Rev. George Miller
July 3, 2022
Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
“Into a world full of darkness, get well soon.” These are the words spoken by Janet Jackson
in her 1989 album “Rhythm Nation 1814.”
For me, “Rhythm Nation” is an influential album as it highlights issues
like prejudice and homelessness.
The last song on side A is a somber song called “Living In A World They
Did Not Make,” about the plight of innocent children who are forced to live
amongst injustice and unkindness.
It begins with “Children are called the future of an adult world…with
spirits so innocent ‘til we teach them how to hate.”
The song ends with a children’s chorus abruptly, violently interrupted
with the sounds of gunfire and children in a playground screaming for cover.
The song was inspired by a shooting that took place in a California school,
killing children of Asian refugees.
It is shocking, sobering, and still timely, as we witnessed a few weeks
ago.
What’s intrigued me about this song is that after hearing innocent lives
being extinguished, you flip the album over and the next song begins with the sound
of trumpets and a rousing Cab Calloway beat that makes you just want to put on
a Zoot Suit and dance.
The song is called “Alright,” and it celebrates love, friendships and life.
It’s fascinated me that an artist can move from a song about unjust death
to a tribute about best friends.
Yet it makes sense. Janet was showing
us that in the face of great tragedy there can also be great joy.
That the balance to the world’s darkness is finding and holding onto the
light of each other.
What she did was biblical- proclaiming that after death there can be
resurrection, that one can care about issues like poverty and injustice while also
finding a way to praise, celebrate, and shine.
That’ what Jesus showed us throughout the Gospel of John.
Amid Rome’s invasion of Israel, there were still weddings to attend.
Jesus showed that after bringing wellness to others you can enjoy Panera
Bread and Red Lobster with 5,000 of your neighbors.
Before undergoing great trials, we can be recipients of sweet-smelling
gifts.
Jesus demonstrated that in a world full of darkness, we don’t have to always
be so serious.
We can do the work of Heaven and we can also sit back, relax, and enjoy
time with our friends.
Jesus showed that even though courts and religious extremists do all they
can to control us, we can still be with our buddies by the shore, having a fish
fry.
Jesus is THE example of how to live a balanced existence in a world full
of darkness. He showed how to be a
light, and to bring a light into a dark world-
Seeing through Heaven’s eyes, offering wellness to others, honoring their
tears and crying right beside them.
Jesus embodied the fact that we are all living in a world we did not
make, but that through kindness, love, friendship, justice, and God, we will be
alright.
This spirit of Jesus is also the spirit we see in today’s reading.
Ecclesiastes is the words of an older, wise teacher who is imparts wisdom
upon their students, youth who have arrived innocent, excited, and ready to
change the world.
The teacher’s message is not the message the were hoping for. The message is bases in lived life lessons.
He is telling them- you are born naked and you’re doing to die naked. You’re born with nothing, and nothing is what
you’re going to take with you.
Everything that is happening now has happened before and will happen
again. His message is one of truth-
No matter how many times you wash your dishes, you’ll always have a full
sink of silverware when you get home.
No matter how many times you do laundry, there will always be a basket of
clothes to wash, dry and fold.
No matter how much you spray, weed, mow, trim, rake there will always be
more yardwork the following season.
No matter how much you march, write letters, and vote, there will always
be corruption and injustice all around.
It may sound negative, uninspiring, but it’s true. The teacher wants the students to know this now
so when they go out into the world, they don’t give up in despair, giving them tips
to illuminate what could be a dark reality.
One- don’t become so obsessed with money that you miss living your
life. The more you have, the more you
can lose, and lose sleep over. Use money
to live, don’t live to use money.
Two- there’s only so much you can do, only so much you can change, only
so much you can worry about, so have fun- hang out with friends, dine, drink,
dance, smile.
Three- trust that God’s got this.
Even if it doesn’t look like it, even if it doesn’t feel like it, trust
that God is working through all the mess and funk and chaos to bring Heaven
here on Earth.
They want their students to see things through the long arc of history-
The king may wield their power over the land for now, but God and the land
will always, eventually prevail.
The teacher is not saying “Do nothing; give into the darkness.”
They are saying “Live the best life you can, doing what you enjoy with
those who like, love and those who are alright with you. God’s got this.”
Like Janet Jackson, the teacher is letting us know that injustice,
unkindness, and egocentrism is amongst us, but so are good friends, good times,
and God.
Jesus said the same thing to, in a different way, in Matthew 6:25-34:
25 “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
what you will drink, or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow
nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to
your span of life?
28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into
the oven, will he not much more clothe you…
31 Therefore do not worry…33…butstrive first for the
kingdom of Godl and hism righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.34 “So do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring
worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
These words of Jesus, like the words of the teacher
in Ecclesiastes, are words of wisdom, words of truth, words that continue to march
on.
Yes, we are living in a world of darkness, but
we always have. Yes, there is injustice
and corruption, but there always was.
This does not mean we give up; it does not
mean we give in.
What is does mean is that we LIVE. We shine.
We eat. We dine. We love.
We share. We let go.
We find our own way to hold onto the light
that made itself known on Christmas morn.
We hold onto the Good News shared on Easter Sunday.
We continue to shine, shine, shine with our
friends, with our family, with our community, and with our God.
God’s got this. Let us be the light that reflects that.
Amen.
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