The Season Of Grief Series

Reading: Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11

Lesson:

The passage of scripture from the book of Ecclesiastes; the Teacher, is well known thanks to a song that the Byrd’s released in the sixties called “Turn, turn, turn." The original words are thought to be written by King Solomon the second king of Israel and according to the Old Testament the wisest man who had ever lived.

In regards to the type of writing this fits into it is classed as Wisdom literature. This is pretty straight up kind of stuff really “There’s a time to live, a time to die” a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance.

Just now is a time to understand that .... has passed on, now is a time for crying and grief. But the thing to hold onto is this is not a place to remain in. There will be a time to laugh as we remember .... as he was in the good times, a time to dance as the good things of life come to us. Grief is a vital part of life but it is important that it has its season and it passes.

Solomon used these words “a season for every activity under heaven.” .... being a vege gardener would have understood this, the preparation of the soil, the fertiliser added, the green crops and manure dug in. With the warmth of Spring, seeds sown and planted out, Those first shoots of venerable life that need protecting, the plants establishing themselves through late Spring and early Summer till hardy enough to flower and with the help of a visiting bee or bumble bee pollinated and ta crop established. Those red tomatoes, butter beans or fresh green peas among other crops that sustain us over their period of cropping and stored through the winter, sustaining us until the next season of growth. Then as the Lord has planned for our good the cycle of growth and nourishment continues. This .... would have understood.

.... was a man who gave a lot, but also coped with a lot, he had been venerable and at times of his growth he had been harmed.

.... was on an amazing journey, he was a good bloke, an intellectual, a gentleman. A man who was seeking after God and God’s will for him. Like King Solomon said, he had a desire to understand this thing about eternity that God had planted in his heart. He had made a faith decision and while not seeing the whole scope of God’s work .... was on a journey with his creator.

The challenge for all of us is to seek to understand something of where we are with God. The Teacher tells us all that “God has made everything beautiful in its own time.” We have eternity in our hearts, for we are spiritual beings and in the words that were shared with .... that; “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience.” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

What we only know in part, what we cannot see the whole scope of .... now understands more fully.

Let us pray.

Prayer, Father we thank you for the life of ...., we thank you that he is now with you perfected in your presence. Amen.