To everything there is a season
Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 11
John 21:1 – 19
April 10, 2016
Marilyn B. Kendrix
INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
In the reading from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, we hear the passage that inspired the rock group, the Byrds, to write a song over half century ago. To everything there is a season.
The book of Ecclesiastes as a whole is one that has caused many biblical scholars to wonder how it ever made it into Holy Scripture.
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” begins the writer of Ecclesiastes. The New Living translation of the Bible has that verse as Meaningless, meaningless, everything is completely meaningless! Yet, there are some unifying lessons one can take from this most confusing of the Bible’s wisdom literature. At least in this third chapter, we can understand that God has ordered all things and that we cannot change the course of events that sometimes happen in our lives or even fully understand them. But, says the writer of Ecclesiastes, the world is not fundamentally chaotic or irrational. Everything has its “time” and is good in its time.
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And then, in the scene on the beach that we will hear in the Gospel of John, we hear of another time when the way that God has ordered the world is not what the disciples, mere humans, had in mind.
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Sermon
To everything, there is a season. When the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote this, he was not presenting a case for faithful service to God. Honesty the whole of the book of Ecclesiastes is a discourse on the hopelessness of the human condition, yet we know that God is still speaking and that reading scripture is always an intersection between the text of the past and context of today. That there is a season for everything is a good thing to remember as we live through the inevitable changes in our lives.
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The disciples in the story that we heard from John’s Gospel were also dealing with change. These men had been following Jesus for three years. They had given up their lives, dropped their fishing nets, to follow him. And they were expecting a revolution, one that would overthrow the occupying Roman government. But what they got was a crucifixion of their leader. Talk about changes – there they were, left scratching their heads, trying to understand what had happened over those last days and trying to figure out their own place in those events.
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Oh, they had experienced encounters with the risen Jesus before this siting. But, what were they to DO with the fact of his resurrection? Seems like they had not been able to figure that out for here we find them, back to fishing for … just fish.
But, there is a time for everything and this was not the time for fishing. Jesus makes them breakfast. Just like most of our encounters with the living God, food is involved. But this encounter is about much more than a breakfast goodbye party. This encounter will set the direction for their future.
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For everything there is a season … and today, here at Redeemer, it is a season for goodbye.
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By the grace of God, your story and mine have intersected for over 18 years. We have journeyed together, and we have seen God at work. Sometimes I have been the teacher and you have been the learners. Very frequently, you have been the teachers and I have learned from you. This congregation has been a mentor and a teacher for me. When I came here 18 years ago, I had no notion of going to divinity school and seeking ordination. The thought that I would someday wear an alb and a stole and serve you as a pastor had never crossed my mind. Eighteen years ago, you welcomed me with love. You told me stories from this church’s history and immediately invited me to sing with this amazing choir. When seven years ago, I felt the call to ordained ministry, you held me in care – I like that name for it better than “member in discernment” because at least for me, your support felt like being carefully held, held up and supported as I worked to understand what being called by God entailed. When the time came, you threw me a wonderfully Spirit-filled ordination service, when I received my own stole, and when hands were laid on me in prayer.
You welcomed me. And you taught me. And with your help, together we reorganized Sunday School, together we planned Adult Faith Formation forums. You listened to my preaching and I hope, noticed some improvement over time. You were with me as I celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the very first time. This community has been my teacher and I have been privileged to be invited into your lives, sometimes into the moments of life when you were most vulnerable, moments of sadness and joy, of loss and fragile hope. You have spoken of your struggles with faith and with your joys of belief. You have told me of your deep wounds and heavy burdens, and you have let me pray for you. I have learned and grown through these interactions with you.
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Now the time has come for goodbye and goodbyes are always hard. Many of you have told me just how difficult and sad it is for you to say goodbye to me. I assure you, no matter how excited I am for what lies ahead, it is equally sad for me. But this I believe, with my whole heart: Although goodbye is so hard, it can be done with great hope. In the scripture reading from John this morning, the disciples had thought that hope had died. They were back to fishing, dropping their nets and finding that they were unable to catch even one fish. But Jesus stood on the beach and invited his friends to a goodbye breakfast of fish. And in that goodbye, he commissioned them for service to his people. “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “Feed my sheep” and fruitful ministry will follow.
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I have not the slightest doubt that fruitful ministry will continue for this congregation for years and years to come, whether in this building or another, because it is God who is at work among you, and God is faithful. Just as I entrust you to God, you can trust that God will lead me forward. God’s work is not limited to this time and place, and you and I will both continue to grow even as we part ways. So this is a hard goodbye said in hope. We may not be feeling much joy in the moment. But “goodbye” is the right thing to say, because it doesn’t mean “The end.” The word “goodbye” is a contraction of the old phrase, “God be with ye.” “Goodbye” is a word of hope and blessing. When I say goodbye—“God be with ye”—to you, I believe that God will always remain here among you even as God goes with me on this new adventure. So this is a time of hope and blessing for all of us.
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To everything there is a season.
This is a season when I will be leaving this amazing congregation. AND this is a season when you will be working with folks from United Church and Center Church and Dixwell Church and Shalom UCC, to discern what God is calling you to now, at this time, in New Haven. And like me, I am sure that you are both excited and a little scared. Like me, you are looking with anticipation to doing a new thing, while at the same time mourning the loss of what we once were. But, in the midst of all these conflicting emotions, we know that God dwells here, among us, always enveloping us in a love that surpasses anything that we can imagine.
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If I have taught nothing over the past four years, I have taught this. We are to love God and love one another and, always guided by the Holy Spirit, I believe, the rest will take care of itself. Amen
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