November 14, 2021 Grace Community Church,
Potlatch, Idaho
Introducing a sermon is difficult for me, and I
know I’ve said this before. I think that’s partly because I feel like the
scripture is the introduction and that I’m going to expand on that, so who
needs an introduction? But I also know that as a person in the congregation, I can
find it hard to pay attention to the scripture readings at times, especially if
I don’t have them in front of me. I’ve also heard that going to church (this
from a Christian) is an art in enforced boredom, and I don’t think that that needs
to be true. In fact, if we’re doing what it says in Hebrews, we are “spurring
one another on in love and good deeds.” I find it all a bit of a balancing act in
how to approach a sermon, let alone know how successful I am at it. But I also
think that that’s the point of much of what the scriptures are saying to us
today. We are in a balancing act of continual conflict. So, what I want to talk
about today is our routine lives, and we all know that as far as we are
concerned, those are pretty ordinary and not necessarily the stuff of good
stories. We also all know that our lives are made up of conflict because that
is part of being human, (good stories have to have conflict), we also all know
that we don’t know the end of our story in the sense of just how or when, but
we should know that we need to persevere in faith in the author of our story
and know that the end is complete and perfect. I guess, in a worldly sense, the
buzz words for what I’m going to talk about today are “mental health,” but it’s
deeper than that. It’s spiritual health.
On
the surface of the Hannah story in I Samuel I can’t relate. Polygamy has never
made any sense to me and I don’t even want to try to make sense of it. But I
can understand rivals. I tried never to have favorites as a teacher, at least
as much as was humanly possible to avoid that kind of rivalry. Kids still wanted
to please. You might personally think you want to be the favorite of someone,
but favoritism creates jealousy and Hannah was on the negative end of that
jealousy. I Samuel 1: 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to
sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to
all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double
portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her
womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her
rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on
year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her
rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband
Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why
are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Her husband loved
her more than his other wives (so why did he have others???) but she was barren
so wife Peninnah had a big opening to just torment Hannah, and torment she did.
We’ve all felt similar sorts of conflict with people. People are just hard to
get along with, plain and simple. (I don’t remember where I heard this, but
someone said that whenever your spouse is not meeting up to your expectations,
you should look in the mirror and remind yourself that you aren’t that great of
a catch either. 😊
Stay humble.) As people of faith, though, we know we have an advocate, someone
who loves us as we are. Hannah was also
a person of faith and she prayed to the point of appearing to be drunk to Eli
the priest. I Samuel 1: 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to
the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying,
“Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and
remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will
give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no
razor will ever be used on his head.” And God answered her prayer by
giving her a son. She gave birth to Samuel. And in 1 Samuel 2, that we read in our
call to worship she gave thanks. 2 Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart
rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
Like
I said, Hannah’s story is pretty far removed from my life, but the human
element of conflict is still there. We all understand that. When we don’t have such
a direct personal conflict we have the conflicts of being citizens of this country
and this world. In the present time we don’t even have the luxury of one “Walter
Cronkite” reliable source of news, so we have to work extra hard to discern
which slant on a story is acceptable and there is no longer a “That’s the way
it is,” voice to reassure us. Sometimes our conflict is not knowing the “way it
is.” And all of us, because of the uncertainties, create our own conflicts
because we are, like it or not, human beings with big inclinations toward sin,
not trusting the author of our faith. Our conflicts, no matter how they are
presented to us, create friction. We get over 40, 50, 60, whatever, it starts
building and we end up taking blood pressure medication, getting joint replacement
surgeries, stents put in our arteries… I don’t need to tell you any of that.
That’s a result of conflict that builds. So:
“My
heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
As
you know, I taught English for over 35 years, so I am one who loves a good
story. No matter how dull our lives may seem to us, we are still the characters
of an amazing story. Those conflicts make us who we are. Hannah didn’t just
whine about her situation, she prayed and worked to have her conflict resolved.
We are called to do the same thing. Anna Vowels sent me a recent NPR article
about Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins, a retired teacher from Louisiana who just set
the female record for her age category in the 100-meter dash. She crossed the
line in a minute, 2.95 seconds. She said she was disappointed because she wanted
to break a minute. Julia was the first woman over 105 to run the 100-meter
dash. We have to just persevere in living, in praying, in believing. Julia said
she wanted to get the message across that you have to stay active and healthy
to be happy. You have to work with what you have. As people of faith the
question for us isn’t whether or not the glass is half full or half empty, but
what to do with all the water flowing out the top. Our cups are overflowing!
“My
heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance. (This is worth
memorization, a mantra when you’re feeling down.)
We
are in the middle of a story of which we know the ending, but the particulars
of getting there have a way of overwhelming us so that we forget. We don’t know
all the particulars, so we need to persevere. We need to keep reading the book
that is our lives and do it like 105-year-old Julia, staying active and healthy;
doing it like Hannah, maybe shedding a few tears but praying fervently.
I’m just going to re-read Hebrews here:
Hebrews 10:11-25
11 Day after day every priest stands and
performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this
priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the
right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to
be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made
perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to
us about this. First he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with
them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”[a]
17 Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”[b]
18 And where these have been forgiven,
sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
A Call to Persevere in Faith
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since
we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the
curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great
priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to
God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith
brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider
how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The
last part of that says so much about our perseverance: “Let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting
together…” We are doing the right thing by being here. Our job is to share love
and good deeds, not worry about all the conflict, which we know is greatly
reduced by love and good deeds. I do believe in being responsible citizens, but
not worried citizens. I was reading comments at the bottom of an online article
(never a good idea) and the person said that the COVID vaccine was the mark of
the beast. I will not add more commentary to that.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples
that everything is going to be “thrown down” when they were commenting on the amazing
structure of the temple. We know that happened in both the sense of the temple
being destroyed and Jesus body being crucified. But then (in verse 5), “5 Jesus
said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will
come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When
you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must
happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various
places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” We’re feeling the
beginning of birth pains, but we should not be deceived by crazy rantings in
the comment section of online articles.
I
have run several marathons and the worst thing that anyone could ever say to me
when I hit the 20th mile was, “Only six more to go!” If you have run 20 miles,
the next six are going to be twice as hard as the first 20 so it’s not “only
six more.” It might as well be 90 more. Even if we really are close, we have a
long, hard way to go. But we’ve got this. And that’s what we need to remember.
Jesus also told the disciples in Matthew 24: 36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels
in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father.” If we get caught
up in the difficulty of our conflicts we start looking at our glass and missing
the water trickling over the sides, then imagining it to be less than full,
that maybe we are running on empty. That is crazy talk. We probably miss this
part of the 23 Psalm, but it’s the best part.
4 Even though I walk
through
the darkest valley, (the valley
of the shadow of death)
I will fear no evil,
for
you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they
comfort me.
5 You prepare a
table before me
in
the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my
cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all
the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”
So, like Hannah, we need to
pray: “My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
Our job now is to do as the author of Hebrews
exhorted us to do: “23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider
how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” And
why not? We know the end. Our cups overflow! We’ve got this because he’s got
this and he’s got us. Amen