Ship of Fools: Dust in the Wind

Thread: Dust in the Wind Board: Purgatory / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Gramps49 (# 16378) on :

I posted this video on another page. Some thought it was too nihilistic. Your reactions?

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
Some thought it was too nihilistic.

They haven't read Ecclesiastes?

Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on :

Ecclesiastes is not very fashionable. Preachers don't preach on it, and Bible study groups don't discuss it. I suppose it's deemed more appropriate for private reflection.

I do like the song, although the bit about the earth and sky lasting forever perhaps conflicts with the Bible passages about heaven and earth passing away.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Ecclesiastes is not very fashionable. Preachers don't preach on it

I did a preaching series on the entire book last year.

Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on :

Daring! What possessed you to do that? Was your congregation not sufficiently appreciative of the futility of it all??

[Biased]

Actually, if they're a bunch of youngsters it might be rather bracing. More awkward if it's mostly old ladies. I don't know if the latter really want to talk about turning into dust...

Posted by Martin60 (# 368) on :

Good man Eutychus. It's timelessly brilliant. As fresh as it was three thousand years ago.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

SvitlanaV2: For much the same reason that I preached on the 42 kids being mauled by God-sent bears for mocking Elisha's baldness the other week.

It's there. I believe it's there for a reason. If it bothers us, let's consider why. Too many people claiming to believe in the inspiration of 66 books of the Bible pretend some of them, or some bits of them, aren't there. Let's plough through some of it chapter by chapter and see what we can learn.

[ 01. March 2017, 21:37: Message edited by: Eutychus ]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
More awkward if it's mostly old ladies. I don't know if the latter really want to talk about turning into dust...

Then I guess they won't be going (or have gone) to church for Ash Wednesday.

Posted by Martin60 (# 368) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
I posted this video on another page. Some thought it was too nihilistic. Your reactions?

Didn't they read the scripture?

Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on :

Of course, I was being bit facetious in my post above.

But I don't have much experience of Ash Wednesday. The Methodists I used to go to church with aren't into it. And a lot of them are old ladies.

I haven't come across much attention being paid to Ecclesiastes either, but it's good to know that a few churches do spend time on it. It's one of my favourite parts of the Bible.

Posted by Gramps49 (# 16378) on :

Our congregation recently studied the Wisdom literature, including Ecclesiastes. What we got out of that book, was no matter what, in the end, it is futile. So it is best to enjoy the company of your friends with a bottle of wine.

Wikipedia has this comment about its background and writing.

[deleted over-long quote]

[ 02. March 2017, 04:59: Message edited by: Eutychus ]

Posted by Nick Tamen (# 15164) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gramps49:
I posted this video on another page. Some thought it was too nihilistic. Your reactions?

Few songs can transport me back to my high school years—particularly 17-year-old me driving, alone in the car, windows rolled down, radio on—as quickly as this one can. It's been one of my favorites for almost 40 years.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

Beautiful song. The violin, the lyrics, the fingerpicking -- it's a complete package.

I echo Martin60's thoughts on Ecclesiastes. One of the most meaningful books of the OT for me.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

hosting/

Gramps49, please don't simply insert huge chunks of text from other sources, especially not without a link. The emphasis here is on original content.

/hosting

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

It's well done and ties in well with the 'Do we deserve to survive?' thread.

I think it's good to be reminded how small we are. But this can depend on our mood. If it causes us to look upwards and outwards, great. If it causes us to become morose and introspective- not so good.

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Daring! What possessed you to do that? Was your congregation not sufficiently appreciative of the futility of it all??

Actually, if they're a bunch of youngsters it might be rather bracing. More awkward if it's mostly old ladies. I don't know if the latter really want to talk about turning into dust...

At 84 I'm an old lady and I loved it.

Sir Lloyd Geering did a series of lectures in which he was The Preacher and he was being interviewed. I have the book of it somewhere...

GG

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Ecclesiastes is not very fashionable. Preachers don't preach on it
I did a preaching series on the entire book last year.

I preached on it years ago. By the time we got to about week 6, we were all so depressed that I gave up!

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Years ago my father preached on it. He did the whole thing in one sermon.

The challenge was to read it for ourselves with more understanding of where "the preacher" was coming from.

Jengie

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

When I wrote my mother's obituary, I quoted Ecclesiastes. The rhythm of the words is profound. I read it out of personal need, a quest (in vain?) for wisdom which might comfort me, and clarify the traumas of her's and others' deaths. And trying to make sense of my own aging, recovery from grave illness.

In Job, we're asking "where shall wisdom be found?". As Christians we're supposed to comfort ourself within Christ and self-sacrifice. But it isn't nearly enough for me to just accept this story, which I don't completely, heterodoxy and heresy being my constant companions. Poets like the Preacher in Ecc are ahistorical, standing in eternity somewhere where I can actually hear them. Unlike dry retelling of parables or miracles - The Jesus stories, good as they are - which only appeal to my sense of the marvellous. Ecclesiastes stands somewhere in the eternal now, where I can can stand with the author, and maybe with Plato, and Faust.

As for the song by Kansas "Dust in the Wind", I first heard it overlooking one of our Canadian lakes named "Manitou' (means basically God), while wondering about the generations of people who'd sat in the same place and contemplated the ultimate - the eternal thinness and all the things I cannot put into words but just know.

Posted by Gramps49 (# 16378) on :

Sorry about that.

One of my favorite songs in my youth was Turn, Turn, Turn.

[ 03. March 2017, 00:23: Message edited by: Gramps49 ]

Posted by Horseman Bree (# 5290) on :

Given my age at the time DitW was first popular (30s), I can't say that it influenced my youth, but I did enjoy it as music and it did set me up for the kind of thoughts that no prophet describes.

Still does, FWIW.

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :

Challenging isn't always comfortable. I don't think we're supposed to swallow Ecclesiastes whole as a pattern for life, but to ruminate on it and derive goodness from the practice of considering what life is really about.

I quite like the song.

Cattyish, ok with discomfort sometimes.

Posted by Nicodemia (# 4756) on :

Ecclesiastes is my favourite book. Fits me to a 'T'.

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