Hebrew Text for Sunday 26 June 2022

 1 Samuel 12.18-21          Now Samuel was ministering in the presence of the HOLY ONE OF OLD, a boy dressed in a linen ephod. A little robe would his mother make for him and bring up to him year by year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the HOLY ONE repay you (Elkanah) with seed from this woman in place of the bequest she made to the FOUNT OF LIFE”; and then they would return to their home. 

And the FAITHFUL ONE attended Hannah and she conceived and gave birth to two daughters and three sons. And the boy Samuel grew up there in the presence of the LIVING GOD. 

Now the boy Samuel went on and grew in goodness with the MOST HIGH and with humanity. 

                        As translated in Gafney, Wilda C.  A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church. (NY: Church Publishing, 2021) 

Reflection       We humans are creatures who pray; praying when we believe and praying when we doubt, praying to fill our empty wombs or bellies or bank accounts, praying praise and thanksgiving for unexpected blessing, praying fury and lament and praying our questions. Prayers are a means by which we move our heads into our hearts, becoming more human as we reach beyond our selves in conversation with the mysterious “something more.”

We remember Hannah’s prayer for a son, “Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you.” (1 Samuel 1.10-11)  Reaching out to “something more” than herself Hannah experiences LIVING GOD as faithful. Hannah blooms with child and matures in faith as she fulfills her vow to give her son Samuel back to God. Samuel grows in goodness in relationship with God and humanity and Hannah's blessing is multiplied as “she conceived and gave birth to two daughters and three sons.”  

What does this story that takes place more than three thousand years ago and was written about five hundred and fifty years later have to say to us today? I believe it is about being in relationship with LIVING GOD which is the source and sustenance of our being. Hannah turns to God with her anguish, then, when her prayer for a son is answered, she sings, “ My heart rejoices in the Lord…. there is no one holy like the Lord… those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. ” (1 Sam 2.1,2, 5) 

Praying is an act of humility (hunger). By definition it affirms “something more” than the individual who is praying which means praying is also about relationship.  Whether prayer is offered as an act of worship, thanksgiving, intercession, supplication or confession it is a human being humbling her self to engage with “something more” than her self. The “something more” is not an object therefore it is known by faith. Hence, prayer is a human’s act of faith that there is “something more” than she can reasonably grasp yet,  “something more” with which she is in relationship.  Religious folks call this LIVING GOD.

Apparently we humans also pray instinctively. A poll taken in the UK in January of 2018 found “one in five adults pray despite saying they are non-religious…  Among the non-religious, personal crisis or tragedy is the most common reason for praying, with one in four saying they pray to gain comfort or feel less lonely.”   Read the article by clicking on the below link.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/14/half-of-non-believers-pray-says-poll

Prayers reach from our depths to the mysterious beyond as we are inclined either consciously or unconsciously to find our place in relationship with “something more.” This seems to be true even for  those of us who assert we are non-religious. I wonder if a difference between religious and non-religious folks is revealed in the way Hannah fulfills her vow to the “something more,” singing God’s praises and returning her son to the One from whom her blessings flow? Hannah sustains her relationship with  “something more” as she continues her prayers and righteous actions long after her anguish is eased.

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Gospel text for Sunday 18 November 2018

Mark 13:1-8        As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

Reflection       Reading this text from Mark can be down right disturbing. Great buildings will fall flaming down. We will be misled, hear of wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, all manner of disaster. And this is only the beginning? This sounds too much like a summary of our current events. We want to run away and bury our heads in the sand. 

But if we pause and allow ourselves to rise to the 10,000 foot above the ground perspective we may catch a glimpse of something more. You see, although our minds cannot unravel the complexity of our circumstance and our emotions cannot resist being  swept up in the dramatic tide of news cycles, our hearts ‘know’ there is something more. The apostle Paul explains this in his second letter to the Corinthians, it is “because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2Cor 4.16) 

Regardless of the explosive uncertainty of current events there is something deep within us that  insists there is more to life than meets the eye. And that is what allows us to “walk by faith, not by sight,” (2Cor 5.7)  especially in the midst of chaos. When Jesus instructs the disciples and us to “Beware…” I do not believe he is telling us to build bomb shelters and stock pile supplies to mitigate impending doom. No. Jesus is warning us not to ascribe inordinate value to things that are temporary, things that by definition have an expected ‘shelf-life.’  

When we put our faith in the unborn, undying eternally all that is we are able to sit at the foot of a collapsing building and not flinch. It is not that we are unaffected by the looming loss. We understand that all things that are accessible to our temporary senses are temporary. At the same time we affirm, there is that which “cannot be seen,” and it is eternal. 

We are misled when we put our faith in things that we see because ultimately they will disintegrate and betray us. We rise with Jesus to the 10,000 foot perspective when we see beyond the tumult and rubble to the peace that eternally pervades the maelstrom of commotion. This is the peace Jesus leaves with us, the peace that we cannot see, the peace that is present even when the buildings collapse and “not one stone is left upon another.”

For an experience of 20 minutes of something more please listen to Benjamin Zander’s TED talk.

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