A New Season
A reflection for the New Year
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 (NRSV): 3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
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It's a new day. It’s a new year. The old has passed away and the new has come. At the start of a new year there is a sense of hopefulness as we dream about what this year has in store for us. This new year is a fresh start. It is full of endless possibilities. It is a time when we make New Year’s resolutions to try to be better than we were last year. We make promises that this year we will: Exercise more, lose weight, finally get organized, and read more. There is an excitement as we prepare for this new year ahead.
But, at the same time, the start of a new year can also bring a sense of somberness and sadness. In fact, back in 2012, a study from the UK showed that about 1/6th of the British population (around 10 million people) considers New Year's Eve the "most depressing night of the year."[i]
Another year is gone; another year has passed. It’s a time of reflection. As Dr. Kubiak states, in this study: “Anytime there's a time for reflection, you have the potential of becoming even more depressed. Especially if you feel like you just don't measure up in comparison to others.”[ii] A New Year can bring our failures and mistakes to light. It can remind us of our regrets and disappointments.
There is a movie that came out in 2013 called About Time. The movie tells the story of a young man named Tim Lake. At the age of 21, Tim’s father explains to him that all of the men in their family can travel in time. Now, they can’t time travel to any point in history – they can’t kill Hitler. And they can’t travel to the future. But they can only travel back within their own lifetime. So, Tim uses this gift to go back and re-do different moments in his life. He literally gets a second chance at a first date. He gets a second opportunity to make a first impression. He has the ability to go back and fix mistakes and erase embarrassing moments.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I would absolutely love this gift. I’m a perfectionist, so I would love to have the opportunity go back in time and have a second chance to fix my mistakes. It would be amazing to have this control over time and be able to replay important moments all over again.
But toward the end of the film, Tim learns an important lesson. Tim’s father gives him a two-part plan to enjoy his life. It’s a secret formula to happiness. The first part is to go through a day normally – as it plays out – just simply go to work, eat lunch, and sit in meetings. But the second part is to go back in time and relive the day again while truly embracing it for what it is. Taking the time to actually pay attention the people around you. Taking the time to notice the things going on during the day - the good the bad, and the ugly. Ultimately, Tim realizes the importance of living every day to the fullest, and Tim eventually decides that he is going to add a third part to his father’s plan for happiness. Tim decides that he is going to live his life without time travel, because it is already perfect the way it is. It’s a beautiful lesson about time.
The book of Ecclesiastes talks about this concept of time. There is a time for all things. Life is full of seasons. With the season of winter comes cold weather and snow. It’s the time of Christmas and New Year’s. With the season of spring comes rebirth. It’s a time of flowers and Easter. With the season of summer comes warm weather. It’s a time of river trips and summer camp. With the season of fall comes the changing leaves. It’s a time of football and Halloween. There is a time for all things. There is a season for all moments in life. Perhaps the 1960’s folk-rock band, the Byrds, sang it best in their song, “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
“To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep.”
The Byrds are quoting this passage from Ecclesiastes. This is one of the most familiar passages from the Bible. In this Scripture we see this back and forth between different experiences in life. We see this shift between life and death, good and bad, happy and sad.
Born – Die.
Plant – Reap.
Kill – Heal.
Laugh – Weep.
In Ecclesiastes, we see these extreme examples of the human experience. Life comes and goes. Noting is permanent. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes begins by saying: “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NRSV).
It all kind of seems a little depressing. If everything comes and goes, if everything is all vanity, then what is the point of it all?
Even from the very beginning, in the book of Genesis, we are told: “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” Genesis 3:19b (NRSV). We are told that life is temporary, life is fragile; and Ecclesiastes goes to great lengths to remind us of that.
Ecclesiastes may be the most somber and gloomy book in the Bible, but it is also the most honest. I think we might all feel the way the writer of Ecclesiastes feels at some point in our lives. We sometimes find ourselves in a rut – we get up. We go to school. We got to work. We come home. We eat. We go to sleep. Then we get up and do it all over again. Day after day.
And on New Years we look back and ask: “What do I have to show for it all? What have I really accomplished this year?” It's easy for us to get stuck in that rut and think that our lives don’t really matter, and we aren’t doing anything worthwhile. It’s easy to think that we aren’t really making a difference.
One of the lessons that I have learned in my lifetime is that you can’t always see the impact you make in people’s lives. Sometimes the things that we accomplish aren’t quantifiable. Sometimes you don’t always see what comes after a conversation or an act of kindness. Sometimes – often times – most times – you don’t know how your actions impact those around you…. Good and bad.
In his book Fearless Dialogues, Gregory Ellison – the associate professor of pastoral care and counseling and Candler School of Theology – talks about a conversation he had with his Aunt Dotty at the age of eight-year-old. At that young age he had begin to feel like he wasn’t able to make a real impact in his life. He felt like there was nothing he could do to make a difference in the world. And so, he asked his Aunt Dotty: “How can I change the world?” And Aunt Dotty, in all her wisdom responded, “Baby, I don’t know how to change the world, but I can change the three feet around me.”[iii]
And you know what, I think Aunt Dotty is on to something. Sometimes changing the three feet around you makes a bigger impact than you know.
So, the truth is, it’s not really all vanity. It matters. Our lives matter. Your life matters. And we know our lives matter, because of what happened at Christmas. The story of Christmas teaches us that God did not leave us on our own time – God did not abandon us and leave us to simply cycle through our daily lives. God entered our time. God came among us in the flesh. Jesus has come – Emmanuel – God with us.
As retired Bishop Will Willimon says: “As we begin a new year, we begin with faith that God does not leave us in our time, but God makes time for us, takes time for us, and that our days become God’s days.”[iv]
Our life – your life – is a gift from God. And Ecclesiastes is reminding us of that. God has given us this gift, and the best thing that we can do is enjoy it and live life to the fullest.
Ecclesiastes states: “(God) has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.” Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 (NRSV).
In other words, you never know what might happen in this life – so don’t sweat it. Instead, enjoy God’s gift. Eat, drink, and enjoy your life… Because there are a lot of things that are out of our control. There are a lot of things that happen that we cannot foresee. There are a lot of things that happen that we didn’t expect or plan.
But there are also a lot of things that we can control. We have choices in this life. How are you going to live your life? How are you going to treat the people around you? How are you going to live into your life as a disciple of Jesus?
NOTES
[i]. Telegraph Reporters, “New Year's Eve 'Most Depressing Night of the Year',” The Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group, December 30, 2012), last modified December 30, 2012, accessed December 22, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9771415/New-Years-Eve-most-depressing-night-of-the-year.html.
[ii]. Telegraph Reporters, “New Year's Eve 'Most Depressing Night of the Year',” The Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group, December 30, 2012), last modified December 30, 2012, accessed December 22, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9771415/New-Years-Eve-most-depressing-night-of-the-year.html.
[iii]. Gregory C. Ellison, Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 11.
[iv]. William H. Willimon, “God's Time,” Pulpit Resource 40, no. 1, Year B (January 2012), accessed December 28, 2021, https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/7466/january-1-2012-gods-time.
