On December 31 (2023), in this New Year's Eve sermon, Pastor Jeff McLain reflects on the human tendency to reflect on the past and work harder to achieve new goals in the future, only to find a sense of despair when expectations aren't met. Looking at Ecclesiastes, we look at the human pursuits of wisdom, knowledge, power, pleasure, and work in search of greater meaning. Through the words of Ecclesiastes, Jesus, and Paul, we are encouraged to find fulfillment by being present in the moment, practicing patience, and reflecting on the blessings bestowed by God rather than incessantly toiling for more.
Who we are together.
River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together.
What we practice together.
Our small church community is uniquely caring, simple, laid-back, and intergenerational. As a church, we want to be a welcoming, safe, and healing community for those who are seeking, hurting, or need a place to belong. Our practices are contemplative (reflective) charismatic (Spirit-driven), conversational, and informative. The times we share together are intentional and intimate, and a mix between modern and traditional. We want to be a place in which love and honor are lived out, where humility is central, and where hospitality is woven into the threads of our community. There is room at the table.
When we gather together.
River Corner Church gathers weekly on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM to worship and experience God, study the scriptures, journey through life together, and partner with the Holy Spirit. We meet in a simple worship meeting house at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. You are welcome as you are, just be yourself. There are other times that we hold small groups, events, and more.
Our Pastoral Leader.
Jeff McLain has served as our pastoral leader since April 2022. He is currently a doctoral student at Fuller Seminary, where he also has earned two master's degrees - one in Theology and Ministry and another in Leadership. Jeff also holds a Graduate Certificate in Non-profit Management from City Vision University. In addition to serving River Corner Church, Jeff serves full-time as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission. In addition to over 13 years of pastoral ministry, Jeff has enjoyed event promotion, leadership coaching, blogging, and podcasting. For over 17 years, Jeff has been happily married to Katie. Jeff, Katie, and their three wander-filled daughters are avid fans of road trips, baseball, boardwalks, beaches, and books.
Learn more about us at rivercornerchurch.com.
On December 31 (2023), in this New Year's Eve sermon, Pastor Jeff McLain reflects on the human tendency to reflect on the past and work harder to achieve new goals in the future, only to find a sense of despair when expectations aren't met. Looking at Ecclesiastes, we look at the human pursuits of wisdom, knowledge, power, pleasure, and work in search of greater meaning. Through the words of Ecclesiastes, Jesus, and Paul, we are encouraged to find fulfillment by being present in the moment, practicing patience, and reflecting on the blessings bestowed by God rather than incessantly toiling for more.
Who we are together.
River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together.
What we practice together.
Our small church community is uniquely caring, simple, laid-back, and intergenerational. As a church, we want to be a welcoming, safe, and healing community for those who are seeking, hurting, or need a place to belong. Our practices are contemplative (reflective) charismatic (Spirit-driven), conversational, and informative. The times we share together are intentional and intimate, and a mix between modern and traditional. We want to be a place in which love and honor are lived out, where humility is central, and where hospitality is woven into the threads of our community. There is room at the table.
When we gather together.
River Corner Church gathers weekly on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM to worship and experience God, study the scriptures, journey through life together, and partner with the Holy Spirit. We meet in a simple worship meeting house at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. You are welcome as you are, just be yourself. There are other times that we hold small groups, events, and more.
Our Pastoral Leader.
Jeff McLain has served as our pastoral leader since April 2022. He is currently a doctoral student at Fuller Seminary, where he also has earned two master's degrees - one in Theology and Ministry and another in Leadership. Jeff also holds a Graduate Certificate in Non-profit Management from City Vision University. In addition to serving River Corner Church, Jeff serves full-time as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission. In addition to over 13 years of pastoral ministry, Jeff has enjoyed event promotion, leadership coaching, blogging, and podcasting. For over 17 years, Jeff has been happily married to Katie. Jeff, Katie, and their three wander-filled daughters are avid fans of road trips, baseball, boardwalks, beaches, and books.
Learn more about us at rivercornerchurch.com.
It is estimated that one million people will pack into Times Square in Manhattan (New York) this evening, to watch the ball drop for New Year’s Eve. Another billion of festive individuals worldwide are also expected to welcome in the new year by tuning in to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Across the United States, thousands, if not millions, of others, will gather in various smaller city centers and small town squares, to welcome in the New Year with a varied way of celebrations. Locally some of those celebrations include the droppings of a Red Rose, a Hershey Kiss, a Pickle, Lebanon Bologna, a jug, and much more. We look at New Year’s with new hopes, a time to be celebrated.
In most of those celebrations, as a new year is welcomed when the clock strikes 12, the crowd erupts into singing Auld Lang Syne. This celebratory song is based on a poem by the Scottish Poet Robert Burns, written in 1788. Robert Burns's poetry mixed English and Scottish Gaelic so that it could be enjoyed by audiences outside of Scotland. Burns was a notable influence, and Scottish circles still have an annual Burns Supper each year in January to celebrate a new year, and the influence of Robert Burns. Auld Lang Syne is perhaps one of the most known songs of Robert Burns, and undoubtedly the most famous song for New Year’s Celebrations. In English, the song is translated as “Old Long Since,” “Long, Long Ago,” “Days Gone by,” “Times Long Past,” or “Old Times.” Some have suggested it is better translated, as “For the sake of old times.” The song is sung to say goodbye to the old year, celebrate the memories, and lament the sorrows. The New Year is a time of reflection, where we say goodbye to what was and welcome what will be.
We do a lot of consideration of what was and what will be at the start of a new year. Over the past few years, at the end of a year, for some reason, it has become trendy for individuals to take to their social media accounts and share their celebrations and laments of the last year. They name people they lost, celebrities that passed, and hardships they are glad to have behind them. Additionally, many post their hopes and dreams that they have for the new year. Many individuals even look forward to the new year with expectancy and hope, somehow convinced it will be better than the year before, though they once had the same expectant and hope-filled feelings about the year they now find themselves despising. There is a sense that the new year is full of possibilities and maybe we will find a way to enjoy life more.
Not all of us reflect on the years as much as others do. Maybe you do not have social media, nor might you reflect too much on the passing and coming of the years, maybe you don’t set resolutions and goals, but regardless of the ending of one year, and the beginning of another, the changing season has a way of causing us to reflect on what we would like out of the new year. With the shifting of a year, the sense enters our mind that it is out with the old, and in with the new, and so we set public or silent goals for the new year with hope.
Yet, at some point, at the end of those sorts of reflections, we may end up saying something like “same stuff, different day,” “same stuff, different year,” or some other form of that saying that has become popular over the years. Sometimes failed resolutions or a new year simply serves to remind us not of our hopes, but of how little things change. Sometimes we are reminded as a new year starts, that we feel stuck in life, and that our hopes for a new year are meaningless because we believe that nothing will get better. Our reflections then might bring about a sense of despair for us. Perhaps that is why some of us don’t bother to reflect on an old year, and why we don’t set goals for the new year.
The book of Ecclesiastes reads a lot like someone reflecting on the passing of one year, and the start of another. The author of Ecclesiastes reflects on his life, his pursuits, his accomplishments, and his expectant hopes for meaning and purpose, only to find despair, and to state that “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). Same stuff, different day; Same stuff, different year. Cue the despair. This year will be just like the one before it, no matter how we wish.
The writer of Ecclesiastes had made many efforts for a new beginning, for new years, throughout his lifetime. The author set goals, pursued those goals, and accomplished them. Yet, new years, and new accomplishments, all led to despair, to meaningless, not to a greater sense of purpose and meaning. There was only one thing that he found that led to fulfillment, to content.
The author of Ecclesiastes first shares that he tried to find new beginnings by looking for wisdom. He writes, “I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens" (Ecc 1:13). However, he said it just made him realize the burden of life, being smarter made him more aware of all the problems humanity faces. Next, the author studied the why behind everything, he wrote though that he saw all “the things that are done under the sun, all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecc. 1:14). The author remarks that that though he sat in power, though he pursued wisdom, and found more knowledge than anyone else around him, all of it was “chasing after the wind” (Ecc 1:17).
Because greater meaning and purpose in life were not found in wisdom, power, or knowledge, the author says he went looking for meaning and purpose in the pleasures of life. Yet, he says, that too proved to be meaningless. In fact, he wrote, “I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom” (Ecc. 2:3). Though cheering himself with wine and embracing the mystery of life, and living wisely, did not bring about greater meaning or fulfillment in his years. As many do, he then tried to find meaning and purpose in his work. However, neither work nor pleasure gave him greater purpose and meaning in his years, because the author shared that he worked hard to accomplish great projects, he built gardens and parks, planted all types of trees, and built water reservoirs, he had people working and slaving for him, he had more herds of animals than anyone else, he gathered gold and treasure, he had singers or private bands, and enough lovers for any man’s desire he states (Ecc 2:4-9, NIV). He pursued pleasure and work to such a degree that he says, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired, I refused my heart no pleasure” (Ecc 2:10, NIV). Wisdom, knowledge, power, and work did not bring about better years for him, so he states that life lost its fun and it just became subject to discouragement and despair. He was a man who stopped hoping for meaning and purpose, for better years.
For the author of Ecclesiastes, each new year did not bring new hope. New endeavors never brought the fulfillment he expected them to. About his discouragement he wrote, “my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun” (Ecc 2:20). He also said, “So I hated life,” because work, wisdom, power, and accomplishment all were meaningless and had become “grievous to me,” he says (Ecc 2:17). Consider today, are you in a place of searching for meaning and purpose, do you still have hope, are you running down dreams, or has life become humdrum, something to hate and grieve? Honestly, neither the exhaustive running-down dreams nor the giving up of hope will make someone feel better.
As the author emerges from his despair, his reflection on life helps him to find new meaning. That new meaning was not some sense of finding hope in a new year or chasing down some dream, it was not anything externally achieved at all. Meaning and purpose were not something to be accomplished. Rather, meaning and purpose had to find you. Meaning and purpose were discovered in the contentment of who you were, and what God gifted you, rather than toiling to find something outside of yourself. Meaning and purpose were discovered in the contentment of who you were, and what God gifted you, rather than toiling to find something outside of yourself. Contentment was found in being present in the presence and rest of God.
The author remarks, “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil.” The author’s point is about embracing the moments of life, being present to enjoy them with celebration, finding contentment in your lot, and accepting the realities of your life - in the various places you live, work, and play.
The author says such eating and drinking in the contentment of the moment is something that he sees too “from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” God is the one writing our moments, and by enjoying our moments, we are enjoying the hand of God, the blessings and favor that come from the hand of God. I love how the author writes, to the one who finds favor and pleasure in God’s sight, “God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness” These are the verse things in which the author spent his life pursuing to find meaning and purpose. To the person who sins, or misses the mark, the author says God allows them to experience the toils of “gathering and storing up wealth” all which also “is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecc. 2:24-26). This is what he believes will bring about a greater sense of purpose and meaning for humanity. The one who sets out to find meaning and purpose by chasing down a dream will find themselves chasing the wind and lost is the toils of the chase. It does no good to start the new year with hopes or despair, but with embracing the moments.
The author doesn’t mean to say that all he explored in life was worthless. The pursuit of learning, stuff, accomplishment, influence, and pleasure is not all bad in themselves. There is certainly a time for everything the author says, but all of our time should not be in pursuit of those things. There certainly is “a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecc. 3:1, NIV). The author then reiterates his earlier point to find delight in God alone, he recommends that goals and our hope for a new year, for meaning and purpose, should be wrapped up in the fact that all should “eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God” (Ecc 3:13, NIV). Though we toil for accomplishment, for purpose and meaning, it will not the accomplishments, purpose, and meaning will not last for long, the author remarks, but he does know that “everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (Ecc.3:13, NIV). The chasing of dreams has its purpose, but it won’t last forever. Nothing lasts forever except that which God gives life to. Though all activities are not bad in themselves, we can say that when they don’t have the hand of God behind them, they are worthless and shortlived pursuits - they are meaningless. The author remarks that our pursuits and activities, the searches we have for meaning and purpose, “God will bring into judgment…for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed” (Ecc. 3:17). No matter what is driving us into the new year, pursuits, dreams, hopes, or despair - all will be not only judged by God, but only that which has God’s hand on it, in it, and behind it will thrive.
The author goes on the reflect that mankind is a place of great injustice. All of our toiling is a great injustice. Everyone is toiling, envying, and oppressing to get ahead and none of it makes sense. As a result, we must be careful with our consumeristic approach for more accomplishment, achievement, and affirmation. Because, each year we set out to toil out of envy, to accomplish more, and at times humanity will overlook the way he will oppress others, the created world around us, the people around us, and the people in our places of work, because we want to get ahead, we want to find that thing that we think will bring us meaning and purpose at all costs. Because no one is finding contentment in the small moments, our toil and envy, our search for meaning and purpose, hurts others. Rather, the author mentions it is “Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (Ecc 4:6, NIV). Our new year starts better by accepting the moment, the contentment of the moment, holding contentment in our hands, rather than chasing after something that does not have the hand or favor of God on it, in it, and with it.
At the start of a new year, we reflect on our toils of the years past, and we set goals for our toils in the years ahead, but at the end of the day, the hopes, the dreams, the searching for greater and meaning are all similar, each year after year. Though humanity hardly listens to the advice others give us, the giving of advice is the point of the book of Ecclesiastes. It is a book that gives wisdom to those who are trying to find purpose and meaning, and the author hopes that you will not make the same mistakes that he has made. The author has pursued it all, wisdom, knowledge, pleasure, and power, and nothing brought about meaning or purpose. Nothing was ever enough. As we consider what a new year holds, might we hear the author of Ecclesiastes as he says, “Whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income” (Ecc 5:10, NIV). Our goods may increase, but “what benefit are they to the owners” (Ecc 5:11). He writes, that though sleep is restful, it is something that the rich never find because with their abundance comes an abundance of worry. Rather, the author believes that we should accept our lot in life, whatever lot we have, because “when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil - this is a gift of God” (Ecc 5:19). When we find contentment than in who God has made us and what God has given us, what God has blessed in our lives when we enjoy the moments God has given us, it is then that we see the wealth and posessions God gives us, and we experience the happiness he gives us.
Too often, myself included, we are toiling after more. We are looking for greater contentment, more meaning, more purpose, and bigger and better dreams. We have those dreams for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our churches. We toil for those dreams, goals, and resolutions. Though, the author points out that when we don’t find ourselves reflecting on the toil of the year past and the year ahead, when we don’t find ourselves distracted by the search for more, the author says that those people who accept their lot, they “seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart” (Ecc 5:20, NIV). (Pause) If I were to define contentment, or if I were to define what truly a new year goal or resolution looks like, it is this, being so occupied with a gladness of heart, a gladness in what God has given us, that we seldom reflect on the days of our lives in light of more meaning or purpose.
Jesus had a lot to say about this same reality, that purpose is found not in toil, but in embracing who God made us, what God has given us, and what God has created us to do. From the start of his ministry, Jesus declared that true contentment and purpose came from aligning oneself to God's will alone, an alignment that takes place by "seeking first the kingdom of God and all of its righteousness" in every arena of our lives (Matthew 6:33). Time and time again, Jesus invited those toiling in life, trying to get ahead or to find healing, to come to him. Jesus famously stated, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you....and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV). Like with God the Father in the reflections of Ecclesiastes, for Jesus, purpose and meaning are found in embracing the moment, not toiling to be or do something more. Jesus’ promise of rest and solace in the moment is Jesus’ intent as Jesus declares that it is through him that can "have life, and have it to the full.” Though, it is “the enemy comes to steal and kill and destroy" by convincing us that we have to do and be more. To those he had called to himself, Jesus challenges their thinking about having to do and be more when he asks them, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" At the start of a new year, of this hope we have for the years ahead, we must convince ourselves that our toiling for more is the loss of ourselves.
Jesus intends us to find new meaning in him. That new meaning was not some sense of finding hope in a new year or chasing down some dream, it was not anything externally achieved at all. Meaning and purpose were not something to be accomplished. Rather, meaning and purpose had to find you. Meaning and purpose were discovered in the contentment of who you were, and what God gifted you, rather than toiling to find something outside of yourself. Contentment was found in being present in the presence and rest of God.
Paul, an early follower of Jesus, found this level of contentment that the author of Ecclasties writes about, that Jesus invites us to, by embracing what God was doing in each moment and not pushing for more out of life. Paul told the church in Philippi, that he has "learned to be content whatever the circumstances...in any and every situation...[because] Jesus gives me strength" (Philippians 4:11-13, NIV). Paul depended on the power of Jesus, God’s Spirit, to sustain him in the hardships of life. Paul didn’t want more. Paul was experiencing what the author of Ecclesiastes wrote, that the content “seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart” (Ecc 5:20, NIV). Paul had a way of keeping his head focused on the future, in every moment. He had accepted who God was, who God had created him to be, and what God had called him to do. Paul did not need more.
Almost always, when we are yearning for more, to be more, to have more, to achieve more, to have greater meaning and purpose, it is because we cannot live with the reality of what is. We can’t embrace life as it is. Why people are quick on social media to decry one year and look for the hopes of another, is because they are unable to be content, their present sufferings have them distracted. In another passage, as Paul tells the church in Rome about the Spirit-filled life, he explains the Spirit-filled life is one that finds contentment in following the Spirit in each moment. When we live according to the Spirit, the wrong motives, goals, resolutions, toils, and activities of our life find themselves put to death, and we “will live” (Romans 8:13). In contrast, Paul says that those who toil, “those who live according to the flesh” or the ways of the world, will experience death (Romans 8:13). Those who find contentment in God’s presence, find life, those who toil, find death. There are two ways to live, we must choose.
Life isn’t easy, Paul doesn’t hide that. In that passage on the Spirit-filled life, he compares the tensions of our life to the pains of childbirth. This is no easy thing to endure, I hear. Living isn’t for the weak. Contentment isn’t for the easy. Paul doesn’t mean to make life for the followers of Jesus seem easy or simple. He mentions that we wait for the redemption of our bodies, for greater purpose, for more contentment, but Paul says hoping for more isn’t bad. Ecclesiastes said similarly, there is a season for every activity. The yearning for more in Ecclesiastes wasn’t bad, in the same way, in Romans, Paul states that we all hope for what we do not have. This is the human condition. However, Paul says that those who are Spirit-led, “wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:25). Ecclesiastes points to us realizing those activities cannot become all that we are, so we shouldn’t toil for them. Paul calls us to patience, not toil. This is the secret of contentment. Not toiling for that which feels out of reach. That hope then doesn’t turn into a toil to do more, be more, achieve more, but to wait for what God may do in our lives.
Paul intends us to find new meaning in Jesus, through a Spirit-filled life. That new meaning was not some sense of finding hope in a new year or chasing down some dream, it was not anything externally achieved at all. Meaning and purpose were not something to be accomplished. Rather, meaning and purpose had to find you. Meaning and purpose were discovered in the contentment of who you were, and what God gifted you, rather than toiling to find something outside of yourself. Contentment was found in being present in the presence and rest of God.
This is why Paul wrote to that church about how the spirit-filled life can look to what God is yet going to do, rather than what we don’t have at the moment, Paul told them “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18, NIV). Our lives, our church, may not be yet where we want to be or where we think God wants us to be, present sufferings are facing all of us, at all times. However, if we can live a Spirit-filled life, waiting patiently for what God is doing, enjoying the moment, and not toiling to get ourselves ahead, we will experience God’s contentment. That is a resolution for the new year.
I read an article this week on Christianity Today, from a Pastor and former acquaintance in the music scene, he wrote “The glitz and glamour of the Christmas season are here, but you and I both know there’s a ball waiting to drop at midnight on December 31 that has us more uncomfortable than we care to admit. And that discomfort is the very thing I want to ask you to face: the impending fear of the new year. If only we could be sure that the new year contained, well, new things for us. New as in good, of course. New as in hopeful, optimistic, exciting. If that were how new years worked, we wouldn’t be feeling so uptight. But lurking behind the new of the new year are all its unknowns and the fears they foster in our hearts.” He continues, “Questions hover like ornaments dangling from the tree boughs: What will the new year bring? Can I get on my feet financially? Will these health concerns resolve? Can I find some reconciliation for this broken relationship? Will this career opportunity I’ve been working for all these years finally come to fruition? Will I find love?” The struggles of today are real. They are painful. Yet, no matter how much we toil, we will not get ahead.
This new year,
1. As the new year starts, embrace the Present Moment. Instead of constantly toiling for more accomplishments, achievements, or resolutions, may we allow the scriptures to encourage us to find contentment and meaning in the present moment. By being present and embracing the moments of life with celebration, we can experience God's blessings and favor in the here and now.
2. As the new year starts, find ways to practice patience more than toil.The scriptures advocate for a Spirit-filled life that emphasizes patience over toil. Rather than striving relentlessly for what we don't have or where we think we should be, the call is to wait patiently for what God may do in our lives. Find ways to remind yourself to be patient. This approach helps in avoiding the pitfalls of excessive toil and finding contentment in God's timing.
3. As the new year starts, reflect on God's Gifts. Encouraging reflection on what God has given us and who God has made us to be, the sermon suggests finding contentment and purpose in acknowledging and appreciating God's gifts. Whether in our personal lives or in our communities, recognizing the hand of God in our moments can lead to a deeper sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
As we stand at the threshold of a new year, let us carry with us the wisdom of those who went before us. Instead of succumbing to the pressures of chasing after the wind, seeking fulfillment in accomplishments or resolutions, may we choose a different path—a path illuminated by the light of God's presence. Let us embrace the beauty of the present, finding contentment in the moments gifted to us by God. As we navigate the unknowns of the coming year, let patience guide us, replacing the frantic toil with a peaceful trust in God's timing. Reflecting on the gifts bestowed upon us, may we approach the new year with gratitude, recognizing that true purpose and meaning are not found in the relentless pursuit of more but in the quiet acceptance of who we are in God's eyes. So, as the ball drops and the clock ticks, let us step into the new year not burdened by fear or toil but filled with the hope that comes from living in the presence of the One who makes all things new. Amen.