Let your words be three

Ecclesiastes gives the advice, "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (NIV, Eccl 5:2). Andrew Clements book No Talking has fifth grade kids taking this literally (with no mention of or allusion to Ecclesiastes) for 48 hours, much to the disgust of the teachers, and especially the head mistress. Inspired by Ghandi's practice of saying nothing one day a week, the girls and boys have a contest to see who can speak the least. They are allowed three words in response to direct questions from teachers. They end up with a better respect for each other, and for silence.

Qohleleth's Colophon

I can just imagine Qoheleth chuckling to himself after declaring "of making books there is no end." If he could only see the explosion of writing that the electronic age has fostered... This is how I imagine him autographing his book:

Pipas chasing the wind

When I went on a mission trip to Brasil years ago, the kids who came to our vacation Bible school in Sao Paulo taught me how to make a kite, which they called a 'pipa' (they didn't speak any English, so everything they said was in Portuguese). We spent all afternoon finding the right materials and putting the kite together. They found a tin can in the gutter which was for winding the string. They took me to a corner store where I bought a reel of cotton thread for the string. Next was the 'casa do bamboo' where a man was leaning on his iron fence chatting with a neighbour, and trying to ignore annoying little kids. Finally he took me over to the boot of his car and showed me an array of different coloured crepe paper, and sticks of thin bamboo. The boys asked me what colour, I tried some Spanish: "negro." The boys burst out laughing since "preto" is the more common word for 'black'. For the tail all I needed to do was cut a shopping bag into strips. I would soon be ready to chase the wind with my newly made pipa. One more thing the Brasilians do to make chasing the wind even more ephemeral....they glue crushed glass to the string. That way they can cut down the pipas of other kite fliers.

Turning Points and Ecclesiastes

Victor Matthews' book Old Testament Turning Points: The Narratives that Shaped a Nation (Baker, 2005) has a couple of interesting observations on Ecclesiastes.

In the section on the etiology of death in the Adam and Eve narrative Matthews discusses the Story of Adapa (Mesopotamia) and ends the section with this paragraph:

"Finally, in the end, we question the necessity for the death that claims us all. Why should we spend a lifetime acquiring knowledge and skills only to have them disappear with our last breath? Is the writer of Ecclesiastes correct to say that all is vanity and that we have no real legacy of enduring accomplishment upon which to justify our existence on earth (Eccles. 1:2-11)? The answer may be that in our struggle to make a life for ourselves and establish an identity as a member of a people or nation, we act on the knowledge gained through disobedience in Eden. In that context, while we cannot return to Eden, we can strive to make this world a better, more Eden-like place. Thus it is best to take the advice to "not let your hands be idle" (Eccles. 11:6) and to "rejoice in" all the years we are given (11:8)." (Matthews, 27).

In the next section, Matthews deals with the wisdom theme and notes that Eve had the ability for critical thinking but the serpent's questions awakened her intellectual curiosity. The resulting expulsion from Eden becomes a motivation for human achievement. Matthews adds,

"Without expulsion there also would be no drive to restore the severed relationship with the Divine, no attempt to join ourselves once again with the God who created us. Considering the reflections of the author of Ecclesiastes once more, it does ring true that "God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes" (Eccles. 7:29)." (Matthews, 30).

Thanksgiving

I went to the faculty staff Thanksgiving chapel at Nyack College, Nyack last week. Dr. Elio Cuccaro gave the message on the theme of thanksgiving. I don't remember what he said very well, but he mentioned that Jesus only said "thank you" three times. Also he noted the importance of giving thanks in the Pauline epistles, but the lack of thankfulness in the list comprising the fruit of the Spirit.

I wish I could remember better, but he talked about the need for actions that show thankfulness, more than merely repeating a saying. Like little kids who are required to "say sorry" but don't really feel or act sorry, saying "thank you" can degenerate into a ritual that doesn't have a real response of thankfulness. He mentioned something about the prayer of thanks that Jesus gave at the feeding of the 5000. It would have been the standard Jewish prayer, "Blessed are you Yahweh our God who brings forth bread from the earth" (baruk atta adonai elohenu melek haolam asher motzi lehem min haaretz). There is no "thank you" in this prayer, but rather an acknowledgement that God is the source of the food. It is a confession.

Dr. Bryan Widbin of Alliance Theological Seminary has often observed that there is no word for "thank you" in biblical Hebrew. Modern Hebrew uses "todah" which is really a confession, not of guilt, but an acknowledgement of what the other person has done. Rather than a generic "thank you," there is a specific acknowledgement of the deed, and the source of the deed. In the "grace," it is confessing that God is the source of the bread (i.e. not ourselves).

I love thanksgiving and harvest season. Thanksgiving helps me to count my blessings and focus on the good things in my life... and the source of those good things. Blessed are you Lord Jesus Christ who has filled my life with so many blessings. Thank you.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

I've found (discovered) a beautiful book based on the Byrds song written by Pete Seeger which is based on Ecclesiastes 3. The illustrations by Wendy Anderson Halperin are wonderful. They are highly Westernized (or perhaps "New Yorkized" since there are apples in so many pictures). They show multiple images of life which give examples of the events named in Ecclesiastes 3 (e.g. born, die, cast away stones, gather stones). The book even includes an audio CD with performances of the song by the Byrds, and also by Pete Seeger (also lives in New York). $17.95 from Simon & Schuster, 2003. http://www.wendyhalperin.com/store.htm

Ecclesiastes uses three words for "turn" for a total of sixteen occurrences. Qoheleth (the author) usually uses it in the sense, "I turned to consider..." (e.g. 2:11). He turns to consider life sixteen times until it seems he is spinning as much as the wind as it blows around its endless cycles (1:6). "Turn" is a very important word in Ecclesiastes. I don't know if Pete Seeger knew that when he wrote this song. Maybe Seeger was thinking of the seasons returning and turning from one activity to another. Halperin catches this idea beautifully by means of many circles.

VeggieTales Time to be silly

VeggieTales talking (singing) vegetables have a "quotation" of Ecclesiastes 3 in this clip... "a time to be silly..." (The Bellybutton Song).

A Time for CMA Dancing

Ecclesiastes is all around us. Whole books have been written about how allusions are made in literature and film. Today I saw a sign that makes a joke on the old 19th century holiness movement ban on social dancing.