Author: John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 12.6-8
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, 
and the golden bowl is broken; 
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, 
and the wheel broken at the well, 
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, 
and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. j 
“Everything is meaningless!” 

Reflection: Meaning in Remembrance
By John Tillman

After many failures on a new kind of electric battery, an associate of Thomas Edison expressed dismay at having no results for their labor. Edison shot back, “We have plenty of results. We know several thousand things that won’t work.” Edison is known to have expressed similar sentiments throughout his career.

Ecclesiastes, in a way, is a journal of failed moral experiments and reads as if it was written over a long period, perhaps a lifetime. It begins, not with idealism but with a jaded, youthful cynicism. The teacher sets out, armed with wisdom, to solve the meaninglessness he sees. He makes himself both moral scientist and test subject. (Ecclesiastes 2.1)

In his experiments, the teacher of Ecclesiastes, like Edison, finds several thousand things that won’t work. Here at the end, we find the teacher still struggling with the problem he set out to solve. He never comes to a conclusion that fully satisfies him, however, there is a spark of light: “Remember your creator,” he says. “Remember your creator.”

Remembering is not just the recall of facts. Remembering is powerful. God often commanded the people to “remember.” Remembering can be an experience in which all the emotions, and even senses and sensations, participate. Passover was one of those times when remembering involved all the senses. The point was not for Israel to remember the facts of what God did, but to remember God’s identity and their own.

At the last Passover Jesus observed, he reoriented the meal around himself, saying, “do this in remembrance of me.” Then on the cross, a few hours later, the thief asked Jesus to “remember” him.

The light bulb moment of Ecclesiastes never quite comes, but the spark of hope lies in doing what God has already commanded us to do—remember him. 

The aged teacher’s exquisite closing poem pays poignant tribute to the realities of life and death and the importance of remembering God in youth, not just in old age. 

Remembering is a lifelong task and not merely a mental exercise. If we are to remember as Jesus commands, our remembrances must be both acts of testimony and demonstration. How do our remembrances testify and demonstrate God’s identity and our identity in him?

Let us remember Jesus. Remember him to ourselves. Remember him to our family and friends. Remember him to our community.

In this remembrance we find meaning.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; though I cannot know the number of them. — Psalm 71.15

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 12 (Listen – 2:38)
Psalm 119:1-24 (Listen – 15:14)

Read more about Over the Brink of Success
It is uncomfortable to hear the success we long for is pointless, but it’s healthy.

Read more about Forward-Looking Remembering
Remembering is not “living in the past” or “longing for the good ole days,” instead it informs our hope for a future that God has for us.

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 10.20
20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, 
or curse the rich in your bedroom, 
because a bird in the sky may carry your words, 
and a bird on the wing may report what you say. 

Reflection: Absurd Little Bird
By John Tillman

Who needs spying birds when digital devices are listening? In modern life, this proverb might say, “Don’t discuss appliances near Alexa or your entire Facebook feed will be filled with Samsung ads.”

The idea of spying birds is ancient. Most ancient versions are inspired by Ecclesiastes. The idea is so prevalent in culture that a faux-conspiracy group based on this was created. “Birds Aren’t Real” is a parody of conspiracy theory groups such as Qanon. It claims that birds are CIA spy drones.

It started in 2017, when Peter McIndoe was struck by the absurdity of conspiratorial nonsense spouted by opposing political protestors. The slogan he created as a spontaneous joke became a movement. Many people, particularly Gen Z adults, played along, staging real protests for a fake cause. Why?

An additional way to translate the teacher’s frequent refrain “all is meaningless” might be to say “all is absurd.” The teacher explored wisdom, foolishness, and madness. The absurdities of life can be troubling, especially when leaders, friends, and family seem to be in their grip. What benefit is wisdom when so many are willing to follow foolishness like that which inspired “Birds Aren’t Real?”

Many Birds Aren’t Real participants acted out of frustration with friends and family captivated by Qanon and other absurd conspiracy theories. Poking fun at these conspiracies with their own fake conspiracy helped them “laugh at the madness, rather than be overcome by it.”

Birds are real and they don’t inform on people. Ecclesiastes’ practical advice isn’t meant to be interpreted literally. The proverb is not warning us against government or corporate spying. The proverb also does not mean to avoid criticizing leaders, even though abusive leaders attempt to imply this. If criticizing the king was a sin we’d have to throw out most biblical prophets.

The proverb does carry many truths. Powerful people will always use information (or misinformation) to their benefit—for oppression or selling appliances. Words spoken in private will often be shouted from the rooftop. (Luke 12.3) We need to be people of integrity, speaking public truth rather than private slander.

Confronting lies is a necessity amidst the absurdity of modern debate. Our concern should not be our fate when leaders hear the truth, but our community’s fate if leaders deny the truth.

However we stand for the truth, whether by sermon or satire, let us do so with integrity.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse
The people who dwelt in darkness have seen a great light.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Ecclesiastes 10 (Listen – 2:33)
Psalm 116 (Listen – 1:34)

Read more about Facts and Harsh Realities
The Bible acknowledges these harsh realities side-by-side with aspirational faith that justice will be done.

Read more about The Commission of Truth
Leviticus 5.1 identifies a unique kind of sin—the sin of not testifying to the truth when it is called for.