““Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:1-9 NKJV
God of wonders,
We are entering the gloom. It seems the writer (Solomon?) is looking down not into a half full glass or even half empty one. It is bone dry. To get no satisfaction from a job completed, from a new day rising, a glimpse of Your creation, trees blowing in the breeze, or a bubbling stream making its way to the sea.
The writer may be factually right. There is nothing new under the sun. People make the same mistakes in error or due to sin. Accidents happen. There may be people doing amazingly kind things every day, new discoveries . . . but it does not always make us feel better.
Sometimes, when you are down, you just miss everything. Sometimes a cheerful person is an irritation. The ‘dissess’ take over. Disappointment, distress, disillusionment . . .
But You are still God and your foot does not slip and You do not slumber of sleep (Psalm 121:33-4) You are our refuge (Psalm 46) and You do lift us up to once again find our joy in You. (Nehemiah 8:10).
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Tuesday 12th May 2026
Memories of school assemblies. . Cecil wrote this hymn to explain the phrase “Maker of heaven and earth” from the Apostles’ Creed in simple terms, emphasizing God’s creation of the natural world. She did it well.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
Chorus
The purple headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;
Chorus
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,−
He made them every one:
Chorus
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Lyrics: Cecil Frances Alexander