November 19, 2006 Sermon “Coping With Crisis” – Rev. Nancy Lambert

This morning our Old Testament reading comes from the book of I Samuel.I Samuel is the one we read from throughout the year…read little parts of it.This time we’re starting in the beginning of I Samuel, but I want to give you a little bit of the setting of what is going on at the time of the history of I Samuel.

In the Hebrew scripture I Samuel follows the book of Judges.In our scripture…in our book it follows the book of Ruth.I think the people who put together the Christian bible liked the fact that Ruth talks about the lineage of David.They didn’t like it coming later in the scriptures like the Hebrew Scriptures, but wanted to put it up in this place before Samuel so that it talks about the lineage of David, so that we have that part of the history.

Actually Samuel is more connected to the book of Judges than it is to Ruth.In the book of Judges we have this time in Israel’s history when it’s existing as tribes.All of the 12 tribes have been created.They are relatively autonomous but sometimes they get together, you know, whenever there’s a threat, an external threat against the nation, against the people of Israel, then the tribes will all band together and they will go together in order to fight battles.

So, they will be united at the time when there are battles to be fought.Once that is over then they kind of go back again to functioning again in their independent tribes.In the book of Judges we read about different leaders who are called up by God in order to lead them into battle, and they’re called judges.Once the battle is over, whether it’s won or lost, and then these people become the ones who lead the tribe through the rest of their lives.

The book of Judges isn’t really a very pretty book.There’s a lot of treachery in Judges.There’s a lot of violence, a lot of chaos, a lot of immorality.Not something that is what you’d call pleasant bedtime reading.But, in the book of Judges where we have the story of Deborah the prophetess, Gideon and Sampson.those are names that you might recognize from that book. Lot of the other people, the other leaders and judges who are named are kind of obscure and we don’t really know them too much.

It’s not a very pretty picture of the Israelite society when you read all of the book of Judges.At the end of it…this book ends with these words,

“In their days there was no king in Israel.All the people did what was right

in their own eyes”.

Kind of lest you know that they weren’t the very faithful people at that time.They weren’t living faithfully to God.But yet its starting to plant the seed that this is a nation without a king.

Now the tribes, the people of Israel all recognized that they didn’t need a king because God was their ruler, their sovereign.So they called on God to be their leader.As we end Judges and move into Samuel we hear more and more of the cries for having a king like the other nations.So Samuel then becomes the last judge and he’s the one who transitions Israel from being a tribal affiliation to a monarchy, because he is the judge and the prophet who anoints both Saul and David as the first and second king of Israel.

The I Samuel begins with this:

“There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country

of Ephraim who’s name was Elkanah, son of Jeroham, san of Elihu, son of Tohu,

son of Zuph an Ephraimite.”

One commentator I read…that I read said that this great grandfather of Elkanon, Tohu, that his name meant waste.Can you imagine having a name that meant you were a waste?I think it’s a good thing that none of us have named our kids Tohu.

WellElkanah had two wives.The name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah.Peninnah had children but Hannah had no children.Apparently Hannah is the first wife, the one who he married first and we can suppose that maybe because she was unable to have children he took this second wife.It wasn’t unusual at the time for men to have more than one wife, so this was not at all out of the ordinary in this culture and in this time of history.

Now this man Elkanah use to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh.Shiloh was an important place at this time.This is where the Arc of the Covenant was residing and this was the main temple at Shiloh.It was later during the time of the Kings that the Arc was moved to Jerusalem and that became the center.

So they go to Shiloh where the two priests, the two sons of Priest Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were priests of the Lord. 

On the day that Elkanah sacrificed he would give portions of the meat to his

wifePeninnah and all of her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave the

double portions because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.

At that time for Hannah to be without children would have been a difficult thing for her, because women were judged worthy by their ability to bear children, especially by the sons they gave their husbands.So this would not have been an easy life for her to be the one that had no children.

Her rival, Peninnah, used to provoke here severely…to irritate her because the 

Lord had closed her womb.

How would you love to have Peninnah in the same household as you?She was kind of nasty it sounds like?She provoked Hannah, and especially at this time. this yearly pilgrimage they made to Shiloh, she took advantage of the situation and made life miserable for Hannah.

It would have been obvious because Peninnah was there with all of he children and Hannah was there with no children.So Peninnah was kind of a mean person to Hannah.

“And so it went to on year by year as often as she went up to the house of the

Lord, she would provoke her, therefore Hannah wept andwould not eat.

If ever there was a person in scripture who needed a Stephens Minister it was Hannah.She needed somebody she could talk to that would listen to her.

Her husband, Elkanah, tried.Her husband Elkanah said to her,

“Hannah, why do you weep, why do you not eat, why is your heart so sad?”

We makse a good attempt.He makes a good start at being compassionate, but next he says,

“Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

It’s kind of like he’s asking, aren’t I enough, after all I’m God’s gift to womankind.Am I not enough?He’s rather self centered and thinking of himself as being all-important here.If he was really being compassionate to Hannah he would have said Hannah, you are more to me than ten sons.That would have been significant. because to the men of that day, having many sons was extremely important.Elkanah kind of failed. I don’t think he would have passed the StephensMinistry test.

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose, presented herself before

the Lord.And Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple

of the Lord.Hannah was deeply distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.And

she made this vow, Oh 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 an azurite until the day of his death.He shall drink

neither wine or intoxicants and no razors shall touch his head.

Hannah takes a pretty bold step, making a vow to God.Making a promise what she is going to do if God will give her this male child.You know, sometimes we tend to bargain with God too.Maybe you’ve done some bargaining in your time.It’s kind of a risky thing to do.You know you say, God if you answer my prayer I’m going to be a Church every single week.Or if you answer my prayer I’m going to give ten percent of my income.Or, if you answer my prayer I’m going to be helping the homeless.

It’s pretty risky when we try bargaining with God, because if God answers our prayer well then we’re kind of obligated to follow through.And Hannah is willing to give this son that she has longed for so deeply and so long, and she is willing at this point to give this son back to God.

It’s quite the promise she makes.As Hannah continues praying before the Lord, 

Eli the Priest observed her mouth.Hannah was praying silently, only her lips

moved, but her voice was not heard.Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk, so 

Eli said to her, how long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself?Put away

wine.

That was a pretty bold assessment of Eli’s.Just because she was sitting there and her mouth was moving, but he wasn’t hearing anything.How many times do we do the same kind of thing?Make a hasty judgment about somebody’s situation when we have very little to base it on.

If you found yourself in the checkout line at the grocery store and the person in front of you is using food stamps.Have you found yourself thinking, they’re lazy, without knowing really what has gone on in their life that has brought them to that point of needing help.

Or, have you ever judged somebody by the clothes that they wear.Sometimes we tend to think less of people because how they’re dressed.Their clothing doesn’t meet our standards.We make those judgments; we all do, without taking the time to find out what is really going on. in persons lives.

That’s what Eli did, but Hannah didn’t leave him thinking that of her. She answered,

“No, my Lord, I am a woman deeply troubled.I have drunk neither wine 

or strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.Do not

regard your servant at a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my

great anxiety and vexation all the time.

Now that would have been a perfect opportunity for Eli to ask her, well what is this great anxiety and vexation you have?Well, but Eli didn’t quite do that.He answered her and said,

“Go in peace;the God of Israel grants the petition you have made with him>”

So he gave her a blessing and sent her on her way, but he really take time to find out what was going on in her life.What was making her so passionate?But, Hannah said,

“Let her servant find favor in your sight.Then the woman went to her 

quarters and ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was

sad no longer, 

“They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord and the they

went back to their house at Ramah.Elkanah knew his wife, Hannah, and the 

Lord remembered her.In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son.She 

named him Samuel, for she said I have asked him of the Lord.

Hannah was granted the answer to her prayers, to be given a male child, and she followed through.If you read on in the story of Samuel, when he was weaned, which was probably about three years old, she took Samuel back to the Temple, back to Eli the priest, and said,

I am the woman who was praying so fervently and this is the answer to my prayers,and now I bring him to you.She dedicated him in service to the Lord and worshiped the Lord there.

Hannah’s crisis was pretty severe; to be a woman unable to bear children in a culture that highly valued children made the situation very difficult. And her husband had a second wife who made her life difficult, because this wife was able to have children.She’s given us a good example of what to do when we’re in the midst of a crisis, and that is to go and pray, pour out your heart before God.Let God know what is troubling you.

And it said she prayed a long time, too.That means that we don’t give up.You know, we have some persistence in our prayers when our crises are great we continue to pray before God and wait for that time when God answers your prayers.

It would be great if every time we prayed our pray was answered exactly like we wanted, but we all know that that doesn’t happen.But, sometimes the prayer…the answer to the prayer that were given is the gift of another person.Hannah had two people that didn’t quite offer her the compassion she needed, her husband and the priest.Oftentimes the gift that God gives us is the gift of somebody else to come into our lives and help us make it through these crises.And, that’s one of the ways that Stephens Ministers are used by God to make a difference in peoples lives.

Fortunately the Stephens Ministers are trained so that they have a little more compassion that Elkanah did.Instead of thinking it’s about them, they know that the relationship is about the other person.Stephens Ministers are trained so they don’t make hasty judgments.Rather than judging a person off of the first impression they take time to listen and to hear what the circumstances are in their care receivers lives. They take time to really listen and hear the details.

Another thing that we can take from the story of Hannah is her response.She knew that the part of receiving God’s grace in her life, her response was to give back, and she gave back the very thing that was the answer to her pray.Often times we find other ways to give back to God.When we have known God’s grace in our lives.When we have been touched by other people who helped us out, sometimes the way that we can give back is by being involved in helping them.

TheStephensMinistry is one of those ways that people are able to give back in gratitude and thankfulness for what has happened in their lives.As we think about Stephens Ministers and their work in our community, I just want to reinforce to you how important they are to the caring ministry of this church.They function in a wonderful way to give care to people who are hurting, at times of transitions in their lives, in difficult situations, in times of battling.As clergy here, as ministers here, we would have a whole lot more to do if it wasn’t for the Stephens Ministers, who do such wonderful work in our midst.

I encourage you to ask questions of Stephens Ministers if it’s something that you think you might be in need of because of a crisis in your life, or if you think that Stephens Ministers might be a way that you could give back out of gratitude for the God we have.Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank you for your presence among us.We thank you for hearing our prayers, and we especially thank you for your answers to our prayers, and especially we are grateful for those times when that answers means that a special person will come into our lives and help us to cope with crisis.We thank you for this ministry that has been nurtured in this Church and for all those who have been part of it.And we pray that your blessings will continue to be on those who give the care to others who are hurting.Amen.

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