Pentecost 24

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Pentecost 24, Proper 28

15 November 2009

Text:  I Samuel 1: 4-20; Response: 1 Samuel 2: 1-10

Other Readings: Mark 13: 1-8; Hebrews 10: 11-14 [15-18] 19-25 

      There's probably not a collect of the day that I cherish so much as I do today's: calling us to hear, read, mark, learn, & inwardly digest the scriptures so that we may embrace & hold fast to them.  If you've been around me very long, you know I consider Bible study a keystone to growing as disciples of Christ.  Today once again we turn to a story from the Hebrew scripture which may be familiar to many of you.  The story which begins the first book of Samuel is fascinating in itself because we glimpse much of the familial & ritual practices of Israel at a pivotal time for the Hebrew people but also because it has much to inform us here at Hope about hope for the future.

      Elkanah is a faithful Hebrew man living at a time of upheaval & decline in Israel.  Regularly, he makes a personal pilgrimage to Shiloh from Ramah to sacrifice at the temple.  Elkanah has 2 wives, so he must be fairly well-to-do.  Elkanah tries to be fair to his whole clan by dividing out the portions of the sacrifice to each wife & child, but perhaps to ease Hannah's pain at being childless, he provides her an extra share.  Despite Elkanah's assurance of his love for her, Hannah is brought to tears & will not eat, for she knows that her worth as a woman is determined by her ability to bear children.  Peninnah, Elkanah's other wife, taunts Hannah about her barrenness which makes the annual trips to Shiloh even more difficult for Hannah to bear. 

      Hannah is not a woman to sit back & complain, doing nothing constructive.  After the obligatory festive meal, she enters the temple where sacrifices are made & opens herself up to God.  Her pain is simply too great to bear alone, & clearly her husband does not understand the severity of her frustration & longing, so she boldly turns to God in prayer.  At this time most prayer was uttered aloud, yet Hannah has no voice at present, so she prays silently though her lips are moving.  Hannah wants a male child so badly that she vows to God that, if God grants her request for a son, she will return him to God, offering him as a servant at the temple, & sealing her vow by placing the hoped-for son under a Nazirite vow throughout his life—forbidding him to drink intoxicants or to cut his hair.

      Eli, the priest, sits at the entrance of the temple observing her, presuming that her silent moving lips indicate that she is drunk.  He reprimands her for entering the temple & praying drunk but she vindicates herself, explaining that she is deeply troubled & is laying her heart open to God.  How remarkable for this woman who has been called worthless to begin to find her voice by correcting the priest, the power figure.  And her protestation finds acceptance, for Eli doesn't even learn what she is asking of God before he assures Hannah that God will answer her petition. 

      Clearly, Eli is not the only one who hears her, for she goes on her way a transformed woman, & when she & Elkanah have sexual relations, we're told that God remembers her & she conceives & bears a son whom she calls "Samuel" which means one who has been asked for.  Although the later story is not included in today's reading, you may remember that after he is weaned, Hannah indeed brings Samuel to this very same temple at Shiloh & presents him to Jhwh to be cared for & trained by Eli.  Samuel grows up to be the first prophet of the Davidic dynasty, anointing both Saul & David as kings of Israel & acting as counsel to both of them. 

      Not only is this a powerful story of God's grace being poured out on this barren woman & through trust in God was made fruitful, not only did her son Samuel grow up to advise Israel's greatest king, but Hannah's personal story becomes a microcosm for the regeneration of Israel, the story of a people who have perpetually been the underdogs as they move from a scattered group of tribes to a unified realm led by a series of kings including David, considered the epitome of an ancient leader.  Hannah's story models the larger story of Hannah's people with this Yhwh, the God who remembers a person & by extension a people & responds when asked to the heart's desire of those who trust in Yhwh. 

      Of course, the story of a barren woman's being granted the blessing of a male child when God hears her plea is not confined to Hannah's story, but hers becomes the backdrop for this theme of God's presence & response to women who otherwise might be considered worthless in a society which prizes male offspring.  Eventually, this motif plays out with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, & then a variation with the Mother of God's son Jesus.  All the symbolism of rebirth & regeneration of those who have been neglected & considered no-count are highlighted in Hannah's story.

      Our liturgical response today is the response known as Hannah's song, a prayer of thanksgiving to God who makes such reversals possible.  Hannah bursts forth in praise, worshipping the God who creates & recreates, who responds when asked.  Hannah's song is actually the background for the song of Mary which we call the Magnificat, that glorious affirmation of God's gift of grace to Mary & to us all as her cousin Elizabeth recognizes the child in Mary's womb to be God as Savior & Redeemer come to earth as a human so that we may become more God-like.  This morning we began our worship with a hymn version of the Magnificat when we sang "Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord."  You may want to compare Hannah's celebratory prayer to the Magnificat in the Morning Prayer service in the Book of Common Prayer but also with today's opening hymn.  What gifts to the church are these prayer hymns of praise to Yhwh who hears our pleas!

      This wonderful story, these wonderful passages assigned as readings for us near the end of the church year are particular good news—gospel—for Hope Episcopal Church at this time in our parish life, it seems to me.  Samuel's birth & the promise of a new life as a nation under the leadership of a king are all claims on a new future Yhwh makes possible as we see today.  God remembers Hannah & will remember Israel, our scriptures tell us today. 

      And today I declare that God remembers Hope, our church community, as we go through a particularly difficult time, at least financially.  In the great scheme of things, even things Episcopal in the Diocese of Texas, Hope Church doesn't stand out much, do we?  We came together from 2 different congregations over 4 years ago out of need for survival, really, but also because we deliberately chose to form a multicultural parish, a sign of the kind of world we are becoming & an affirmation that we need each other in our differences as well as similarities to fulfill God's promises in this place at this time in our lives.

      We have struggled with our identity & with how to respond best to God's call to us to show forth God's love in our community & beyond it.  Now, at this time, we are suffering economically as much of our society is doing, having gone through many of the growing pains that other churches suffer intensified by our new search for identity & commitment.  Hannah's story & the story of Israel growing into who God called it to be under King David can teach us several things.

      First, it is important to express our needs before God, recognizing that Hannah couldn't do it on her own or even with her husband Elkanah.  They needed the intervention & grace of God to fulfill their destiny.  We at Hope need to pray diligently for our church community & for our future, letting God know our needs as a community & asking for God to fulfill them so that we may fulfill God's intention for us in the next little while.  Do you pray for Hope daily?  Will you commit to doing that?  Will you ask God faithfully what God would have you do to strengthen Hope's witness in our neighborhood & larger world?  We have asked Bob Biehl, our Diocesan treasurer, to visit with our vestry next Saturday, & we hope to glean some help from him, but in the long run, we must place our trust in God to lead us to be the congregation God wants us to be here in this place.  Please join me in that daily prayer!

      Secondly, & as an extension of the first point, we must be as persistent in our prayer as Hannah was in hers.  Hannah's name means "woman of stubborn spirit," & she reminds me of the Syrophoenician woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter even tho they were not Jewish.  Hannah pestered God until God's attention & intention were focused on her & on Israel.  Let us commit to being just as persistent in our petition to God as was Hannah.  Remember, however, that Hannah's prayer was first of all a prayer of gratitude & thanksgiving for the amazing grace God had bestowed on her.  God creates new possibilities of grace, & we can call on God to remember us again.  Please join me in persistent petition to God for our parish which flows out of our trust in what God has already done for us at Hope as well as what God has in store for us. 

      Finally, just as Hannah turned the grace God gave to her around & dedicated Samuel to minister in God's name throughout his life, the proper response we have to God's gift of grace is to give it back, to be willing to give our all to God who gives so generously to us. If we hold onto our possessions, our gifts, keeping them to ourselves, we lose them, or sometimes our possessions begin to possess us.  This year we are not having a regular pledge drive for we feel the good people of Hope will prayerfully consider what we have to give to God & give it faithfully, generously, recognizing that we would have nothing were it not for God's gracious generosity.  However, we are not just talking about financial obligations here, as crucial as they are for our keeping the doors of Hope open & reaching out to others though our own unique congregation.  Each of us needs to ask God faithfully what God would have us give of our time & talent for the mission & ministry of our parish.  It is only through our willingness to be faithful in attendance at worship, to pray & work for our parish regularly, to commit our very selves to spreading God's love to others here but also beyond these doors that Hope can truly be hope for the future.  Some dismissals at the end of our Eucharist state it well:  "our worship is over; the service has just begun."  When God's grace brings new life in our midst, we must make a conscious decision to give back to God.  Hannah's story is the story of God's faithfulness to Israel as well as to her as an individual.  It is also an invitation to us to pray fervently for Hope as we open our hearts to what glories God has in store for us.  Please join me & your fellow parishioners in such prayer, praise, & commitment.  Now is the acceptable time;  now is the hour.  Come, Holy Spirit!