A Time for Every Season

Even though Emma had invited him numerous times, her father never went to church with her. He said it was too difficult for an old preacher to listen to someone else's sermons.

As she came out of her bedroom dressed for church that morning, she sat down next to her father while he finished breakfast. "Any progress with Chris on your book?"

"He seems to have my procrastination gene. He's still thinking about it. I don't want to push it. He is obviously not ready for this yet."

The thought of that really irritated her. "Let me talk with him."

"I wish you wouldn't. I don't need someone dragged into helping me."

"We'll see", was all she would say. With that she headed for church.

When she returned home a couple of hours later, Chris was just grabbing a bite to eat before heading out.

With a touch of exasperation in her voice, she said, "Chris, why can't you give your grandfather an answer on his book?"

He stopped mid-bite and looked at his mom. When he finished chewing he said, "I just don't think I can do it. When I left the seminary, I vowed to put all that behind me. Helping him would bring it all back."

"At this point, I don't think it's about you. You've seen how he is. Many days he doesn't even change out of his pajamas. I haven't had a decent conversation with him in over a week. I think this book could really make a difference."

Reluctantly he agreed to talk with his grandpa again.

After wrestling with it for a couple of days, he showed up one morning at his grandfather's door. "May I come in," he asked.

"Sure, have a seat."

He went to the desk, pulled the chair around to the side and sat on it backwards. Wrapping his arms around the back he said, "I've been thinking a lot about your offer and have decided to accept."

"Has your mother been talking with you?"

"She has, but this is a decision I made on my own. I realized my problem was with God not you. Besides, Ecclesiastes is such a different kind of book. I decided to give it a try."

"I will agree under one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you promise to always be honest with me. If you have a problem with what we are doing, you will tell me."

"Agreed."

Later that week they took what would become their regular seats, the old man in the leather chair and Chris at the desk with his laptop.

"Tell me what you know about Ecclesiastes," the old man began.

"Well," he said with a trace of a smile, "next to Song of Solomon, which is about sex, it is the most dangerous book in the Bible."

"Why do you think it's so dangerous?"

"That's easy. It was written by someone pretending to be King Solomon, it contradicts itself all the time and is so pessimistic that it almost wasn't included in the Bible."

"Those are certainly views held by some scholars. I probably wouldn't have put it quite that way, but I couldn't disagree with your characterization."

"So you agree with me," the young man said with a note of surprise in his voice.

"Not exactly. I don't think it's dangerous because of its apparent contradictions, but because it's so honest. It's the book of the Bible that gives me the clearest picture of reality."

Swinging the desk and chair around so he and his grandfather faced each other, Chris began typing.

For the first time since his wife died, the old man wasn't consumed with his grief. Sitting there in his old leather chair, he felt as timeless as the book they were contemplating.

"I'll tell you why I want to do this book. I want to write about something that takes such an unblinking look at life. At the same time I want something that doesn't just challenge readers but in the end encourages them. Ecclesiastes can do that. It isn't a pie in the sky kind of book."

"But Grandpa, all religion is pie in the sky. It's a wonderful ideal, but it has no connection with reality."

"Faith? The author had no faith. He wasn't sure if there was a heaven. He thought humans were no better than animals. Where is the faith in that?"

"But Chris, don't you see. To hold onto faith in the face of those mysteries is a beautiful thing. That's what the author has done."

The old man loved nothing better than a good debate with someone with a sharp mind and strong opinions. How he had missed that.

The young man felt a twinge of regret that he had been so honest. He had intended to play his cards close to the vest and now he had already thrown a couple of them down. In spite of that, it felt really good. He looked up at his grandpa to see if he had shocked him. What he saw was a sparkle in his eye that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"Well, as you know I started this book a long time ago. I have been going over my notes and think we can go through Ecclesiastes systematically with you taking what I have written and typing and polishing it a bit."

He paused, "I don't know, do you think that would work?"

"Let's get into it and see. For next time let's look at an idea I had on how to approach the book."

That drew a nod from his grandson and the two parted.