HOPE AND THANKSGIVING November 19, 2006
Scripture: 1 Sam 1:4-20; Heb 10:11-14, 19-25
We are told in our first scripture reading that Hannah pours out her soul to the Lord. Have you ever poured out your soul to God? When is the last time that you wanted something so much, something that you had been deprived of for a long time? Maybe you had tried various ways of bringing about this desire and nothing was working. Did you pour out your soul in prayer about this desire? Does your faith lead you to take this big concern to God in prayer? Maybe the most intense pouring out of my soul to God about a decision in recent years was when I was trying to decide whether to accept the Call of ministry to Deering or to a church in southern CA. There’s never a day that I don’t pray intensely about my life and that of my family including my church family; however, there are some concerns that just stand out as being way up there. That was the case with Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah. Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, had born him children. In those days that was the main duty of a wife—to give the family children. And even though Hannah’s husband loved her even more than the other wife, she felt very sad that she had not given birth. So we find her praying at the temple at Shiloh as though her life depended on it. This was a holy place, watched over by the chief priest Eli. Now it wasn’t common in those days for a person to pray directly to God; instead, the person would bring a sacrifice and ask help from the priest. Hannah, however, simply used her own words, her own voice, no intermediaries. Some say her prayer was a prayer of the heart. Her unusual behavior and her intensity made Eli think she might be drunk. However, he listens to her great desire for a child. He hears her promise to God that if she births a son she will dedicate the son to the Lord as a nazirite: one who was separated out and consecrated to God. Eli the priest blesses her and says, “Go in peace; the god of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” The next year Hannah gave birth to Samuel and after weaning him took him to Eli in the temple, giving him to the Lord. What an amazing story of hope, faith, and thankfulness.
We know about other barren women in scripture that eventually gave birth, some at a very old age such as Sarah, the wife of Abraham. There’s also Elizabeth the cousin of Jesus’ mother Mary. (Other barren women that finally conceived as highlighted in the Bible are Rebekah, Naomi and Rachel.) Walter Brueggemann in “The Prophetic Imagination” sees barrenness as the lack of a future; therefore, in Hannah’s birth of Samuel, an amazing gift from God in response to prayers and promises, is fulfillment and future to all Israel. In the Hebrew Bible we know that Samuel does become a great leader and helps his people, the Israelites, to choose a King, ordained by God, so that they will be guided in doing what is right and be blessed by God.
By New Testament times in was much more common to go directly to God in prayer. In the book of Hebrews, the author points out that Christ’s sacrifice for us allows us to enter directly into God’s presence since Christ is now our great high priest. Some historical notes may help us understand the passage about Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. In the ancient world when the King sat on his throne, all others must stand as a sign of respect. Jesus, however, sat at the right hand of God—indicating for us their equality. In Hebrews apparently the community was getting a little slack. We are told that some were neglecting to meet together which I imagine was for the purpose of worship. The ideal was for all to enter the sanctuary boldly with confidence, knowing that Jesus was their High Priest; therefore, all should enter (worship) with true hearts and clean consciences as befits someone who has been made clean through baptism. The second thing that this passage stresses is for them to persevere in hope without wavering because Jesus has promised and is faithful. The third thing they were to do was to provoke one another to love and good deeds. Interestingly the word used for provoke can be translated pester or irritate. Those of you that were here last week remember my mentioning that a minister must comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable. So it’s not just the minister’s job, but each of us in the community is responsible to do this with each other. The author emphasizes that we must encourage one another. Rev. Peter Gomes says we should have a new category of congregational prayers for those who need encouragement. A great prayer for us to say regularly would be that each person in our church may be encouraged to do something for the mutual benefit of the church community. We need encouragement when things are going well and especially when things don’t go well. Encouragement is something that needs to come from another. Everyone must be encouraged by someone else, and I’d like to have each of you take upon yourself the spiritual obligation to encourage one another. What about for starters that each of you will encourage another after church today. That means you have to talk to each other and find out what the other is concerned about, what needs encouragement. Give it try and see what happens.
The last topic I would like to focus on this morning is Hope. This seems to me a good sermon opportunity for you to speak up in church. We haven’t done that for awhile. So I’m going to spend a few minutes talking about what I am hoping for and then you who wish to will have your turn. (Some of my ideas are taken from a short article by one of my favorite preachers, Fred Buechner.[1]
I hope that each Sunday’s worship service will bring some measure of wholeness into the lives of those that worship here. I especially hope that somehow what happens in this hour will feed your spirits at least as much as if you had stayed home with a good book or gone out for fresh air and exercise. I hope that our singing, our praying, our passing of the peace, and our sermon time will be acceptable in God’s sight. I hope that Christ still lives and that he has “really conquered sin and death. That in him and through him we also stand a chance of conquering them.” I hope that into the darkness of this world, I will be able to bring the light of Christ. I hope that violence will cease and that all children can grow old, have food to eat, be able to get an education, and not have to be afraid. I know that God exists because I have been directly touched as well as had God witnessed through people hear on earth. I hope that I will have other opportunities of knowing without doubt that God is speaking to me and guiding me on. And of course I hope that all of you will also have that experience. I hope that we can all know deeply at least from time to time that God has heard and answered our prayers. I hope that equality can happen all over this earth, that all illnesses can be cured, and all spiritual pain be addressed. I hope that all the things Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed about will come true—that no one will be discriminated against because of the color of their skin, their nationality, their religion or their sexual orientation. I hope that all people will be free and that all of society will treat each other with respect and dignity. I hope that in my lifetime I will see justice, peace, abundance, and love for God and all of God’s creation happening all over this world. Whenever any of these things come true I am truly thankful and will keep praying and working for the rest to happen. What about the rest of you?
I believe so strongly in transformation. I believe that when we come together to worship, we are especially open and ripe for transformation. When we worship, love and goodness is multiplied throughout the world. There is only one more Sunday before Advent. I challenge each of you today to do two things: worship with us every Sunday in Advent if at all possible and bring at least one person that does not have a church to a service with you. This is probably one of the easiest times of the year to ask someone to come to church with you. Many more people are thinking about Jesus as Christmas draws near, plus we have such wonderful services planned. So my hope is that you will all accept this challenge. And I close with telling you in all sincerity how thankful I am for this church and you who make up the community of believers. Thank you for being part of this community. Amen!
[1] “Preaching on Hope”, online.
We are told in our first scripture reading that Hannah pours out her soul to the Lord. Have you ever poured out your soul to God? When is the last time that you wanted something so much, something that you had been deprived of for a long time? Maybe you had tried various ways of bringing about this desire and nothing was working. Did you pour out your soul in prayer about this desire? Does your faith lead you to take this big concern to God in prayer? Maybe the most intense pouring out of my soul to God about a decision in recent years was when I was trying to decide whether to accept the Call of ministry to Deering or to a church in southern CA. There’s never a day that I don’t pray intensely about my life and that of my family including my church family; however, there are some concerns that just stand out as being way up there. That was the case with Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah. Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, had born him children. In those days that was the main duty of a wife—to give the family children. And even though Hannah’s husband loved her even more than the other wife, she felt very sad that she had not given birth. So we find her praying at the temple at Shiloh as though her life depended on it. This was a holy place, watched over by the chief priest Eli. Now it wasn’t common in those days for a person to pray directly to God; instead, the person would bring a sacrifice and ask help from the priest. Hannah, however, simply used her own words, her own voice, no intermediaries. Some say her prayer was a prayer of the heart. Her unusual behavior and her intensity made Eli think she might be drunk. However, he listens to her great desire for a child. He hears her promise to God that if she births a son she will dedicate the son to the Lord as a nazirite: one who was separated out and consecrated to God. Eli the priest blesses her and says, “Go in peace; the god of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” The next year Hannah gave birth to Samuel and after weaning him took him to Eli in the temple, giving him to the Lord. What an amazing story of hope, faith, and thankfulness.
We know about other barren women in scripture that eventually gave birth, some at a very old age such as Sarah, the wife of Abraham. There’s also Elizabeth the cousin of Jesus’ mother Mary. (Other barren women that finally conceived as highlighted in the Bible are Rebekah, Naomi and Rachel.) Walter Brueggemann in “The Prophetic Imagination” sees barrenness as the lack of a future; therefore, in Hannah’s birth of Samuel, an amazing gift from God in response to prayers and promises, is fulfillment and future to all Israel. In the Hebrew Bible we know that Samuel does become a great leader and helps his people, the Israelites, to choose a King, ordained by God, so that they will be guided in doing what is right and be blessed by God.
By New Testament times in was much more common to go directly to God in prayer. In the book of Hebrews, the author points out that Christ’s sacrifice for us allows us to enter directly into God’s presence since Christ is now our great high priest. Some historical notes may help us understand the passage about Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. In the ancient world when the King sat on his throne, all others must stand as a sign of respect. Jesus, however, sat at the right hand of God—indicating for us their equality. In Hebrews apparently the community was getting a little slack. We are told that some were neglecting to meet together which I imagine was for the purpose of worship. The ideal was for all to enter the sanctuary boldly with confidence, knowing that Jesus was their High Priest; therefore, all should enter (worship) with true hearts and clean consciences as befits someone who has been made clean through baptism. The second thing that this passage stresses is for them to persevere in hope without wavering because Jesus has promised and is faithful. The third thing they were to do was to provoke one another to love and good deeds. Interestingly the word used for provoke can be translated pester or irritate. Those of you that were here last week remember my mentioning that a minister must comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable. So it’s not just the minister’s job, but each of us in the community is responsible to do this with each other. The author emphasizes that we must encourage one another. Rev. Peter Gomes says we should have a new category of congregational prayers for those who need encouragement. A great prayer for us to say regularly would be that each person in our church may be encouraged to do something for the mutual benefit of the church community. We need encouragement when things are going well and especially when things don’t go well. Encouragement is something that needs to come from another. Everyone must be encouraged by someone else, and I’d like to have each of you take upon yourself the spiritual obligation to encourage one another. What about for starters that each of you will encourage another after church today. That means you have to talk to each other and find out what the other is concerned about, what needs encouragement. Give it try and see what happens.
The last topic I would like to focus on this morning is Hope. This seems to me a good sermon opportunity for you to speak up in church. We haven’t done that for awhile. So I’m going to spend a few minutes talking about what I am hoping for and then you who wish to will have your turn. (Some of my ideas are taken from a short article by one of my favorite preachers, Fred Buechner.[1]
I hope that each Sunday’s worship service will bring some measure of wholeness into the lives of those that worship here. I especially hope that somehow what happens in this hour will feed your spirits at least as much as if you had stayed home with a good book or gone out for fresh air and exercise. I hope that our singing, our praying, our passing of the peace, and our sermon time will be acceptable in God’s sight. I hope that Christ still lives and that he has “really conquered sin and death. That in him and through him we also stand a chance of conquering them.” I hope that into the darkness of this world, I will be able to bring the light of Christ. I hope that violence will cease and that all children can grow old, have food to eat, be able to get an education, and not have to be afraid. I know that God exists because I have been directly touched as well as had God witnessed through people hear on earth. I hope that I will have other opportunities of knowing without doubt that God is speaking to me and guiding me on. And of course I hope that all of you will also have that experience. I hope that we can all know deeply at least from time to time that God has heard and answered our prayers. I hope that equality can happen all over this earth, that all illnesses can be cured, and all spiritual pain be addressed. I hope that all the things Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed about will come true—that no one will be discriminated against because of the color of their skin, their nationality, their religion or their sexual orientation. I hope that all people will be free and that all of society will treat each other with respect and dignity. I hope that in my lifetime I will see justice, peace, abundance, and love for God and all of God’s creation happening all over this world. Whenever any of these things come true I am truly thankful and will keep praying and working for the rest to happen. What about the rest of you?
I believe so strongly in transformation. I believe that when we come together to worship, we are especially open and ripe for transformation. When we worship, love and goodness is multiplied throughout the world. There is only one more Sunday before Advent. I challenge each of you today to do two things: worship with us every Sunday in Advent if at all possible and bring at least one person that does not have a church to a service with you. This is probably one of the easiest times of the year to ask someone to come to church with you. Many more people are thinking about Jesus as Christmas draws near, plus we have such wonderful services planned. So my hope is that you will all accept this challenge. And I close with telling you in all sincerity how thankful I am for this church and you who make up the community of believers. Thank you for being part of this community. Amen!
[1] “Preaching on Hope”, online.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 11:30 AM
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