New series: “Ecclesiastes: Our Search for Meaning”

New series: "Ecclesiastes: Our Search for Meaning"
by
April 16, 2026

What an incredible joy to baptize our disciples class this past Sunday! We are very proud and thankful for these young people.

This Sunday, we will begin a new sermon series on the Book of Ecclesiastes titled “Our Search for Meaning.” Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, “The Preacher,” is one of those books of the Bible that can leave you scratching your head. Yet, it is also one of the most challenging and profound books of the Bible.  It raises deep questions such as, “What is life all about? How do I find meaning and purpose? Why am I never satisfied? How should I use my money? What is the point of it all?” Part of faith is asking and wrestling with these deep questions. Also, we are in the final two weeks of our spring stewardship campaign to support the mission and ministries of Woodmont for another year. Sacrificial giving plays a big role in finding meaning.

I am recommending two different books to go along with this series if you want to dive deeper. One book is titled The Meaning of Your Life by Arthur C. Brooks. It just came out before Easter. The other book is on Ecclesiastes, titled Living Life Backwards by David Gibson. Both books are very good. Brooks really dives into how our digital culture has led to a sharp decline in meaning and purpose.

A few years ago, an article appeared in The Atlantic by Emily Smith. The title of the article was “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy.” She refers to Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl’s book that came out back in 1946 titled “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and she talks about the basic difference between “meaning” and “happiness.” She says, “Happiness without meaning characterizes a relatively shallow, self-absorbed, or even selfish life in which things go well, needs and desires are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing estranglements are avoided.” Having an abundance of money and possessions may bring about temporary happiness but in and of itself, it will not provide meaning in life. “Happiness comes and goes but meaning has longevity. People whose lives have high levels of meaning often actively seek meaning out even when they know it will come at the expense of happiness.” In other words, some of the things that give us meaning in life – sacrifice, friendship, marriage, raising children, sustaining a career – may even bring about unhappiness at times because these things require commitment and are not easy. Meaning is much deeper and it has staying power. The article argues that happiness is basically associated with taking, but meaning is associated with giving. Happiness is fleeting, meaning is ongoing. Happiness often results from things out of our control, meaning is something that we choose. Every single one of us likes to be happy but we all long for meaning. And yes, it is possible to experience both. Victor Frankl once said that, “Being human always points, and is directed to something or someone other than oneself. The more one forgets himself by giving himself a cause to serve or another person to love – the more human he is.”

David Brooks poses similar questions in his book “The Road to Character.” These are questions that we should all ask over and over again: “Toward what should I orient my life? Who am I and what is my nature? How do I mold my nature to make it gradually better day by day? What virtues are the most important to cultivate and what weaknesses should I fear the most? How can I raise my children with a true sense of who they are and a practical set of ideas about how to travel along the road to character?” What we seem to have in our world today is a deep longing for meaning and many answers that seem insufficient. What we need is a reorientation to what life is all about. If we can move beyond the noise and many distractions, we can begin to answer these timeless yet profound questions in our own day. Looking forward to this new sermon series!

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