Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 ~ to the place where the streams flow

We live in a unique place in history; not only to we have tremendous advances not predicted by our grandparents (my grandmother b. 1898 rode as a small child in a covered wagon before cars were invented), but there hasn't been an Israel in 2,000 years. Imagine your grandparents learning Israel was to be re-formed after 2,000 years.

Until 1981 the Hittite Empire was thought to be fable. Until an archaeological find, much like the Indiana Jones movies, where the archaeologist fell into the Hittite library and that library not only confirmed the Hittite Empire, but all of the Biblical history of their battles.

This interactive map shows the Middle East has been under many different influences over the course of history. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. This is a unique time and this map is well worth the time. Are we today like 800 B.C.? Hit the red play button and think about it.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity [Vapor] of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens [and returns panting] to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, [former people]
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things [later people] yet to be
among those who come after.

We see in the maps: war, peace. Or injustice, violence, peace, injustice, violence. Change.

One of our admirable components, as human beings, is our ability not to conform, but to see outside the box. If you adopt the accepted norms of your generation, you're just another salmon swimming in the same old direction.

We rightly condemn the crusades - (the Crusader Empire on the video) these occurred not for the duration of the dark ages, but for 200 years. (During an age of bear-bating for entertainment, not holding or even naming one's child before the age of 3 to 7 because of infant mortality rates, a very brutal era of serfdom and starvation. The most common cause of death was starvation. They believed crusades would, inaccurately, stop plagues, as well as bring riches.) These are not the same values of the people we are, who buy chicken in cellophane from the grocery. We have to remember we live in a different cultural world.

What happened directly after the crusades? The Great Schism. (2 popes, dilution of the power.) And after that? Martin Luther. Justice trying to prevail when might is trying to suppress it.

We rightly condemn the Spanish Inquisition, but this was limited to Spain. It sprang from civil war. Of all the European countries, the personality of Spain is civil war, even today. The Inquisition caused Spain to loose their vast holdings in the New World. No one wanted to be under Spanish rule. They were posed in the beginning to sweep over all of our hemisphere. People fought and died not to be under a Spanish Flag.

2 historical atrocities bringing condemnation to the Church happened a.) for a short time in history and had drastic consequences for the Church. b.) were isolated and had consequences for that nation and the world.

Newsweek, June 2009, did a tremendous article on Church attendance plummeted all over the USA. Horrors. We are now a nation who doesn't got to Church, except for 80% of the USA. Really down from a decade ago. The article was basically un-true. When you really read the statistics, from the Pew Research Center and the article, the North East is off 18% in Church attendance - that is the Catholic portion of the country and the statistics pointed out it was only a Catholic drop in the North East. Why? Sick men molested children. This Pope has faced an enormous amount of libel and slander, but his one concern is making the Church face and correct real Sin.

And Newsweek did not do another article saying in one year, Catholic Church attendance is rising again. It has to do with forgiveness, justice is being sought, and people realize forgiveness is the business of faith - the way to true happiness.

We live in the world and see the consequences of inhumanity, it seems unfair to blame so much of it on the Church.

Psalm 145:4-9
4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.



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