So begins the funny, tragic, baffling and utterly relevant book we call Ecclesiastes. 

The author of this book is doubly a mystery. The words are attributed to an anonymous “Teacher” and king, in the line of David. Yet the words of the Teacher are compiled and given to us by a third party parent who is handing them over to their son (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14). The Teacher’s grand project is to “explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens” (1:13). He is seeking the meaning of life, we might say. And his search ends with good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?

The bad news is, as we read in verse 1, “everything is meaningless”. Everything is mere breath, according to the teacher. But the teacher has good news for those with ears to hear. Life is only mere breath under the heavens or under the sun. The moment we lift our eyes to God above: His generosity, judgement and eternity, all that is done under the sun is infused with great gravity and meaning.

As such, it is perhaps one of the most relevant books of the bible for the modern secular west. Our culture lives out the Teachers project in real time, seeking to find meaning in work, pleasure and wealth. Yet loneliness, despair and conflict abound. How different it might be if they were to remember their creator, as the book of Ecclesiastes urges us all to do. 

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