James and Elizabeth

We live in a world governed by glorious rotations and cycles. The earth spins, the moon revolves around the earth, and the earth revolves around the sun. Not only is this so, but the complexity is only beginning. Because the sun is also moving, the motion of the planets travels with it, and the whole thing travels in a magnificent helical way.

Down here on earth, as the writer of Ecclesiastes noted, the sun comes up and goes down. The wind blows through and then circles back around again. Water evaporates from the oceans, gathers in clouds, falls on the earth, runs down to the oceans, and cries out to the Father to do it all again.

This repeating phenomenon is seen by two kinds of people, but they take completely different lessons from it. One kind of person echoes the thoughts of the preacher of Ecclesiastes early on in his book, and bows beneath the weight of a vain and fruitless world. The whole thing is beyond stupid. All is vanity and shepherding wind. Finding satisfaction in this world is like trying to hold a gallon of water in your right hand, and with no bucket.

The other kind of person is the one who is given the gift that we find later on in Ecclesiastes. This is the gift of seeing, the gift of wise faith. But this gift of faith is not the gift of overlooking the obvious. Eyes full of faith do sparkle, but not because they are looking at something different. The world still goes round and round. Here we are again.

In fact, here we are again at another wedding. Here is another thing we do over and over again. How many weddings have all of us been to? If you have lost faith, you go to a wedding just see the same old thing again. Here are some people, all dressed up, doing what millions of other people have done, also all dressed up. If you have a cynical eye, if you are world-weary, you will just shrug and try to put up with it. But this is not wisdom, it is falling short of wisdom.

Wisdom goes deep. Here is wisdom.

“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:7–9, ESV).

There is a Pollyanna approach that says we are to enjoy life because it is not vain. The cynic retorts that it is vain, and so we should try to just accept it. This usually takes the form of stoicism. But the one instructed by Scripture sees that everything under the sun is in fact vain, and God gives us the marvelous gift of being able to enjoy this cycling, spinning planet, just the way it is.

So for Christians, there are three levels we need to get through. Immature believers tend to be contented with the ordinary. They seek out the normal, not because they see it properly, but because they take it all for granted. They do not question what comes to them, any more than a contented cow questions why the grass grows. The next level up seeks out glory, seeks out wonder, seeks out the extraordinary, but does so in hot pursuit of manifestly extraordinary things. This shows a true instinct to pursue in the right direction. James, I learned yesterday at the rehearsal dinner that part of your bachelor event was picking you up at 5 am, blindfolding you, driving you to an airport, and throwing you out of an airplane with a chute and a trainer.

James and Elizabeth, you are both eager, vibrant, ready to get outdoors to find and do cool stuff. This is wonderful, because it seeks what is wonderful and this shows an understanding of what God is like.

But there is an additional adventure awaiting beyond all such obvious adventures. This is what might be called the romance of normality, the splendor of the mundane. Because of the way God created the world, we need to understand that His glory is everywhere, and in everything. Scripture tells us that “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is. 6:3). This will include, of necessity, the minivan and the infant car seats.

When we see this, we see glory everywhere. Chesterton put it this way:

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

All of this is only possible because of the one cycle that cannot be repeated. Jesus suffered, bled, and died, and He went down to the grave. In the power of God’s might, He was raised from the dead, and Scripture assures us that this is a pattern that was a final once-for-all kind of thing. It cannot be repeated. Because it cannot be repeated, we may be forgiven, and when we are forgiven, we can then eat our bread with joy, and drink our wine with a merry heart.

The unbelieving heart likes to scoff at the idea of life after death, but think about it for a moment. Absolutely everyone believes that in this cosmos inorganic matter, dead matter, came first. And yet here we are, alive. People who say that life cannot follow death must mean that such a thing cannot happen twice. We all agree that it happened at least once.

James, you are a young man, and so here is your impossible charge. Stay that way. Stay young. Our Father is younger than all of us, and this is because He is the Ancient of Days. We are all of us instructed to put away childish ways, but if God is kind to us we will grow up into the maturity of child-like faith. Surprise your children when they discover that you are younger than they are. The heart of this is not perpetual immaturity; it is found in imitation of Christ and enables you to see that every square inch of this world is suffused with the glory of God. Stay young, stay forgiven.

Elizabeth, James is called to pursue glory, and you are called to be the principal earthly glory that he pursues. He has won your hand, and that is why today is the day of your wedding. But remember how glory works in cycles, how glory repeats. James needs to continue to pursue you; he needs to woo you from this day forward. The day before your tenth anniversary he should be thinking, “How can I get this girl to go out with me?” And you should be thinking that it is not that difficult. Tomorrow evening is free, and you have your red dress hanging in the closet ready to go. His charge is to pursue you every day, from this day forward. Your charge is to make sure he catches you every one of those days.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.