Perseverance

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