Wholeness

Pentecost 25B, 11/15/15
1 Samuel 1:4-20; Hebrews 10:19-25

God of the suffering and downtrodden, be with us as we hear your word, soak it in, and seek ways to live it out and share it with others. Amen.

Yesterday morning I was listening to the radio, and a great song came on.

“I love you just the way you are.”

Don't go changing to try and please me

You never let me down before

Don't imagine you're too familiar

And I don't see you anymore

I would not leave you in times of trouble

We never could have come this far

I took the good times, I'll take the bad times

I take you just the way you are

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/billy-joel/just-the-way-you-are-lyrics/#IsJeE4O3vsbBAOBy.99

This song describes the kind of unconditional love that most of us hope for from our partners, our parents, and our closest friends.

This is the kind of love that Hannah has from Elkanah.

In a society in which a woman’s worth was gauged by the number of male offspring she could bear, Hannah would have been considered pretty worthless according to all the usual measures.

But Elkanah didn’t care. He loved Hannah, whether she fulfilled society’s gender stereotypes or not. Hannah was his favorite, and he wasn’t afraid to let the world know.

Now, practically speaking, Elkanah had an obligation to his family line to father sons to carry on the family name.

So he took a second wife, Peninnah, and she bore sons.

But Hannah was the one he loved. She remained his favorite.

        

In spite of Elkanah’s love, though, Hannah was unhappy.

Peninnah made her life miserable.

The other wife had everything that Hannah wanted – namely, children, and therefore, a good reputation in society.

The unconditional love of their husband and second helpings once a year at the time of the sacrifice weren’t enough for Hannah. 

And so Hannah prayed.

Hannah prayed    fervently.

Hannah    made history    with her prayers.

Hannah is one of the most faithful people we meet in the Bible.

She is the only woman in the Old Testament who is described as going to the temple of the Lord.

And once there, Hannah prays so fervently, the priest thinks she must be drunk.

This tells us a couple of things.

First, Hannah’s fervent prayers tell us that the men in her life just don’t understand her.

Elkanah minimizes her pain at not being able to conceive. I’m as good as 10 sons, aren’t I?

Well, no, dear, you aren’t. A husband isn’t the same as a son. Elkanah may be wonderful, but her marriage to him doesn’t prevent her from being called names, and he won’t be able to care for her in her old age, as a son would be expected to do for his mother. 

And then there’s Eli. He’s trying to do the good priestly thing, but I’m guessing he’s just a little burned out. Ugh, another woman here, making a scene. I don’t have the time to deal with this today.

“Hey lady, what are you, drunk? Stop making a fool of yourself.”

The first thing that we learn from Hannah’s fervent prayers is that she needs to petition a higher authority for assistance, because the earthly resources – the human people – she can go to are not able to help her any more.

The second thing we learn from Hannah’s prayers is that she is filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is one other prominent Bible story I can think of when people were worshipping God, and were mistaken for being drunk.

On the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus was raised from the dead, the disciples were gathered together to figure out what they should do next. Then the Holy Spirit swept through their assembly, and they all began speaking in different languages.

The people who were just trying to dismiss them said, “Hey guys, what are you, drunk? Stop making fools of yourselves.”

That’s when Peter stood up and said “No! We’re not drunk! This is the Holy Spirit, speaking through us!”

Hannah’s intense prayers show that she also is filled with the Spirit.

When the priest Eli realizes this, he blesses Hannah, and she goes on her way.

Now, here’s the really critical point in the story.

Hannah is restored.

After her prayers, after spending time in the house of the Lord, after receiving the blessing of Eli – and before she becomes pregnant with Samuel – Hannah experiences the healing and wholeness for which she had been praying.

It’s not the miracle of pregnancy that gives her back her identity and sense of self-worth – God has answered Hannah’s prayer by restoring her to wholeness whether she is able to bear a son or not.

This is a relief, I think, to those of us who do not have children, or who in other ways do not fit the paradigm of success according to society’s standards.

We can be the complete person God intends us to be, even when the people around us think we don’t measure up.

Hannah didn’t need the support of Peninnah (which she didn’t have) and she didn’t need the love of Elkanah (which she did have).

God made Hannah whole and complete in response to her prayers, regardless of these other relationships.

Hannah was restored at the house of the Lord.

By going to a place of worship, Hannah was able to experience the presence of God.

Worshipping together is critically important for God’s people.

The Hebrews passage today tells us to provoke one another to good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, but encouraging one another.

Communal worship is important. It provides a way for us to grow closer to God, through interactions with other faithful people.

When we gather for worship, Hebrews tells us, we are reminded of God’s love for us, and of God’s forgiveness of our sins.

Do not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some – don’t avoid the prayer and worship that can remind you of God’s presence in your lives.

Hannah knows the importance of going to pray at the temple of the Lord. That is where she receives God’s healing from her intense sorrow and grief.

And there is another miracle in today’s story about Hannah.

Hannah had the unconditional love of her husband, but didn’t feel that it was enough to make her whole. She thought that a son would bring her that sense of purpose, so she prayed that God would help her get pregnant. She went to the temple of the Lord and was blessed by the priest, and even before she got pregnant, she experienced healing – she realized she didn’t need to bear a son in order to be worthwhile.

But then she does get pregnant. And she does bear a son.

And Hannah gives him away.

Here is the miracle. The very thing that Hannah thought she needed in order to be complete,    a son,    she entrusts almost immediately into the care of another.

You have to read just a few verses beyond the passage we heard today to get the rest of the story:

When [Hannah] had weaned [Samuel], she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine.

She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh... Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.

And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

And she left [Samuel] there [in the temple] for the Lord. (1 Sam 1:24-28 NRSV)

Hannah had come to the understanding that God loved her even more unconditionally than Elkanah.

         In good times, in bad times, just the way she is.

While she was grateful for the son she had borne, she didn’t need to keep him in order to feel God’s love.

So, out of gratitude for God’s love, Hannah gave up that which was most precious to her, the boy Samuel, to be raised as a priest in the temple.

This brings us back again to the importance of a faith community.

Eli was the one who raised Samuel.

Even though he didn’t understand Hannah’s plight to begin with, he eventually stepped up to the plate, and welcomed both her and her son into the community of faith, at the temple of the Lord.

The place of worship was crucial both for Hannah’s wholeness as a child of God, and for Samuel’s growth as a child of God.

And Samuel’s growth ended up bring pretty important – he was the prophet who found and anointed the first kings of Israel.

God only knows what the Messiah would have looked like if Jesus hadn’t been born from the line of King David, if there hadn’t been a King David because Samuel had never found and anointed him.

The fact that Hannah and Samuel were part of a worshipping community was critical to the people and events that shaped the religion we now profess. 

And by being part of that faith community – by spending time at the temple of the Lord – Hannah learned that Peninnah’s taunting and Elkanah’s love didn’t matter nearly as much as the eternal love of God that was available to her.

Through her prayers and the blessing of Eli, Hannah discovered that God loved her, just the way she was.

And God loves each of us that much, as well.

This is the good news God has for us today:

God loves us just the way we are.

With our talents, our greatness, our weaknesses, our failings – God loves us and welcomes us and meets us with open arms, just like God did with Hannah.

God restores us to wholeness, to be the people that we were created to be.

And one of the primary ways that God restores us is through the community of faith.  

So thanks be to God for the blessing of a worshipping community, and thanks be to God for God’s unconditional love!

Amen.