For Some Activities, There are No Seasons (The 200th Monday Moment)

Monday, September 1, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! Perhaps one of the most popular passages in the Bible, to the point that some people are surprised that it comes from the Bible, is found in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace” (3:1-8). Regardless of your particular politics, theology, philosophy, economics, or other belief systems, it’s impossible to be living at this moment and not feel torn between often conflicting emotions and thoughts. If you’re anything like me, your faith helps greatly, but doesn’t entirely get you through the worry, doubt, anxiety, and depression.

By my count, this is the 200^th Monday Moment. It’s a milestone for me, yes, but it’s also an accomplishment for everyone who takes the time to read and reflect on these essays. On April 1, 2024, I announced in the body of a Monday Moment that it would be my last. More than a few people stopped reading at the prayer and immediately responded with grief-filled messages, some urging me to continue writing. Had they continued reading they would have seen that it was an April Fool’s prank which I couldn’t help but send. Despite that vote of confidence in my reflections and my ideas, I’m often conflicted about what to write. Do I really have anything to contribute to your reflections, analysis, and meditation on this season of our individual and collective lives?

While I continue to wrestle with that question, here’s what I do know: for some activities, there are no seasons. Despite what Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 might say, there are no times to “refrain from embracing” unless someone asks you not to hug them. There is never a time to hate and though we have yet to figure out how to prevent them, there is never a legitimate or just time for war. I also know and the life of Jesus attests it too: there is always a season to speak out, resist, and make space for love.

How are you resisting? How are you loving in the world?

Let us pray: Gracious God, thank you for helping us reach the 200^th Monday Moment, but as we celebrate that collective achievement, grant us the grace and the courage to continue speaking out, resisting, and building your kin-dom of love and affirmation in our troubled world. Let us know love as we direct that love to all the places where it is most needed. We ask this in the name of our liberator, Jesus. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +