Friday, August 12, 2022

Thought for the day

From the preface to Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians, by Lee C. Camp.

For those of you old enough, it reminds me of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." You can see all the lyrics here. Here's the refrain:

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Yep. I've been around the block a few times in the last 66 years and I've learned they are correct. But, perhaps even truer, is Qohelet (Ecclesiastes):
1 Remember your creator in your prime,
before the days of trouble arrive,
and those years, about which you’ll say, “I take no pleasure in these”—
2 before the sun and the light grow dark, the moon and the stars too,
before the clouds return after the rain;
3 on the day when the housekeepers tremble and the strong men stoop;
when the women who grind stop working because they’re so few,
and those who look through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are shut,
when the sound of the mill fades,
the sound of the bird rises,
and all the singers come down low;
5 when people are afraid of things above
and of terrors along the way;
when the almond tree blanches, the locust droops,
and the caper-berry comes to nothing;[a]
when the human goes to the eternal abode,
with mourners all around in the street;
6 before the silver cord snaps and the gold bowl shatters;
the jar is broken at the spring and the wheel is crushed at the pit;
7 before dust returns to the earth as it was before
and the life-breath returns to God who gave it.

8 Perfectly pointless, says the Teacher, everything is pointless.

12b There’s no end to the excessive production of scrolls. Studying too much wearies the body. 13 So this is the end of the matter; all has been heard. Worship God and keep God’s commandments because this is what everyone must do. 14 God will definitely bring every deed to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or bad. (Eccl. 12:1–7, 12b–14 CEB)
I'm not quite at the stage where the sun and light have grown dark, and I can still here the birds, and most of my teeth are intact. But, I'm on the second half of my life (at best, probably the last third or quarter), and it's all pointless aside from worshiping God.

Just an
<idle musing>

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