Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2021 15:40:18 GMT -5
A Time to Speak By: Patricia Raybon
Click here for the Audio Message
There is a time for everything . . . a time to be silent and a time to speak.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
For thirty long years, the African American woman worked faithfully for a large global ministry. Yet when she sought to talk with co-workers about racial injustice, she was met with silence. Finally, however, in the spring of 2020—as open discussions about racism expanded around the world—her ministry friends “started having some open dialogue.” With mixed feelings and pain, she was grateful discussions began, but wondered why it took her colleagues so long to speak up.
Silence can be a virtue in some situations. As King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: . . . a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7).
Silence in the face of bigotry and injustice, however, only enables harm and hurt. Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller (jailed in Nazi Germany for speaking out) confessed that in a poem he wrote after the war. “First they came for the Communists,” he wrote, “but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.” He added, “Then they came for” the Jews, the Catholics and others, “but I didn’t speak up.” Finally, “they came for me—and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
It takes courage—and love—to speak up against injustice. Seeking God’s help, however, we recognise the time to speak is now.
Reflect & Pray
Why is it important not to be silent during discussions about racial injustice and other forms of injustice? What hinders your willingness to engage in dialogue about addressing racial harm?
Dear God, release my tongue and heart from the enemy’s grip. Equip me to see and feel the harm of racial injustice so that I may speak up for those hurt by this sin.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Ecclesiastes may seem pessimistic, and we might easily read today’s poem about time in a depressingly fatalistic light. After all, the poem begins by balancing the miracle of birth against the stony phrase “a time to die” (3:2). Essential to this elegantly honest lyric is the section that immediately follows (vv. 9–14). “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time,” wrote the wise author of Ecclesiastes (v. 11). Then he noted, “He has also set eternity in the human heart” (v. 11). This awareness of the eternal motivates us to look beyond ourselves (and beyond this time-bound earth) to discover true meaning. We find it only in the eternal One. “Everything God does will endure forever,” wrote the wise man (v. 14). We can live joyfully in the acknowledgment of this great eternal God, who gives us genuine meaning in this life and a forever future in the next.
Tim Gustafson
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
King James Version
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.
Click here for the Audio Message
There is a time for everything . . . a time to be silent and a time to speak.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
For thirty long years, the African American woman worked faithfully for a large global ministry. Yet when she sought to talk with co-workers about racial injustice, she was met with silence. Finally, however, in the spring of 2020—as open discussions about racism expanded around the world—her ministry friends “started having some open dialogue.” With mixed feelings and pain, she was grateful discussions began, but wondered why it took her colleagues so long to speak up.
Silence can be a virtue in some situations. As King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: . . . a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7).
Silence in the face of bigotry and injustice, however, only enables harm and hurt. Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller (jailed in Nazi Germany for speaking out) confessed that in a poem he wrote after the war. “First they came for the Communists,” he wrote, “but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.” He added, “Then they came for” the Jews, the Catholics and others, “but I didn’t speak up.” Finally, “they came for me—and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
It takes courage—and love—to speak up against injustice. Seeking God’s help, however, we recognise the time to speak is now.
Reflect & Pray
Why is it important not to be silent during discussions about racial injustice and other forms of injustice? What hinders your willingness to engage in dialogue about addressing racial harm?
Dear God, release my tongue and heart from the enemy’s grip. Equip me to see and feel the harm of racial injustice so that I may speak up for those hurt by this sin.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Ecclesiastes may seem pessimistic, and we might easily read today’s poem about time in a depressingly fatalistic light. After all, the poem begins by balancing the miracle of birth against the stony phrase “a time to die” (3:2). Essential to this elegantly honest lyric is the section that immediately follows (vv. 9–14). “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time,” wrote the wise author of Ecclesiastes (v. 11). Then he noted, “He has also set eternity in the human heart” (v. 11). This awareness of the eternal motivates us to look beyond ourselves (and beyond this time-bound earth) to discover true meaning. We find it only in the eternal One. “Everything God does will endure forever,” wrote the wise man (v. 14). We can live joyfully in the acknowledgment of this great eternal God, who gives us genuine meaning in this life and a forever future in the next.
Tim Gustafson
Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
King James Version
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.