Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-23; Colossians 3.1-11; Luke 12.13-21

You may not have been aware of it when you heard it, but today’s Epistle reading is all about baptism, so it’s particularly appropriate for today. It was the lectionary compilers who chose the reading for today, not me, but we’ve ended up with a very fitting one.

Today’s reading starts with the words “If you have been raised with Christ” - “if” here in the sense of “since you have been raised with Christ”. You have been raised with Christ, so now you should set your minds on him. Being raised is what was seen as happening in baptism.

If you were to read the rest of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, you would discover that he uses the image of death and resurrection to talk about what happens in baptism.

Baptism is a very symbolic action. There is a lot of imagery associated with it. Baptism was seen as a sign that someone was following the actions of Christ. In baptism, a person was dying to their old earthly life, which in Paul’s terms was only going to lead to death, and being raised to new life, as Christ was raised from death to life.

At the time when Paul was writing, baptism was not just about pouring a small amount of water on someone’s head. It would have been by full immersion, so there was a sense that as the person was pushed down into the deep waters of baptism, they were dying; and as they rose up again, they were being raised to life in Christ.

Paul tells us frequently that what gives us true life is faith - baptism is the sign and symbol of that faith.

In a paradoxical way, those who had died in baptism had gained new life. The death was the death of the power of sin to trap and condemn; the resurrection being raised to a life where forgiveness comes into play and life goes beyond this world.

Paul’s teaching is that for those who have been baptised, the requirement is to set their minds on the things of God.

In baptism God grants us an extraordinary privilege of a new life in him, but that privilege comes with responsibilities to live as people of God, by following the example of Christ and becoming more Christ-like ourselves.

So, in the same way that baptism was said to be a death of the old life, people had a responsibility to also put to death those sinful actions that were not compatible with the life of those who live in Christ.

Paul lists those things with which the Colossians were struggling - fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which is a form of idolatry since it places too much value on things. All these things belonged to the lives of those who had not received Christ’s new life.

As do anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language, and lies. We’ll all be aware of the particular things we struggle with. Though we still do them their power is destroyed because of God’s forgiveness which is always greater than human sin.

And then, Paul mentions another of the commonly used images for baptism - that of being stripped and reclothed. As with the death imagery, it was a case of putting off the old ways and putting on the new ones - perhaps the difference between wearing an old and dirty, tatty coat, and a brand new, clean smart one.

In fact, in the early Church when a person was baptised, they would go into the water naked, and once they had come up they would be dressed in a new set of white clothes to symbolise the new life that they had entered.

And in baptism, all that mattered beforehand was no longer of any consequence. The old divisions that divided people no longer have meaning, so that in baptism all are equal, because all that matters is that we are God’s children, the identity that we claim in baptism.

All these things are part of what we are doing for Alexander today. He is too young to express his own faith, so his parents and godparents are doing that on his behalf, and making promises that as he grows they will help him to experience what it means to know God’s love, what it means to be part of a Christian community, what it means to pray and worship, and that they will teach him about the Christian faith.

He’s too young to have engaged yet in any of those specific sins that Paul mentioned in his letter, but that doesn’t stop his baptism being a symbol of new life. Our world is sadly tainted by sin and he will be affected by that, but his baptism is a reminder that the effects of sin can be counteracted by the forgiveness of God, and we hope and pray that as he grows, Alexander will come to the knowledge of forgiveness and experience the liberation that it brings.

Ecclesiastes 1.2, 12-14; 2.18-23; Luke 12.13-21

What’s the point of it all? Nothing changes - seasons come and go, and everything stays the same. Nothing satisfies - we toil but others enjoy the fruit of our labours not us. Nothing is new - though time moves on, at heart nothing changes.

When I was a morose teenager, the book of Ecclesiastes was one of my favourites - the others being some of the Psalms, and the book of Job. I found in those books and verses something that echoed with the pointlessness of it all that I felt.

And I suspect that many others have in the past and still do have similar thoughts at certain times in their life.

Why bother? It’s all for nothing.

That sense of futility is something echoed throughout the ages. Wilfred Owen’s poem Futility, written after he found the body of a young soldier, is just one example.

Move him into the sun -
gently its touch awoke him once,
at home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
the kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seed -
woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
full-nerved -still warm- too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
to break earth’s sleep at all?

What’s the point of it all?
The word translated as “vanity” is the Hebrew word hebel - it means breath, puff, mist, vapour, futility.

A book that so profoundly utters that life is meaningless perhaps seems to be at odds with the rest of the Bible. But it takes us on a journey through the experience of life. It asks us to reflect on life without God, so that we recognise the value of the divine.

The lectionary compilers have omitted great chunks of the beginning of this book - presumably in order to end up with a reading of an appropriate length for worship. But that aside, it is a great shame. Some of what they’ve left out is an elaboration of exactly what it is that is vanity.

It can be summed up under three headings - personal life, creation, history.

The author’s first question was - What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? The answer appears to be nothing. People come and people go but things remain the same.

His second sphere looks at the meaningless of creation - the sun comes up and goes down, winds blow, streams flow to the sea but it never fills - it’s all so wearisome.

And then he looks back over history - people of old are not remembered, he says, nor will be the people who are to come by those who follow them. History’s ebb and flow has that same wearisome character. No lessons have been learnt - the same old things happen again and again.

In his search for meaning, he applied his mind to wisdom, but that was no help; the wiser he became, the more sorrowful his life. It led only to vexation of the spirit.

Wisdom doesn’t work, so he then tried pleasure - self-indulgence. But that too failed to give satisfaction. Palaces, slaves, vineyards, great flocks and herds, silver and gold, the delights of the flesh - none of it brought meaning.

There are echoes of that in our world today. Compared with former generations, we are rich materially, but it has not brought a deep happiness or joy to people, and our society seems to be deteriorating in many ways.

It’s all futile because in the end wise and foolish will face the same death.  But there is a glimmer of hope, which strangely is omitted by the lectionary compilers - perhaps we are meant to work it out for ourselves, particularly when we place this reading alongside our New Testament reading which elucidates clearly where true riches are to be found.

The missing words introduce God to the argument.
“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

“For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

When we bring God into the picture, life begins to have some meaning. St Augustine discovered this for himself. Though he was raised by his mother in a Christian home, it was only later that he made the faith his own. He wished he’d discovered this before.

Some words from his Confessions:
Late have I loved you,
beauty at once so ancient and so new.
Too late have I loved you.

I searched the world for you:
clumsily, I blundered through the loveliness of your creation.
(You were already at home within me.)

You called to me and you shouted
(my ears were plugged)
but at last your voice broke through.
Your light cast itself before me.
(My eyes were veiled.)

Opening my mouth, I inhaled your fragrance.
(Tasting you now, I am ravenous.)
Now I am burning with your touch
flaming with love, love of your peace. (translation: Hugh Rayment-Pickard)

And what was it that he found, when the flame of God’s love inspired him?

Some more words:

What do I love when I love you, my God?

Not physical beauty trapped in time;
not the dazzle of earthly light;
not the sweet melody of harmony and song;
not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices;
not manna or honey;
and not limbs the body delights to caress.

None of these do I love, when I love God.

But when my soul is suspended in a light that transcends space;
when it vibrates to a sound that never dies away;
when it inhales a fragrance that no breeze can disturb;
when it savours food that is never consumed by the eating;
when it is held in an embrace which endures beyond the climax of desire —
this is what I love when I love God. (translation: Hugh Rayment-Pickard)

Augustine found the meaning in his life for which the author of Ecclesiastes was looking. The answer was God.

How I wonder would we describe our experiences of futility and of God? Where is our treasure to be found?

Sunday 5th August
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + baptism of Alexander Mahon
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 6th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 7th August
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 8th August
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 9th August
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 10th August
 
Saturday 11th August
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
all day  Art Expression Day, Prayer and Painting at Old Westfield, Barley

Sunday 12th August
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion + baptism of Poppy Swain, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong for Patronal Festival, St Mary’s, Reed

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Wednesday 15th August
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Fern Cottage, Therfield

Sunday 19th August
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. CW Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed

Tuesday 21st August
5.30 p.m. Wedding rehearsal, St Mary’s, Reed

Wednesday 22nd August
8.45 a.m. Barley PCC Sub-committee meeting, Willetts, Barley