these individuals had done wrong and they knew it, as did the person they were facing, quite often God Himself. There was little, or nothing, they could do except throw themselves at the mercy of the person in whose power they found themselves at that moment.

We sometimes refer to the period of time in which we are living, from the Christian perspective, as The Age of Grace. This differentiates it from the preceding period of history, the time of the Old Testament, which we call the Age of the Law, specifically the Law given to Moses and the Children of Israel by God. This grace also has a very personal and individual application. Paul refers to it in Romans 5:2, referring to the role of our Lord Jesus Christ here: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand”.

In God’s eyes, if we in faith have accepted the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our lives, personally, we stand before him God bathed in His endless grace. Our sins are forgiven, we are washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ himself, and we have nothing to fear. We don’t have to come cowering before God in fear because of our own undeserving nature. No, as the writer of Hebrews says in ch. 4:14 & 16 “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God… let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace”, referring, of course, to the throne of God.

In Old Testament times, there may have been little sense of grace for many. The Jews especially, living under the Law, got caught up in following rules. As John writes in his gospel, 1:17: “The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”.  This grace is also given us to sustain us in whatever circumstances come our way in life.

READ Radio Bible Class devotional Our Daily Bread entry for Oct. 6, 1997

3. Grace is something given to us:

If we as believers exist in a state of grace, it should not be surprising that this grace should have the possibility of being incorporated into our being. At the same time, the Bible is clear that if that is the case, it is still something that comes from God. In the Old Testament, Zechariah 12:10, we read of God promising to “pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication”.  This is believed to refer to the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit enters our lives as a result of God’s grace, bringing that grace with him, we can be, indeed we ought to be, moved and led to supplication, to prayer for repentance.

The first reference to grace in the New Testament also speaks of grace being given. Most fittingly, it is in reference to Jesus. Luke 2:40 describes this child upon whom the grace of God rested. What is even more astounding is that nowhere else in the whole Bible does this phrase appear. Only upon His own Son Jesus, did God’s grace descend in all its fullness, as it says in John 1:14: “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. This is it. This is the real thing. If we want to know what God is like, what the grace of God is really like, we have to look only as far as Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh.  There is no one else, there is no substitute, there are no pretenders, no challengers. For all the rest of us, from Adam on down the line, the best we can do, as we so often already saw in the Old Testament, is receive favour or grace in God’s eyes.

To be sure though, when we become Christians, believers, when the Holy Spirit descends upon us, it should also be said of us, as it was of the Apostles in Acts 4:33: “that great grace was upon them all”. When we are born into Christ, but only then, we share in that grace. Indeed, John also writes of this in ch. 1:16: “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace”. Another way of reading this is to say that we, as Christians, receive blessing upon blessing. As the hymn says, “Grace was multiplied to me”.   If that is the case, if God so pours out his grace on us, how can it not show in our everyday lives?  Perhaps it’s because we have not stopped to realize just how much grace has been given us. We have not, as another hymn says, ‘counted our blessings, named them one by one’. More importantly perhaps, we have not given thanks for them, as we should.

What are we already saying then? We are coming to the fourth point of what grace does for us -

4. It is through grace that we are saved.

Acts 15:11 says: “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved”. This is also stated in Acts 18:27 where it speaks of those who “had believed through grace”. Paul puts it even more eloquently in Eph. 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

READ ODB Oct. 10, 1998

So, even our having the faith that leads us to salvation is a gift because of God’s grace towards us. How much we owe our God!

In the New Testament, Yancey believes the 4^th to 7^th chapters of Romans are pivotal in describing what The Grace of God is all about. The word grace appears 11 times in these 117 verses, 2 times in ch. 4, 6 times in ch. 5, and 3 times in ch. 6, the greatest concentration of the word in The New Testament. So, something about grace is going on here, there is something special being said in these chapters. I am not going to go into detail, but you can read these chapters for yourselves. In a nutshell, they tell the story of how God gave the Law, which only served to show us how sinful we are, but then followed that with giving His Son to make a way for us to be brought back into right relationship with Him.

In looking at making grace real, we can also see what we would be like without grace.

5. What we wouldn’t do when we have or are under grace.

Without grace we can become intolerant fanatics, zealots. You don’t blow up World Trade Centre Towers by grace! You don’t go on warring crusades in the name of your God when you are living under grace.

I don’t believe Grace is expressed through fighting and violence. This is, to borrow a word from Phillip Yancey, “ungrace”. Nor is grace expressed through being judgmental, critical, and unforgiving. Those were the sins of some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees, and those were the people he saved his harshest words for. They were just too self-righteous.

When God impresses upon our hearts, when we become aware of how dependent we are on the mercy of God for everything, there is no room for these manifestations of ‘ungrace’. There is no room for pride, for boasting of works. There is no place for harsh remarks towards others, for jealousy, selfishness. When we stand deserving total condemnation for our sinfulness by a perfect and righteous and just God, we realize that we are nothing if not for God. We have to cast our everything at his feet, submit to him in his love and wisdom. Only then will the blessings roll in. Only then will we be able to move on to ourselves to become instruments of his grace. 

This really brings us to our final point:

6. Grace refers to how we speak, how we behave when we are under grace, the

recipients of grace:

The first reference to grace in a more abstract sense in the Old Testament is found in The Psalms. Psalms 45:2 speaks of “grace being poured into thy lips”. This Psalm is believed by some to be speaking prophetically of Jesus. My last message from this pulpit was about what we do with our tongue, our lips, as we refer, in these figures of speech, to what we say. If anyone spoke graciously, it was Jesus. He never condemned those who stood in front of him and were aware of their need for grace, whether it was a prostitute, a despised tax collector for the Romans, or a confused rich young ruler.       

Then, in Psalm 84:11 we come across another reference to grace as something God gives, along with glory: “The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”.

In Proverbs there are several instances – 1:9, 3:22, and 4:9 - of grace being described as something that is worn on the head like a crown, or about the neck like a chain of jewelry. Again, this is obviously a description of the character of such a person.

When we have received the grace of God, I believe we will want to live it out.  Jesus, as the embodiment, the personification of grace, riding into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, was making a commitment.  He was telling the world, those who could see and understand, that he was indeed The Messiah, The Christ.  He was also making a commitment to follow God’s plan all the way to the cross.

So, this Lenten season, especially this last week before Easter, let’s remember what our Gracious God has done, is doing, and will continue to do for us living in this period of grace. Just as the Jews of old celebrated the coming of our Lord on Palm Sunday, many without knowing as fully as we do who he really was, we, who know more, and have been given more, should have all the more reason to gratefully celebrate our crucified and risen Lord this Easter. Our gratitude for the grace we have received should also inspire us, here in Grace Mennonite Church, to strengthen our Commitment to live out the grace we have so freely and undeservedly been given.

____________________

Lorne Brandt, 2002/3/24

THE WISEST MAN ON MENTAL HEALTH

1. Introduction:                                                                                              

This is a sermon first written in 1998. It draws on both my biblical knowledge and that derived from my vocation as a psychiatrist, as you will see. It is based on an Old Testament book that has always intrigued me - Ecclesiastes.

II. The Book Ecclesiastes

What do you know about the book Ecclesiastes besides that the name may be hard to               pronounce?

1.                          If you grew up in the West in the '60s and '70s, you probably know the song Turn, Turn,

                           Turn/To Everything there is a Season. It has been recoded by a number of artists over the years  since. You likely also know, being good bible students, that this well-known folk-song is based on Ecc. ch. 3:1-8.

b

2.     Some of you who are even older, and perhaps grew up when it was perhaps more common than often nowadays to memorize verses for Sunday School, or even to be able to go to

summer camp, may also remember ch. 12 la: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth".                

3.     Another thing you may recall about this collection of musings is that many are introduced by the phrase, "The Preacher", at least that’s what he’s called in older English

translations of the Bible. This Preacher often seems to conclude Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, or sometimes he refers to it as madness and folly. A second conclusion he seems to come to on first reading is that the best one can do in life is to 'eat, drink & be merry'. There are though a number of references to wisdom, which isn’t so surprising though, given the author. 

III. The Theme:                                                                                         

The first phrase here, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, or a variation of it, occurs in the book of Ecclesiastes in 29 verses, a total of 37 times. If you want to take that figure to its conclusion, it means this idea occurs once every 6 verses on average.  That would seem to give a lot of weight to this idea, especially if one gives it a fairly literal interpretation. After all, aren't these words written by King Solomon, and isn't he supposed to be the wisest man who ever lived? As with perhaps most of the books of the Bible, there are those who question the  generally accepted traditional authorships. However, there can still be made good arguments for this work possible originating with Solomon, so well stick with that traditional view.

The notion that eating, drinking and enjoying life, being merry are one’s lot in life, occurs 5 times as a phrase encompassing all three ideas, in various individual forms or combinations in another 9 places.                                                                                                                              

Somehow though, these two ideas of vanity and enjoying life aren’t what many of us might expect to find in the Bible. After all, isn’t it supposed to be a guidebook for holy living? We of Protestant and Mennonite persuasion especially have had it hammered into us that it is practically godly to work. You have all heard of 'the Protestant Work Ethic'.                                                                                                              

So what is going on here? Does Solomon really believe this? Is this what the wisest man, one of the

greatest of Jewish kings, really believes and is saying?

IV. The Title:

       Yes, and you are probably also wondering - what about that title - The Wisest Man & Mental

      Health? When am I going to get to that? Well, knowing that my profession is a psychiatrist, that title

      probably no longer surprises you, does it?

         As I studied this book, it suddenly jumped out at me - Solomon was depressed? Come on, some of

         you may be saying - one could probably diagnose some depression in anybody at some point int heir

         life. Really though, if Solomon was going through a depression when he wrote this, there should be

         something we can learn here about depression and - I will add its resolution – what one can turn to

when depressed.

You may know that depression is becoming increasingly common in our day. In fact, the United Nations World Health Organization predicts that within the next decade worldwide depression will surpass heart disease as the number one health concern.

V. The Evidence for the Writer’s Depression:

Some of you might ask, first of alt, what is your evidence for Solomon being depressed. I think we could pursue that in two ways. We could look at the history we know of Solomon, at some of his life's circumstances. More importantly  though, we can just look at the text and see what it says.

1.     Historical - First of all, what do we know about the family Solomon came from. I don't think

                                     we have to think very hard to remember that, in fact, Solomon may have grown

up in some quite unhappy circumstances. In the first place, his older brother died very soon after

birth. That in itself can be a risk factor for depression. Children have strange thoughts sometimes, such

as, why did I get to stay alive and he didn't? It's the same guilt that survivors of the holocaust feel when

their lives are spared but those of family and friends aren't, and we know guilt can be intimately connected with depression.

And who was Solomon's mother? None other than Bathsheba, the woman his father David lusted after when he saw her bathing on the rooftop. You know what happened next. David got her pregnant, and - showing how one sin leads to another - ended up having her husband killed so he could take her as his wife. So, Bathsheba loses a husband and a son all at once. Wouldn’t that make you depressed? Then she becomes pregnant with Solomon. I have to wonder how her emotions during the pregnancy and after she gave birth affected her ability to mother, how they affected Solomon’s development.

Solomon was intelligent, he was wise, he was rich. He had been intelligent and faithful enough to ask God only for wisdom when crowned king. Perhaps he wasn’t very confident in himself at that point. Could that be due to some failure on his grieving mother’s part to mother him adequately? Because of his request for wisdom though, God promised to also bless him and make him rich and powerful.

But his father was King David, the other one of Israel's greatest kings, sometimes referred to as 'a man after God's own heart'? Shouldn't that mean he grew up in a good environment, and shouldn't that result in a low risk for the development for depression? Can you imagine what you must have thought though when you found out that your father had your mother's first husband killed so he could marry your mother? How safe would you feel growing up with a father like that - if you knew? I am sure he knew. I don't think he could have grown up in a palace, with all the family intrigue and gossip that likely went on there, and not know. What would you then think of your father? What would you think of your mother for marrying a man like that?

What about Solomon's brothers and sisters? No overly loving group here. One half-brother rapes a half-sister (II Sam. 13:1 - 20). Another brother is understandably very upset by this, and eventually has the rapist killed in revenge (II Sam. 13: 23 - 29). This is Absalom, who then mounts a full-scale rebellion against his lather David, and has his Dad, the King no less, running for his life. That wouldn't have been a picture to inspire a son either. What a soap opera? It sounds pretty much like what we nowadays would call a dysfunctional family. 

On the other hand, when it came to wealth, to have all one's needs and desires met from a worldly point of view, Solomon didn't suffer. The biblical records describe all that he had, the wealth that he got in his trading with the then known world, the respect that he commanded in this same arena (I Kings 10, esp. 10 - 29.)  His father David had in fact set much of this up for him, getting promises from neighbouring kings to supply materials to build a splendid palace and temple.

However, remember that Solomon, not unlike other rulers of his day, had many wives - 700, and 300 concubines - female slaves. Does this again point to something missing deep in Solomon’s psyche? Did he seek out all these women because his mother failed him?  Wouldn't that be enough to depress you though – trying to keep all of them and their children  happy? I would say Solomon  needed all the wisdom God could give him from what we have already seen of him!

1.     Textual Evidence: So, what more may we learn of Solomon and depression from 

                         Ecclesiastes itself. Let's look at the text, first at The Preacher's recurring

reference to vanity. We should first explain why this title though. Evidently the word translated preacher

is a feminine form of a word hardly found elsewhere in The Bible. It is related to the word for assembly,

and understood then as someone who calls to those assembled - and who does that in religious settings

but The Preacher, or as some translate it, The Speaker?

And what does vanity mean? It doesn't mean conceited or proud, something we understand from that word. It means vain, as 'in vain', useless. Indeed, one translation uses the word 'emptiness'.

And what does vanity mean? It doesn't mean conceited or proud, something we understand from that word. It means vain, as 'in vain', useless. Indeed, one translation uses the word 'emptiness'.

What is vain or empty? Ch. 1:2 states the theme, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, followed by a suggestion in vss. 3-4 of why the writer makes this statement: What profit is there in all our labour if we pass away'? This is followed by 7 more verses in Hebrew poetic form describing the observations of The

Preacher. Then he tells us in vss 13 - 1 g what he is about in this book. He has decided to apply his

wisdom, to make a study of  humanity’s endeavours, of all the things that are done under heaven, to see what it's all about.

So what does he study, and what does he conclude?

Actually, he tells us right at the outset, vs. 18, that "even in much wisdom is vexation". In vs. 8 he had already said, "All things are wearisome; no man can speak of them all". In 2:1 he talked first of looking at enjoying oneself; at pleasure, at laughter, and states that is vanity. Has our society not also looked at this? What does the constitution of our nation to the south, the leading nation on earth say is our right: "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Is that right? Well, entertainment certainly seems to be the order of the day. Just listen to the laughter on TV. But isn't a lot of it really empty?

In vss. 4-li he talks of all the great things he did to obtain pleasure9 but concludes that this too was "emptiness and chasing the wind, of no profit under the sun". Following this, Solomon goes on to say that another reason that wisdom and hard work may be vanity is that the same fate overtakes the wise man and the fool(2: 15), which is a theme he returns to a number of times. In fact, it is in this section that the idea of the mental state of the writer first impressed itself on me. Look at vss. 16 - 18a [Read them] "I came to hate life". That's strong language. That's what people say when they are what? Suicidal, isn’t it? Was this author so disenchanted with what he got out of life that he was giving up on it?

And look at vs. 18. He goes on to wonder what sort of person would be his successor. Will he be wise or a fool? Isn't he getting negative? Or is he sounding reasonable? And what does he say in vs. 20, "I turned and gave myself up to despair". What is despair if not depression? And what is he despairing about? Again, that all he has worked for may pass to someone he may consider unworthy, at the very least someone who didn't work for it, who didn't earn it. Is that proper? Don't we all work to leave something for our children, at least to try and save something for their education if we can afford it? Don't we all, in our more noble and generous moments want to make the world a better place for those who come after? Isn't that a good thing? But here the supposedly wisest man that ever lived calling this emptiness. Isn't there something wrong here'? 

What else does Solomon tell us he is doing here? Vs. 23 and other vss. refer to the vexation of it all. Here in tact he says that "An his lite long his business is pain and vexation to him; even at night his mind knows no rest". What is he describing? Worrying? Anxiety? Lack of pleasure? Lack of sleep? All key symptoms of depression.

VI. The Point:

So, you may be asking by now, What’s the point'? What if this writer is depressed?

Well, isn't the bible the book for all seasons, for all ages'? Wouldn't it stand to reason that it would speak to one of the most common maladies of human kind, depression? Wouldn't God want to be able to reach us in the midst of those blackest periods of our lives?

When we stop to think about it we will recall that there are other passages in the scriptures that are comforting to those who are feeling alone, abandoned, depressed. The Psalms would probably conic to mind. However, Ecclesiastes is different.

In Ecclesiastes, the writer looks at all the different pursuits of life - pleasure, work, relationships, study - Ecclesiastes examines all these things somewhat systematically, somewhat intellectually - and finds they all come up short. None is entirely satisfying. What's worse, death takes it all away from us.

Does that mean Ecclesiastes is pessimistic, all negative. Not a few readers would think so.

However again, if one looks into it further, the picture finally presented is anything but

bleak. If anything, there is a message here not that different than Jesus' own words in The

Sermon on the Mount.

What does the writer here say? “Don't worry, be happy” - to quote a recent pop hit by Bobby McFerrin

of a few years back. Well, perhaps not quite that superficial. And he certainly didn't advocate any special

assistance in 'coping' with life and what it dishes out.

For a brief moment (ch. 2 vs. 3) it seems Solomon did toy with the thought of turning to wine to see what that would tell him, much as many in the world have thought turning to alcohol & drugs would help. Unlike some of these people though, Solomon did have some wisdom, and didn't follow that approach very long. What did he say? "My mind was guided by wisdom, not blinded by folly". Or, in vs. 12, "I perceived that wisdom is more profitable than folly' as light is more profitable than darkness". To turn to alcohol and drugs as a way of coping is certainly folly.

When, in 2: 24 though, Solomon comes back to the theme that "There is nothing better for a person to do than to eat and drink and enjoy oneself in return for one's labours", he sees that this comes from the hand of God. That is, he recognizes that this satisfaction too comes from God. As he says, "Without God who can enjoy his food", but then adds interestingly, "Who can be anxious"? I believe that what he is saying here is that all this can only come from God in the sense that life itself; breath, is a gift of God - so even anxiety comes because God allows life.

And what did our Lord say in The Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew ch. 6? You know the verses: "Take no thought for your life, what you shall ea\ what you shall drink, what you shall wear (25) ... for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (32 - 33). Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for tomorrow shall take care of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (34).

It is important to note this continuity between the Old Testament and the New, between Solomon and his descendant Jesus. The Bible does agree within itself.                                                                                                  

What is the message here - I would say two things:

1. When we do have faith, we need to cling to it to remind ourselves of it, as the writer of Ecclesiastes did. It can and will carry us through. Some of you here have been through very difficult times in your lives. Our own family went through a very scary time just last month. Our formerly healthy18-year-old daughter collapsed on us Sunday morning and almost bled to death. I can’t imagine what we would have done without the support of our God, especially as expressed through family, fellow church members and friends. It may be that you or someone close to you has also been diagnosed with some illness that sounded like a death sentence. Maybe it was a relationship that just didn't work out. I am sure you would agree that you don't know where you might have been if it had not been for your faith.                                                                                                      

2. The second point is like the first. When we have our priorities right, we can take what life

                        dishes out and still have peace. Solomon wrote in the Old Testament: "You must fear God (5:7)... It is good and proper for a person to eat and drink and enjoy themselves in return for their

labours (5:18)...It is the gift of God that every person...should accept their lot and rejoice in their labour. They will not dwell overmuch upon the passing years; for God fills his time with joy of heart". Isn't that taking about acceptance, of satisfaction, of not worrying? Isn't that real peace?

What do we remember with fondness? The hours we spent away from family at work? The times when we were too drunk or stoned to remember anything? No, when all is said and done we remember the good times – the fellowship and relationships with friends and family, the times of good food and good conversation. You may have heard the saying, “No one ever said on their death bed, I wish I had spent more time at the office – or whatever your place of work is”.

In the New Testament the Apostle Paul wrote: “I have learned in whatsoever state I am in to be content”(Phil. 4:11). Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” (Jn. 14:27). The message is the same, and we can turn back to The Preacher for the last word: “Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the duty of all (12:13).

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l998/8/9, Revised 2002/9/15

Lorne Brandt

Their God Is Their Belly

Their God Is Their Belly

These words, attributed to St. Paul and found in his Letter to the Philippians, 3:19, may sound somewhat crude to our ears but they certainly can stick in your mind. I have been thinking about them lately with respect to the place of food in our culture.

There was a time when food was, in a sense, highly prized. It was something our hunter-gatherer ancestors may have spent much of their waking days trying to obtain just so they could subsist. Then came the dawn of agriculture and it was not long before people were growing more of a particular crop than they needed, and so dawned the age of commerce.

In some ways, food is also highly prized in our contemporary Western culture, but in altogether different ways. Now it is a topic of conversation, a subject of TV shows, chef and would-be chef competitions, columns in papers and magazines, online and in books. We can take courses about food and food preparation in high school and college, or as evening classes. In our modern concern for health, which is another preoccupation of our society, we have gone from where everyone could contribute food to a public gathering to where facilities have to be inspected by the government, those that work therein have to take "food safe" courses and food that is consumed outside of the home has to be prepared in such facilities. This has created untold and probably mostly unnecessary expense for cultural centers, community centers and churches as they upgrade their kitchens and have staff trained. Needless to say, this greatly limits the social connection possibilities we used to so spontaneously enjoy. We have gone from a society where meeting around the kitchen table was a regular occurrence, and on special occasions the dining room table. Going out to eat was something special. Now, many go out to eat more than they eat at home. If they do eat at home, it is too often on the run, food prepared in advance, like as not bought that way, and too commonly not eaten together as a family. Or, we pay others to prepare our food, whether it is catering to large functions or even to come and prepare fancy meals in our own homes for our guests and us.

Our preoccupation with food as something to experience in all the ways that one can sensually, including visual, taste and texture, as well as atmosphere and context in which it is consumed, is a far cry from the way things were not even a century ago. Our conversation is frequently about food and how to prepare foods and what the best restaurants are. We even have, in our electronic age, on-line recipes to cook and bake from, let alone computer “apps” to find restaurants from wherever we are; complete with reviews to help us make our choices.  

With our modern preoccupation with things visual and images thereof, we even take and share pictures of food we eat and it's presentation. Who is not guilty of that? I believe some have rightfully put their finger on something that some of us may sense is wrong with this excess by labeling it "food porn."

It all reminds me of the stories of Roman citizens lounging indulgently and decadently around their heavily laden banquet tables prior to the fall of the Empire. Is there a parallel here? As a Christian, familiar with The Bible, it also reminds me of God's warnings to his people when they became indulgent, one of the more striking of which is founded in Amos 6:4-7:

“Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away."

We who are the church believe that we are also the people of God. So, does this warning not apply to us? Who is the Joseph of today? Is it the homeless hungry man down on the street corner, the family subsisting on welfare in another neighborhood or the starving refugee across the ocean? Do we spend more time thinking about and occupied with food and dining then we do about the needs of the widows, the orphans, the aliens and the poor, to use the frequently repeated terms which God used when he first gave The Law to his people, and later when he used The Prophets to remind them of where they were failing to keep the law?

We're also beginning to reap the rewards of our indulgence with food. How many of us are not overweight. Obesity is a new health epidemic that receives a lot of attention. Diabetes and disorders related to excessive fat consumption are on the rise. On the other hand, we have those who turn away from food and develop Eating Disorders.

So what did Paul say?

"Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears, There and is destruction; their God is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved" (Philippians 3:17-4:1).

Just as almost an aside, I noticed here in verse 21 something that could even be a comfort to someone with an Eating Disorder, which I mentioned above. Too many with eating disorders are ashamed or humiliated by their bodies. Would that they could take comfort in the thought that our Lord has an altogether different view of their bodies - and a better plan.

All of this emphasis on food is only possible because we have become so affluent that for many of us, food is no longer first on our list of needs. Maybe we should even be concerned about this from another angle. Our cheap food comes to often because of our exploitation of many who grow and process the food and are less well off than we. We import foods that we now see as regular parts of our diet that a mere half-century ago some of us had never heard about. Furthermore, much of this occurs at the expense of local food producers who can no longer afford to hire staff to make things work. They close their farms and orchards and sell them to developers who irreversibly replace them with concrete and pavement. Thus, we are not only harming ourselves physically and psychologically but are also rapidly destroying the parts of our environment on which we depend for producing food. Some of this is deliberate on the part of our sometimes greedy developers. Some of it is not exactly intentional, but just as destructive. I refer to the clearing of land that results in erosion and loss of soil, particularly aided by the increasingly unpredictable weather of the climate change our world is not experiencing. This leads to the frequent mudslides and floods that we hear about ever more regularly.

Is it time for us to refocus?  As the Apostle Paul says, Who are we imitating? What might be the outcome if we decided to ethically and responsibly change our whole attitude to food? Individuals in the mental health field have begun to recognize the importance for the development of individuals and families of the regular meeting around the table for meals. One of our local agencies even has an annual event focused on trying to revive this custom.  Maybe we should focus a little more on getting food on everyone's tables in a home, rather than where our focus is now.