The trouble, of course, is that it is hard for us to listen.

As we go to worship, the Preacher is telling us to watch our step! There is a right way and a wrong way

Ecclesiastes began with the vanity of vanities — the futility of life in a fallen world. Here we see such vanity in the idle daydreams and foolish words of a churchgoer who only pretends to worship, without ever really offering his mind and his heart to God.

Mary,

Hannah,

He is

Once again we can only cast ourselves on the mercy of God, pray that he will forgive us for everything we have failed to do, and ask him to accept us through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who ever kept all his promises to God, including his own vow to offer a holy sacrifice — the sacrifice of his body for our sins.

Each of these dreadful acts of judgment took place at the beginning of a new era of worship

sincere.