What does man gain
from all his labor
At
which he toils under the sun? (1:3)
The Protestant work ethic pervades so many success
stories. Too often, either vocational
training or entrepreneurship training, or both, fail to have the desired
effect. Then someone looks deeper into
the underlying attitudes and superstitions of the trainees. The phrase
“colonization of the mind” suggests that some people really believe (perhaps
subconsciously) that they cannot compete.
Or their work ethic has been undermined by a sense of entitlement.
This was a busy week at C4L.
Another NGO called Phakamani rented the facility to train its own staff
for 5 days. A round table of member
groups of our provincial youth organizations forum was held for 2 days. 20 high school learners are boarding on
campus for a year. So we had 30 - 40
guests at every meal! What does man gain from all this labor? Indeed.
I have seen all the
things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless (1:12)
At the time that Ecclesiastes was written, most work was
done under the sun. The Industrial
Revolution had not arrived yet, nor the Productivity Revolution ushered in by
Frederick Taylor in the 20th century. Solomon had no air conditioning or elevator
music. It is as hard to square the
Protestant work ethic with this Old Testament classic, as it is to reconcile
the hopes and dreams of the Africa Power
and Light Company to the notion that everything under the sun is
meaningless! But then Solomon had never
heard of terms like photo-voltaic or photo-thermal. We see what is done under the sun as
optimistic – not absurd!
Thami and Sibusiso have just completed their Assessor
training. Last month they did their
Facilitator training, so they are now able to both train other youth and sign
the graduation certificates. This
follows on from their technical training last year, as Plumber and Solar
Technician respectively. C4L is now “fit
for service” to provide accredited training to youth . The first Solar Technician course starts
February 21st and the first Plumbers course on Feb 28th. Walk with us!
This is not meaningless, it is pro-poor and environmentally friendly!
And I saw something
else under the sun:
In
the place of judgment – wickedness was there
In
the place of justice – wickedness was there (3:16)
Even the church does not escape this penetrating
insight. In one chapter of Revelation,
it is called a harlot. That is wickedness. But many church-goers will be surprised to
hear the Bridegroom say “Depart from me”.
Along with that Protestant work ethic came a pretty deep suspicion of
pleasure! Puritanism collided with
hedonism. Gnosticism reared its head
again with an over-emphasis on spirituality – at the expense of the physical (including
the arts, liturgical worship - especially sacred dance - and the deception that
“sex is dirty”).
This week C4L sent an appeal to a dozen church organizations
to help fund a poster campaign. I was bewildered
by the diverse reactions. One reply
questioned whether that was even ministry.
Another ordered 85 posters – one for each church in their denomination!
Again I looked and saw
all the oppression that was taking place under the sun (4:1)
The poster has a back-wash photo of Jimmy Mohlala, one of
those local leaders who paid the ultimate price in what the press is now
calling “the January murders”. At the
top of the poster is written “17 Reasons to Demand Transparency”. Then comes a litany of the 17 names, by year,
from 1998 to 2011. At the bottom it
reads: “Good leadership is not possible without good leaders”. May the winds of Egypt
blow to Mpumalanga!
Again I saw something
meaningless under the sun
There
was a man all alone
He had neither son nor brother
There
was no end to his toil
Yet his eyes were not content with his
wealth
“For whom am I toiling?” he asked
“and why am I depriving
myself of enjoyment?” (4:7-8)
This reminded me of The Giving Pledge. Billionaires no longer need to toil, they
need to enjoy being well off! A new
layer has been added to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualization is no longer the most
sophisticated need. It is: giving back,
saying Thanks.
I have seen a grievous
evil under the sun:
Wealth hoarded to the harm of its
owner (5:13)
The corollary of that new layer in Maslow’s hierarchy is
that hoarding wealth can be hazardous to your health. I wouldn’t know! But I can tell you that emptying yourself out
for other people is scary as hell – but my health is bearing up!
There is something
else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked
deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. (8:14)
There is a jazz club in Maputo called Shithappens. That might
serve as a paraphrase title for Ecclesiastes?
Fine citizens like Jimmy Mohlala get gunned down in their own back yards
while dictators like Mubarak get 30 years at the helm. C.S. Lewis would have called it “nonsensical”
but the writer of Ecclesiastes is much more solar!
Enjoy life with your
wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given
you under the sun (9:9)
This one hurt most.
Could this explain why the church seems to peddle Divorce as the holy
way past a broken marriage? Brought to
you by the makers of the Protestant work ethic and Puritans Against
Hedonism. It is not the Christian way,
and certainly not the African way.
Contentment
I made a short list of some things that are not new under
the sun, but as good as ever:
- Bread and butter
- Cold mineral water
- A spectacular sunset
- Sitting beside a fire in the dark
- Reading a psalm
- Swimming on a hot summer day
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