Words 11.11

 Words Twice a Week        11.11

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Some introductory thoughts on some of the lessons for this Sunday – Proper 28

1 Samuel 1.4-20

+ interesting that in these weeks leading up to Advent, we read about two or three women who are significant in the lineage of Jesus, Naomi and Ruth, who ended up being great grandmothers of David, and Hannah, mother of Samuel who would go on to anoint David as king.  In our Bible, 1 Samuel (Hannah) follows directly after Ruth so we get the stories of the two women one after another.  In the Jewish Canon, Ruth is part of the Writings, so 1 Samuel follows immediately after Judges, so we get the development of that story, with Samuel being the  the transition between the judges or priests and the monarchy.

+ Elkana has two wives – one of whom has several children and one of whom is barren. That’s a harsh word – particularly in that time it was the woman who was barren, no matter what the cause, and it was seen as her being somehow less than other women.  We could use this as an opportunity to think about how our lives are fruitful or barren – as individuals, as a congregation, as a people or species even.

+ Peninnah lords it over Hannah – we’ve heard this story before!  Elkana seems to care for Hannah – he gives her a double portion of the sacrifice remainders – but does he really respect Hannah’s sadness when he says “Am I not enough for you?”

+ Hannah goes to pray, and Eli thinks she is drunk – is this meant to show Eli’s cluelessness or ineffectiveness?  Eli is certainly incapable of dealing with his own sons.

+ Finally Eli tells Hannah God has heard her prayer, or maybe that God will answer he prayer – it’s could be either - and when Elkana and Hannah come together, she conceives Samuel.

+ note that Samuel is dedicated to the Lord even before he is conceived.  Hannah makes a vow – she will fulfill it in the second reading.

+ Hannah no sooner has a son than she “gives him away.”  What is more important to her – actually having a son, or being a woman who has had a son.  I wonder if she had other children?

+ so where in your life do you feel like Hannnah?  

1 Samuel 2.1-10

+ so now we get the second half of the story.  Hannah had promised Samuel to the Lord, but she skipped the first opportunity to do that – she did not go to Shiloh until Samuel was weaned.  Bit of a cliffhanger?

+ and this passage is Hannah’s song of praise, not when Samuel is born but when she fulfills her vow and takes him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.  So the two passages are petition and praise.

+ in the first verse of her song, Hannah rejoices in herself and her life.  Then she moves on to exult the Lord and lists off some of the things the Lord does, will do.  We note the remarkable similarity to The Magnificat in Luke.

+ and she notes that God is “holy” – refusing our efforts to harness God for our purposes.  One writer puts it “God is unrivaled in power and unbridled in freedom.”

+ interesting note in vs 10 Hannah mentions a “king”.  Where did that come from?

+ The Lord will defeat those who oppose, will judge the whole world, will raise up God’s anointed.  How is that working?

+ a psalm of personal thanksgiving has two themes – first to praise God for what God has done, and second to teach others about God.  What if we tried to write a psalm of thanksgiving for something in our life?

Daniel 12.1-3

+ a few verses from Daniel, interesting because they give a vision of the resurrection of the faithful at the end of time.  Jesus is going to talk more about the time before the end.  How do we think about it?  Time before we die? Time before the world somehow comes to an end?  Time when God brings Creation to some kind of fulfillment?

Mark 13.1-8

+ Chapter 13 is different from the rest of the book.  Mark has been pretty much telling stories – now Jesus goes off into apocalyptic comments on the endtimes.  Craddock says it is an unveiling, a revealing, a vision, a glimpse beyond what is going on to what is really going on.”

+ Chapter 13 could be left out and the story would move smoothly from ch 12 to 14.  Some people suggest chapter 13 is a second ending to Mark.  Ch 14-16 are a kind of discouraging ending with the crucifixion and the women afraid and saying nothing to anyone.  But ch 13 is an ending that says the story is not over yet.

+ Jesus comes out of the Temple, and in fact sits down “opposite the Temple” – geographically, historically, thematically – and says that buildings, the Temple, the Church building, will all come down, through wars or earthquakes or just decay.  The four disciples ask “when”, and first Jesus goes through all the things that will happen, and finally (in vs32) says “I don’t know when.”

+ Jesus says instead of worrying about when the end will come, pay attention to life in the meantime.  Carolyn Baker is/was(?) a professor of history and psychology who wrote a couple of books about the collapse of civilization.  Basically she comes to the conclusion that the thing to do is to live with love and integrity in the time we have left.

+ three things Jesus says the community needs to do – 1) develop a spirit of discernment, 2) the churches precarious situation demands patience, taking the long view, and 3) the church can be hopeful.

So – we need a prayer about Hannah’s faith or about the end of things or something like that.  I’ll sleep on it and see what I come up with tomorrow.  Or you can suggest something -

But that’s what I got for now…..

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