I have a strange admiration for this Old Testament writer. He is so honest. He is so unwilling to rely on any answers but his own. He has a one word for this existence.
‘Vanity’
It describes what he has discovered in life. Life is full of futility. We believe that we understand then it is taken away from us. Anything that satisfies us does not last.
Life is all smoke and mirrors …
This book review was published in The Baptist Times earlier in the summer. It offers a background to my series : The Gatherer. He seems to me to a person who learnt to walk in the darkness of unanswered questions. Here it is.
As someone who prefers a dull day to bright sunlight; looks forward to the night’s drawing in, is not afraid of the dark and enjoys night trekking Barbara Brown Taylor would say I have a leaning towards Lunar Spirituality. This is in contrast to the Full Solar Spirituality which she identifies as the most commended bench mark for healthy Christian living.
There is a book in the bible that should be read within sight and sound of falling leaves. It is Ecclesiastes. It is a good book to read as gardeners try to tidy up the year – but never with complete success.
I think of it as a spiritual journal rather like Markings by Dag Hammarskjold. It is serious about God and the search for meaning in our life. It has been left behind by a seriously honest person. His thoughts are not very well organised. He can be repetitive, alarmingly truthful and mournful. He chose to live on the distant edges of belief.
We do not know the name of the author but he was a collector of experiences. He inhabits the times he is living through and gathers them into his rather cheerless search for purpose and meaning. He is the Gatherer …
windingquest 