November 15, 2009
Faithfulness for the Faithless
- 1 Samuel 1:4-20
- Dr. Teri Thomas
I feel like I have been living in a perpetual state of waiting. Waiting for the building committee to design a building. Waiting for the capital campaign. Waiting for the architects and contractors to be hired and then for them to start. Waiting for the new parking lot Waiting for the chancel waiting for the furniture to be delivered and I keep thinking that as soon as this happens everything will be OK.
But I am still waiting. For the elevator, the tile, the carpeting, waiting for the dust to be gone, the pick up trucks to be out of my favorite parking space, the sounds of saws and sanders and cement trucks to cease, waiting – waiting -- waiting.
We spend much of life waiting for things to happen. There is always some future event that, we are convinced, will solve some deep problem. Once that happens, we say to ourselves, we will be able to get our lives together.
As soon as I get to college.
As soon as I meet my special someone.
As soon as we have kids.
As soon as the last kid leaves home.
As soon as I get a new job.
As soon as I lose 90 pounds.
As soon as I finish this degree.
As soon as I retire.
We wait.
We wait on tests,
wait on someone to make a decision
or grow up or quit drinking or get a job
Waiting.
It must be a fairly common part of the human condition. Scripture is filled with stories of people waiting. Waiting for freedom, waiting for rain, waiting for healing, waiting for a messiah.
In this morning’s lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures we meet Hannah. She has been waiting a long time, a very long time, and she does not need to be reminded of it. She is barren, unable to have children, which in her day and age makes her totally worthless. Hannah is miserable. She cries constantly. She is not able to eat. She is irritated with her husband and his other wife. The only solution she can imagine for her misery is to have a son.
So Hannah decides to have a chat with God and she heads off to the temple to pray. She pours her heart out to the Lord. And she does this for quite a while. Long enough that Eli, the priest on duty, asks her, How long are you going to carry on this drunken spectacle?
I am not drunk she declares.
And while we are at it, I am not worthless either.
I have anxieties and vexations.
I am speaking to God out of my heart.
And Hannah is changed. She goes to eat and drink with her husband and her countenance is no longer sad. She rises early the next morning and worships God. Hannah and her husband return home and in due time Hannah conceives and bears a son. And we look at the story of Hannah and say that God is faithful. God is faithful because Hannah prays, her womb is opened and she is able to bear a son.
I have some trouble with that understanding of this story. What about all the people who wait and pray and wait and pray and wait and pray and those prayers are never answered? Does that mean God is not faithful? Does that mean there is something wrong with their prayers?
I do not believe that Hannah having a son is a sign of God’s faithfulness.
I want to say that God is faithful, whether or not Hannah has a son.
And if we read this story carefully, God changes Hannah before she becomes pregnant. She prays and God changes her attitude about herself, God changes her mood, God changes her relationship with her husband. God changes her life.
THEN, and only then, do Hannah and Elkanah return home and try once again to get her pregnant. Having the child is not what changed Hannah’s life. What changed her life was the relationship she developed with God.
Now this morning you may not relate to the plight of infertility. But you most certainly can relate to what it means to be held hostage to waiting. Or you can recall a time when your heart's longings seem to go ignored? Ever feel worthless and useless, barren and lifeless? Is there something that wants to be born in you? Do you have anxieties and vexations?
Hannah found peace and contentment not by focusing on her past suffering and what had been,
not by trying to control her own future. Hannah found contentment by focusing on the present moment and going to God in worship, a moment of prayer, a moment of emptying her soul, a moment of sitting in the presence of God.
But before we jump to the conclusion that this is the answer to all our wants and needs we might be wise to remember that old adage- be careful what you pray for.
When Hannah finally did become pregnant she got a whole lot more than she had bargained for.
She gave birth to a son, but not just any son. She gave birth to Samuel who would become the last judge of Israel. Samuel, who would anoint Saul and then David as Kings. Samuel, a prophet and a priest. Hannah’s act of worship changed her life. It changed the life of her unborn son.
It changed the history of Israel.
In her waiting Hannah had no where to turn but to God. her husband was a dolt, and his other wife nasty and mean. She had no one but God. Hannah went to God out of total desperation.
The good news is- we go to God in response to a gracious invitation. We are not in Hannah’s place of being all alone against the problem we face. We have a community of faith.
Listen again to the words we read this morning from Hebrews-
19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary, …22let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, …23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another,
We are not waiting any longer for access to God. Everything is done. Our past pains have been healed. Our past hurts have been forgiven. Our faith has been renewed. The waiting is over. Now Christ is doing the waiting; He is waiting for us to live into this reality. And not only that, but we are not alone. We don’t have to experience the despair of Hannah because we have each other.
Together we can remind each other that Christ has taken care of everything.
Together we can support and encourage each other to live out the extravagant love we have experienced.
Together we can inspire each other to live in joy and gratitude.
We gather for worship in this place as a community of faith. In worship we find our faith and hope for the future intertwined in the promises made and kept in the community of God’s people.
We come and sit in the presence of God And provoke one another to love and good deeds and encourage one another. And our countenance is no longer sad, and we are changed.
Thanks be to God.
Amen