Ecc. Study One: The Same Fate Overtakes Them Both

Every person’s life is a story, and the life of a Christian in particular moves toward a wonderful ending that surpasses imagination. But the story, as well as its ending, is noteworthy. The characters also, because of the Divine Author’s skill, are worth observing. The Author has given each of us individual characteristics and goals that make us fascinating characters for study.
God’s Word is a great work of literature given to us by the Greatest Author. As we read it, we get to know our Author and can anticipate what He may write in our book. But sometimes we find it difficult to compare our book to that one, largely because of the differences in time period between the two and perhaps also because of some differences in style.
Sometimes it seems to us that our Author has put our book aside for a while to work on a different story or that He has writer’s block or even that we’ve been deceived and He is not truly authoring our book after all. But He is. And as we get to know Him we become more interested in His writing, and as we read it we become more interested in Him.
As you read the book of Ecclesiastes, read also the chapters of this make-believe story, and review the chapters in your life that correspond to the book of Ecclesiastes as well. Reread the Scripture after you read the story and while you think about how it applies to you. Answer the questions that help to make the connections and marvel anew at the Author’s hand on your life. What will happen next in your story? Who makes it worthwhile?
Never forget the Author. Keep focusing on Him.
He holds the pen and He loves His creation. And He and His work are not fiction but real. He is the source of meaning and joy.


Study Number One

Read the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes and verses 12-16 of the second chapter.

The Same Fate Overtakes Them Both

It’s funny how much a wedding and a funeral have in common, Clare thought. Both are emotional, attended by family, expensive, and dominated by meaningful words and music. Both mark change.
Clare wasn’t intending to be morbid. She was thrilled for Lauren. She’d found a young man who loved her and shared her passion—a desire to minister to unreached people groups. Clare wished them the best.
With her husband’s large hand so warm on hers, Clare knew love could do much for a person. It was revitalizing. It could help to heal. But it couldn’t block out all pain. It couldn’t completely fill one up. Negative aspects of reality—past and present—were not so easily escapable. Not for Clare, anyway.
Surely Kate was pleased with her daughter’s choice. It seemed a wise and worthy one. Much as Kate’s had appeared to be. What more could a pastor’s wife want for her daughter than that she follow in her footsteps? Why, if anything, a foreign missionary could be considered more devout than a stateside parson.
But Clare didn’t feel particularly celebratory. Not because of the upcoming wedding. And not completely because of the long-ago funeral, though she hadn’t felt truly completely joyful since she had died. But had she before then either?
Unbalanced, swollen, but yet familiar features swam before Clare’s eyes. Now they were so still, when they had once been so animated.
At least the eyes were closed; that was a blessing. Clare didn’t want to see her eyes. How odd it would be for them to be blank and far away, but not in thought.
The hair was stiff with hairspray and styled nicely but not quite right, not the way she would have fixed it. She wore one of her favorite outfits, but it didn’t look like it did when she put it on herself.
And that sensation of impending catastrophe was still present in Clare whenever she thought about that day, the feeling of slipping, losing ground, even though it was all long over, had happened and was done with. Still Clare wondered why? Why had it happened? An accident? More than that. Who was truly at fault? No one but herself?
But that was all past. Life went on. There were bright spots and dark ones. And tomorrow was Lauren’s wedding, today the rehearsal. Kate’s daughter’s wedding. A joyful time. A time for celebrating love and the sweet bonds of family.
Could the living see the dead? Hear them? Could the dead still walk, move among them? Could the living actually be in a sense dead, the dead living? Not like a horror movie. Or maybe like a horror movie. Without the gore, but with the constant sense of dread, the feeling that what had gone wrong once could go wrong again. Maybe even to Lauren. She seemed so happy. Her life seemed so perfect. Too good to be true.
Wallace Stevens had written, “Let be be the finale of seem.” But there was even more to life than what was. There was what was that so many didn’t acknowledge and yet it was so. And there was what would be. And what would be might very well be a repetition of what had been, like Yeats’ “Second Coming” indicated, “turning and turning in the widening gyre . . . history repeats itself.” How could it be anything else?
They practiced their vows under an arch they’d made themselves out of washed up branches. Clare wondered if they had a back-up plan in case the weather was stormy. She knew the church Lauren and her fiancée were attending was a long way from this beach and she couldn’t imagine their wedding indoors.
The wedding party wore no shoes, and planned to do the same tomorrow, relishing the feel of the sand under their feet. There was a light breeze, making it difficult to hear the music, which wafted to those present from time to time, startling them slightly. Lauren didn’t seem concerned about its being too quiet. She didn’t even seem slightly nervous. She seemed very happy, actually. Everything seemed to please her.
These thoughts of yours are too dark, too depressing, Clare’s sisters would tell her, perhaps somewhat hypocritically but maybe not. She thought she probably was the most negative of them. The most like Eeyore.
Possibly Lauren’s situation was nothing like that other young, seemingly very happy girl, whose act had shocked all who knew her. And Kate might be every bit as wonderful—happy and fulfilled and good--as she appeared to be. Perhaps, Clare should just write about them.
People should escape—wanted to escape--into something happier, not sadder than their current existence. That’s what you should write about, all of her sisters would say. Keep it light. Maybe Lauren and Kate would qualify for that kind of writing. Maybe not. At any rate, Clare wasn’t going to write about just them.
It wasn’t that Clare thought that “keeping it light” was bad advice, though she wasn’t very good at taking advice, particularly when it came to her writing, nor had she followed the advice to “keep it light” in what she wrote in the past, though then she’d been writing from her imagination, rather than her experience. But how could she ever hope to write about an escape when she wasn’t sure there was one? And she didn’t really think that escape was the answer. She should know. She had a tendency to be a quitter, when one venture didn’t go as planned, to give it up and start a new one. But those problems that made the first unsuccessful would probably also make the second unsuccessful. At some point, she must stick with it and work it out. She needed help to see what was valuable in what was and strive for what was important. Writing about it—all of it, and getting her sisters to share their sides of the story with her for her to transcribe--might help her see, help her find something worthwhile in what seemed not so meaningful.
Anyway, it wasn’t all dark. Just so often shadowed, with light only peeping through here and there.

Questions to Answer

How is it that there is “nothing new under the sun”?

How can life be described as meaningless, even for a Christian?

How is it better to be wise than to be foolish? How is it not better to be wise than to be foolish?

The upcoming wedding contrasts with the past funeral. How is joy mingled with sorrow and death with life?

What kind of person is Clare?

Can you relate to Solomon? Why or why not? Why do you think he has the perspective he has?

How would you describe yourself and your outlook on life? Optimistic, pessimistic; intellectual, not-so intellectual