Kontakion

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? This is one of the passages in Ecclesiastes that is quoted by a lot of different biblical figures, including Jesus. Everyone who quotes it has a dislike of the statement. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes is the only one who offers an alternative. Enjoy life! This is a message not expressed enough in the church or by well meaning Christians. The facts are we don’t know anything about what happens when a person dies. We have faith that there is a bodily resurrection and that we spend eternity in Christ’s presence. That being said we need a healthy dose of what the Teacher has to say. Eat and drink, enjoy life because in the end this maybe all we have. The Teacher sees this as a gift of God, when you realize that you need to actually enjoy life, I would add while holding on to your o

"There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow." Ecclesiastes 1:11 I've been one of those people who always struggled to do devotions. I've always tried to read through the bible (which I have done several times) during devotions, but for devotional purposes I am rarely successful. So I've decided to take to heart a lesson taught to me by my college theology professor. That is instead of spreading yourself thin in devotions concentrate on one book of the bible so that you can make research, and devotional advancement for other people. Basically so you can make your mark on biblical scholarship. Now that is not the reason I decided to do this. I decided to do intentional in depth study of one book for my personal development, hence I choose Ecclesiastes my favorite book of the Bible. For my first reflection on Ecc. I was struck by this verse in chapter one for several reasons. For one it

So far in my ministry career I have done seven funerals but this week I had a first. I was with a family in hospice care when the individual died. Now everyone knew this was happening, including myself, and I stayed with the family the whole time because I knew they needed the support. When the individual died it didn't effect me that much. It wasn't until later in the afternoon when I had time to think about it that I could really reflect on how disturbing death really is. One moment your there, and the next your not. That's it. Nothing left to write. After reflecting on it a while I thank God for the faith I have because that is all your left with at the end of your life. I know I will carry this experience with me for my life. Its a difficult one to learn, but important and I know that.