Sermon November 15 2009

Pastor Amy Wharton
Cuba Christian Church
1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
Mark 13:1-8

“The Birth of Promise”

Our lives are filled with a myriad of emotions—even in moments of joy and satisfaction, we are aware of the tragedies that have been a part of our lives. And in times of joy in our lives, we are aware of the sorrow that is contained in others lives at the same time as our joy. Within a community of faith, we are to be more than aware, we are to stand with one another in all of those times.

But we are not called upon to deny how we feel, whether we are happy or sad, angry or in grief, singing praise or moaning a song of lament. Whatever our age or situation we can share who we are with God and hopefully with a family of faith.

Imagine, if you will, Hannah’s situation in 1 Samuel chapter 1. She has been married to Elkanah long enough to be considered barren. She has had no babies, but his other wife Peninnah has had several sons and daughters and she was proud of this accomplishment. In the Jewish common faith, at this time, it was important that women have children for many different reasons. Sons provided for a woman’s future, no matter how long a mother lived, if she lived beyond the death of her husband, she was her son’s responsibility. A son was her future in that way, but sons and daughters were eternal life to a mother and father. They were the means to carry one’s beliefs and memories into the future. Though they were unaware of much biological detail, they knew that children carried a portion of them into the future. The Jewish people had no clear belief in life beyond death, but they knew that children—their offspring—carried pieces of themselves beyond the death of the parents.

Hannah’s barrenness plagued her for these reasons, but also because, like many women, she had a desire for a baby to hold and care for. No matter how her husband cared for her and guaranteed her future, she also wanted a child.

Imagine . . . that kind of desire for children as you imagine this woman at the tabernacle at Shiloh. She stood outside the place of presence and prayed and wept—she was so distraught that Eli the priest thought she was drunk when he saw her. She had lost control and looked disreputable—her voice unheard, but her distress plain and her lips moving with prayer and supplication.

She was full of sorrow, full of disappointment, and I would imagine, full of anger and some resentment of her husband’s other wife Peninnah who provoked her because she had had no babies.

She was hopeless; she was in despair; she was so beside herself that she aired her depth of feeling in public where the priest could see her. Can you imagine that kind of pain in your life?

Have your felt hopeless? in despair? beside yourself?

When have you felt like life has passed you by and you are left with little to nothing?

Hannah felt like empty; persecuted by another person; her husband’s love couldn’t make up for her feelings of loss and sorrow.

Yet she didn’t curl up and avoid the problem. She took it to the tabernacle or temple where the Jewish people worshipped God. She took it to the place of presence, the place they called God’s footstool—where heaven met earth—and she prayed.

Her desperation seemed pointless and a little crazy to Eli, but when he heard her desire, he said and knew somehow that God would give her the child she wanted so much. So she went away with hope inside of her—such hope, life and promise that she and Elkanah soon conceived and she was full of the joy that she had always wanted.

There are times we have feelings of barrenness within us as individuals, certainly, but what about those times in the church when we feel lifeless and exhausted. What do we do when it feels that way within the church? Where is the life we seek and how do we find it?

Hannah began her search on this day by going to God—she poured her heart out to God and didn’t worry about what other people were thinking of her as she did it. She wept, tears running down her face; she wept, eyes red and nose running; she wept and continued to tell God of her desire, her desperation and her love that she would give a child.

If we look for life, let us enter into that conversation with God—tell God and tell God and tell God. And then listen, waiting for the answer that we seek. Her answer came through Eli, who had no idea what that Hannah was asking God, yet he saw her faith and her desire and knew that God’s loving way would grant her what she wanted. Sometimes the desires of our hearts have to be expressed so that we understand what we are asking. If we ask for something for the life of this congregation, what are we asking for? What changes will be needed for that to happen? We can’t expect new life without change. Who will tell us the answer to our prayers? Who can we trust to tell us that God will grant our deepest desires? Then we can trust that God wants for us to live, but there is always more and there is always required action on our part.

When Hannah received the assurance she wanted from the Eli, the priest, she went back to her husband’s tent happily and gratefully. She shared a meal with her husband. The scripture doesn’t tell us what they talked about, but I can’t imagine that she didn’t tell him a little about why she was happy. Once we have set our eyes on new life, we can talk about that new life with those we know and trust. New life, what form does that take? If I know it is possible, then who will it be. What form of new life is coming? Hannah asked for a baby, but when we want new life in this congregation, what are we asking for? More people? Less stress on each person? Change? Will there be new faces and new visions?

We can talk those things out with those we trust. And then trust God to help us do what needs to be done. Once Hannah received a word of encouragement from Eli the priest, she ate and drank with her husband and when they returned to their home, they did what they needed to do to conceive. There was action required on her part—conception, certainly, but also pregnancy, labor and birth. She needed her husband and she needed the assurance of God’s cooperation in the whole process. She poured out her soul to God and she poured out her trust to her husband and relied on them both to receive the promise that Eli had made—even though he didn’t know what he was promising.

Before Hannah knew what Eli would have to say. Before she was assured that her son would be born. She told God that her son would have a purpose and a mission, if she had anything to do with it. Her son would be God’s own person, serving God faithfully and keeping himself apart from pollution. His life would be God’s life. She promised that that child would know God because she would make sure of it. She didn’t ask God for a son simply for her own self, but so that God would be revealed in the birth of her son in some way. She promised that her boy would be the answer to her prayers, but also would be a servant to Israel’s God.

She didn’t ask for the son because she wanted to be cared for; it seems that she trusted in her husband for that. He assured her of that; it seems to me that her supplication was more visionary than a family of her own because she gave her son, Samuel to the temple when he was just a toddler.

And there is joy in her dedication. She sings a song of joy when she gives Samuel, because she received him, but in him, she has the assurance that God loves and cares for those who are tormented and that God is on the side of God and not torment and
oppression.

Her words reveal more than familial or maternal love; her words are about the future of her people, especially as her people continue their trust in God.

There is no Holy One like the Lord,
no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
4The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
6The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
8He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.[1]*

She exalted that God is God and she was not—that God had the power of life and death. She rejoiced that in God a world of injustice and pain could be overturned—changed beyond recognition if God decided to do it. Poor would be rich; rich would labor for their money. The hungry would be full; the full would be made to realize where food came from. The women would be fertile; the fields would be rich; the needy would be taken from the trash heap; the princes would be no higher than anyone else.

The song of Hannah sounds very similar to the song of Mary that we will hear in just a few weeks during Advent; the joy of this Samuel’s mother is similar to the joy of Jesus’ mother because in each God was working. In each one, God would reveal justice and mercy and in each one God’s love would be shown. In each one there would be great difference, but God would still be in the life of each.

The life of Samuel wasn’t about full fledged, complete answers to problems or questions; but Hannah’s prayer provided great opportunity for new things to happen in Israel.

Eli was a priest, the bible says, who had not heard “the word of God.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but my impression is that God felt distant from Israel. Eli’s sons were corrupt and unworthy of priesthood and that was a tragedy for him. Samuel, the answer to Hannah’s prayer and the subject of her exaltation song was the beginning of a new relationship between God and the people of Israel. Samuel’s birth was the beginning of the end of judges ruling in Israel. Samuel’s life as a prophet propelled him into the life of a kingmaker—he and God chose Saul to be king. When Saul’s reign led outside of God’s desires, God chose David and Samuel anointed him. Hannah’s song was a sign of that new relationship between God and Israel—or it expressed her hope in that new relationship.

Hannah’s prayer and her song of joy were not offered in a perfect world—or in one where she was perfectly satisfied with her situation. Her husband’s other wife tormented her—and Hannah felt bereft by her lack of children. Her song of joy was sung about a world of justice and righteousness and goodness among the faithful. Yet none of those things were real and in existence as she sang them. And they didn’t all come into existence in the lifetime of her son, but she and her son knew that those dreams and visions were the intentions of God for all of humanity beginning with Israel, the people of God.

As Jesus said in Mark’s gospel, “7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”[2]

The end of things is never in the labor and the pain; the end is in the birth of new life. God’s intention is expressed in that vision, in the vision of pain leading to new-found life and hope. Birth is a great metaphor for what is to come because it doesn’t come easily for any kind of birth. But, Jesus assures us, the pain is not the purpose; the pain is not the result of God’s work; the struggle, the war the famine, the earthquake, the greed of nation against nation or religion against religion are not signs of God, but simply signs that the new life we await hasn’t come yet.

In a world of unrest and anxiety, in times of uncertain resources and shaky economic prospects, let us follow Hannah’s example and pray. Let us pray for new life and promise God that the gift of new life will have a purpose. Let us pray, not caring what other people think and listening for the assurance that God has heard us. Let us pray, and then move, act and do what is necessary to make that new life possible.

Let us focus on new life, new dreams, new visions and the promise of birth—God’s promise, yesterday, today and always.

To the glory of God and only God’s glory. Amen.



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[1] 1 Samuel 2:2-8

[2] Mark 13:7-8