Sep 20, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
In the opening message of the new sermon series, Vanishing, Cam Stephens introduces the book of Ecclesiastes and explores Ecclesiastes 1:1–11. Traditionally attributed to King Solomon, this profound…
Cam StephensHost
In 1993, there was a movie released about a cynical TV weatherman named Phil Connors who travels to the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on assignment to cover their annual Groundhog Day celebration.
Well, when he wakes up the next day, To head home, he discovers that it isn't the next day at all.
Every morning, he wakes up to the exact same day, February 2nd, and with it, the same assignment, the same ceremony, the same people, the same conversations over and over and over again, as though yesterday or any of the other February 2nds had never happened.
Well, what does Phil do to try and cope or to find meaning in this prison of repetition? First, he denies himself nothing, turning to self-indulgence in the pursuit of personal pleasure.
You see, the only way he can make it to February 3rd is if he finally reaches fulfillment.
Now there's one scene where Phil is sitting at the bowling alley bar with two men from the town and he decides to get vulnerable, sharing vaguely his predicament with the question, what would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was the exact same and nothing you did mattered? To which one of the men staring blankly ahead replies, yeah.
You see, while on the surface it seemed like Phil's dilemma was extraordinary, it turns out that the completely far-fetched concept of living the same day over and over again is much closer to the reality of life experienced by each and every one of us than maybe we would like to admit.
I mean, who hasn't felt like that at some point? And who doesn't still feel like that every now and again? That life is like a treadmill upon which we keep running day in and day out with seemingly no end in sight, asking ourselves, what is the purpose in all of this? Well, the author of Ecclesiastes would contend that to ask such questions, to feel such longing, to wrestle with the seeming futility of life is not only decidedly human, it is an essential exercise if we are to find any meaning or purpose in this life.
In 1993, there was a movie released about a cynical TV weatherman named Phil Connors who travels to the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on assignment to cover their annual Groundhog Day celebration.
Well, when he wakes up the next day, To head home, he discovers that it isn't the next day at all.
Every morning, he wakes up to the exact same day, February 2nd, and with it, the same assignment, the same ceremony, the same people, the same conversations over and over and over again, as though yesterday or any of the other February 2nds had never happened.
Well, what does Phil do to try and cope or to find meaning in this prison of repetition? First, he denies himself nothing, turning to self-indulgence in the pursuit of personal pleasure.
You see, the only way he can make it to February 3rd is if he finally reaches fulfillment.
Now there's one scene where Phil is sitting at the bowling alley bar with two men from the town and he decides to get vulnerable, sharing vaguely his predicament with the question, what would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was the exact same and nothing you did mattered? To which one of the men staring blankly ahead replies, yeah.
You see, while on the surface it seemed like Phil's dilemma was extraordinary, it turns out that the completely far-fetched concept of living the same day over and over again is much closer to the reality of life experienced by each and every one of us than maybe we would like to admit.
I mean, who hasn't felt like that at some point? And who doesn't still feel like that every now and again? That life is like a treadmill upon which we keep running day in and day out with seemingly no end in sight, asking ourselves, what is the purpose in all of this? Well, the author of Ecclesiastes would contend that to ask such questions, to feel such longing, to wrestle with the seeming futility of life is not only decidedly human, it is an essential exercise if we are to find any meaning or purpose in this life.
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