23rd Sunday after Pentecost

 

Eat and drink and find enjoyment in all your toil

—this is our lot. It is God’s gift to us (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20).

Even in the Garden, there was work to be done: to work Eden’s fertile soil and to name all the animals. It’s our God given calling. It’s our common human task. When we do it right—when we cultivate the earth and cultivate earthly relationships, we find “enjoyment in all our toil.”

During our week of election returns, with all its angst and contention; it may be good to remember “our lot” in life. Our “lot” has to do with our calling and where God has placed us in his beautiful creation. Chances are each of us has a piece of earth to attend to; and, each of us know a name—a relationship that needs some cultivation. Our word “culture” comes from “cultivation.” Just as we cultivate the soil to bring about lush vegetation; so too, we cultivate human relationships in order to bring about a fruitful culture. That’s why we can’t help but pray and give thanks whenever we gather to eat and drink together. ”It is God’s gift to us.”

No matter how political winds blow, our calling remains true and needful; and, even in toil, enjoyable. When we are faithful to our calling—our human lot, “the earth brings forth life” (Gn 1:24). That is how God created things. It is God’s good and beautiful gift to us.