Today, we will be finishing our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 12:1-14, The End of the Matter. Solomon now comes to the end of his journey of examining the world from the perspective of “under the sun.” He discovers that he’s been looking in all the wrong places, and his search leads him back to his Creator, the God of heaven and earth. Solomon calls us to remember our Creator, to commit ourselves to God 

Today, we will reflect on Ecclesiastes 11:1-10, The Work of God. God created us to work, to have dominion over creation and help it flourish, responsible human work is part of God’s creation plan for humanity, but human sin spoiled God’s good creation, work is now much harder and made our work less certain. Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin and to restore the good creation. Jesus sees work in the context of the kingdom of God, “I will make you fishers of men,” and urges his followers to do the work of God. We are called to do everything as if for the Lord, as in our work we bless our community and create places of flourishing.

Today, we will be continuing our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 9:1-12, The End is the Same for All. We will be reflecting on death and life. In the end, we will all die, and for Solomon, death is the great enemy, the punishment for sin. No matter how hard you work, how much you gather, or how evil you’ve been, we all end up the same, in the grave. This is why Solomon encourages his readers to eat, drink, and enjoy life with your life. We will also be installing our new elders and deacons as part of the service .

Today, we will be returning to our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 8:2-17, The King and Obedience. When Solomon calls for obedience to the king, he’s speaking about obedience to God as our king. Solomon has been reflecting for so long about life under the sun, and as we near the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is turning his focus more and more towards God, recognizing that without God, life is meaningless, and there is no hope or future without God.

Today, we will be celebrating Pentecost by reflecting on Ezekiel 37:1-14, The Holy Spirit Renews Us. Pentecost is about the coming of the Holy Spirit, but this is already foreshadowed in the Old Testament in a number of places, including Ezekiel 37. Israel is in exile, and hope is lost, and the people feel like dry bones, that life has left them. The Lord comes to Ezekiel with a promise of new life and restoration! Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit coming into the world and creating new life by empowering the people of God with spiritual life and power to go into the world, offering new life to everyone through Jesus witnesses to our communities, to repent and believe because the kingdom of God is near.

Today, we will be celebrating Ascension Day. We will reflect on Acts 1:1-11, Being Witnesses. After Jesus’ resurrection, he spent 40 days with his followers, teaching them and preparing them to continue the work he had begun. Jesus leaves them with this charge, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is the call of the church still today, to be Jesus’ witnesses to our communities, to repent and believe because the kingdom of God is near.

Today, we will reflect on Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1; Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20, Wisdom is a Good Thing. These are two passages that reflect on what wisdom looks like, and yet what wisdom looks like in various circumstances can be difficult to figure out. When we live under the sun only, wisdom is often overlooked or even rejected. Wisdom is often disregarded because of who it comes from. Wisdom is a good thing, even if disregarded.

Today, we continue our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:12, Contentment. Wealth carries its own temptations, as Solomon observes. If you love wealth, you’ll find that you will always be striving for more, and living a life of thankfulness becomes almost impossible; wealth can harm you through worry, stress, and hurt relationships and trust in others; wealth can be lost. Solomon reminds us over and over again what a blessing it is to enjoy God’s daily blessings and to be happy in their toil 

Today, we continue our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, Careful Words. In this passage, Solomon is warning us about the power of our words and how we speak to and about God. God is in heaven, he is the creator of the universe, and we are his creations, valuable, precious creations, created in God’s image, and we are called to humbleness and respect for God.

Today, we will reflect on Ecclesiastes 4:1-16, A Cord of Three Strands. Solomon is seeing the pain and brokenness in the world, but he’s also seeing how many people walk alone in the world and reflects on the value of companionship, that two are better than one, that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. We are not called to walk alone; we were created in the image of God, created for companionship and community.