Women of the OT, Part 3: Hannah

 WE GATHER 

PRELUDE 

BRINGING IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST 

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS 

*HYMN Come, Christians, Join to Sing UMH# 158 

*CALL TO WORSHIP 

L: Blessed be the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! 

P: Praise be to God, the Giver of many gifts! 

L: Our help is in God’s name, the One who calls us here. 

P: We come with songs of praise, with prayers too deep for words. L: Blessed be the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! 

P: Blessed be the Lord! 

*OPENING PRAYER (IN UNISON) 

Christ Jesus, we come into your presence from many different places. We come with songs of joy and shouts of gratitude. We come carrying heavy burdens and sighs of suffering. As you welcome us into your house, lift our burdens and receive our praise. Salt us with your grace and flavor us with your mercy. Bind us together, that we may be at peace with one another and be strengthened to go forth in service to the world. In your holy name, we pray. Amen. 

*HYMN Faith While Trees Are Still in Blossom UMH# 508 v 1, 2, 5 

WE PROCLAIM GOD'S WORD 

CHILDREN’S CHAT 

OLD TESTAMENT READING 

1 Samuel 1: 1-20 

Samuel’s Birth and Dedication

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion[b] because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord.[c] Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,[d] and no razor shall touch his head.”

12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went her way and ate and drank with her husband,[e] and her countenance was sad no longer.[f]

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

MUSICAL INTERLUDE AND OFFERING 

NEW TESTAMENT READING 

Mark 9: 42-50 

Temptations to Sin

42 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me[a] to sin,[b] it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin,[c] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,[d] to the unquenchable fire.[e] 45 And if your foot causes you to sin,[f] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.[g][h] 47 And if your eye causes you to sin,[i] tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,[j] 48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.[k] 50 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?[l] Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

MESSAGE "Women in the Old Testament, Part 3: Hannah"  

Friends, we’re now in the third part of this sermon series I put together where we’re looking at stories about women in the Old Testament, and holding these stories of our foremothers up against the teachings of Jesus. This week we’re talking about my girl Hannah.

At a time when there was still a pretty significant power imbalance in Israel, and many were rudderless, with no one captaining the ship, there was a guy named Elkanah. He wasn’t a very important or powerful man. We know which tribe his family descended from because the author took the time to lay out his lineage, but Elkanah himself was a typical Jewish man, attempting to live out his faith and values. In this patriarchal society we’d expect the focus of this story to stay on Elkanah, but instead, after introducing the patriarch of this family, the author switches gears and introduces his two wives, Hannah and Penninah.

Every year this big family made the pilgrimage to Shiloh to make sacrifices to God under the leadership of the priests that served there. At dinner afterward, Penninah would seat all of the children she’s given birth to at the table, and rub her super fertility in Hannah’s face, and Elkanah would serve all of them. Hannah would be by herself at the other end of the table, and Elkanah would give her an extra big portion of meat, sprinkled with a dash of condescension. Poor Hannah has never been able to conceive children, so here you go, Hannah, have an extra drumstick.

You really feel, as the reader, how isolated and unsupported Hannah feels. She’s far from the first person on earth to carry sorrow in her heart, people walk around with grief every day. Some of us have experienced a loss recently, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, or a job, or a home, or a friendship, or of health, or of a sense of safety. Some of us are on more stable ground today, but have lived long enough to remember the last time we were heartbroken. Usually, when we’re in those grief spaces, what hurts us also hurts the people closest to us. If your struggle is something as personal as infertility, usually at least your partner is there with you. But this isn’t true for Hannah. Her husband, Elkanah, has many children with his other wife, Penninah, a woman that he was likely encouraged to take as a second wife when he discovered that Hannah was barren. And in this society there’s no understanding of the complexities of conceiving and bearing children, that medical knowledge is lightyears away. There’s also no belief held among Hannah’s neighbors that men can be infertile, it’s always the woman’s fault, and it’s only the woman who’s shamed, called barren, and rumored to have done something terrible to cause God to “close her womb”. And if Hannah’s pain wasn’t clear enough, we then see that her husband is the kind of big, dumb, egotistical moose who would say something like “oh, don’t cry, I’m as awesome as ten kids, baby.”

But Hannah shows us what some bravery and a whole lot of faith can do, even when we’re ready to give up. After dinner she finds her way to the synagogue, and she prays: “let me have one baby boy, and I’ll commit him to service at the Temple.” Hannah also teaches us how important, and precious, our own, individual, relationship with the Divine is. When we pray to God, no matter what method of prayer works for us, God hears us, answers us, and takes us with the most sacred level of seriousness. We belong to the Holy, and our Creator knows us. In the arms of the Divine, we can find comfort, strength, and resolution even when the people around us don’t rise to the challenge. 

And, unfortunately, sometimes even the folks in our church families fall short. Eli, a revered and wise priest, sees Hannah moving her mouth but not saying audible words, and sneers at her, assuming she’s drunk. It’s a tragic combination of his own burnout, and his internalized sexism, that leads Eli to that place. I got to bear witness to that kind of prayer when I was a chaplain at Strong; I visited a woman who had a trach put in, and she really wanted to articulate her pain and frustration. She tried writing her thoughts, but quickly got fed up, threw the paper down, and started yelling a prayer to God that I couldn’t hear, but surely the Holy could. It was a moment of profound faith, and it was humbling for me to be there. 

Hannah may be the most excellent prayer among us. And all the folks around her, who bear witness to her hurt and don’t get it, all demonstrate the pieces of our own natures that we’re better off parting ways with than allowing them to exacerbate the pain of the Hannahs among us.

And that brings us to the words of Jesus, shared by Mark the Blunt Evangelist, who makes words that already sound very harsh even pointier: if your right hand makes someone mad, chop it off. 

Huh.

Yeah, I really hope there’s another way to read that one. I kinda like having two hands.

Thankfully Jesus isn’t literally asking any of us to get dismembered. He was fond of hyperbole.

But Jesus was absolutely challenging us to get rid of traditions, habits, and behaviors we have loved, that have served us well in the past, even if losing them feels awful. Because sometimes keeping them makes life so, so much worse for someone else.

If your narrow understanding of prayer keeps you from hearing the Hannah in the pew next to you, or in the hospital bed in front of you, get rid of that. If your ego makes you bully the Hannah at the lunch table because you have something she wants and you want her to know it, get rid of it. If your self-centeredness makes you puff up yourself instead of giving Hannah a hug, get rid of it. And, most of all, if any of us are still carrying around this ancient but evergreen habit of judging and shaming women because their families look different from ours, it’s way, way past time to get rid of that.

And if you’re grieving today, and, like Hannah, it feels like no one else gets it, take heart, because God does. The Holy answers Hannah’s prayer, and she gives birth to Samuel, who grows up and anoints King David. And then, if you keep reading, she goes on to have five more kids, and a very full heart.

May it be so for us.

Amen.

*HYMN Seek Ye First UMH# 405 

WE RESPOND 

JOYS & CONCERNS 

PASTORAL PRAYER 

Beloved God,

You know us inside and out and you still call us to serve you.

Lord, honestly we are often hesitant, afraid, and wish to remain hidden.

Empower us to listen for and to hear your call

Empower us to answer your call with “Here I am Lord”

Empower us to follow you when you call us to follow you.

Lord of mercy and justice,

So many have gone before us working to bring

Justice and peace to our country and our world.

Their footsteps seem to big to step into

to continue the work you have called us all to;

so we hesitantly step one step at a time,

bringing your seeds of hope, justice and peace

in a world crying out for them.

Lord of hope,

We pray for our country, our leaders and especially our new president as he is inaugurated into leading our country in tumultuous times. We pray for healing of our country, reconciliation, forgiveness and peace.

Lord of peace,

We pray for your compassion and healing for those individuals in our congregation who need it. We pray for your comfort and presence for those who are grieving lonely and oppressed. We pray for warmth, shelter, clothing and food for those who are without.

Lord we say to you this day,

“Here we are your servants willing to preach your word,

offer care where care is needed,

presence where presence is needed,

your love where your love is needed.”

Lord, strengthen us for our ministry today and everyday.

In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy spirit.  Amen.

— written by Rev Abi, and posted on her Long and Winding Road blog. 

THE LORD’S PRAYER 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 

*HYMN Abide with Me UMH# 700 v1, 2, 3 

SENDING FORTH WITH BLESSING 

POSTLUDE