Chaplains’ Chat

A Melbourne Cup, yearly exams, Christmas decorations and upcoming holidays are signs that demonstrate that another year is rapidly drawing to a conclusion. These often joyful and restful times will no doubt bring many experiences and memories with families and friends and so many of us will enjoy many wonderful things. I do love that how ‘into’ these experiences of life we can become, the Bible so often deals with the practicalities of life. 

King Solomon is accredited with the words of Ecclesiastes and he recounts how he essentially experienced all there is in life. He was a man who endeavoured to complete projects, he had possessions more than anyone else in the world at the time and he noted that he experienced all the pleasures in life that one could hope for. And yet after experiencing all of this he could write that, “Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind,” (Eccl 2:11). It was not that the pleasures themselves were not pleasurable. But Solomon noted that in the context of life (including all its goodness and experiences) when we don’t have God in the picture, the projects, possessions and pleasures are ultimately meaningless. Solomon noted that with God in our lives, it puts a new perspective on these experiences that we have. Ultimately, we can see the goodness of God as we experience these things in life. Solomon writes that our duty as people is to honour God in what we do. Indeed, we can then see that all these things in life come from God. Jesus reminds us that he comes to bring fullness of life and that involves knowing God and being in a relationship with him. This gives us a Godly perspective on our projects, possessions and pleasures.

Rev. Anthony Benn
Chaplain