Sermon from October 13, 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger

Through the last few weeks we have been journeying through the Old Testament together looking at the story of God's people, Israel. And today our reading is from First Samuel, but it requires a little bit of a backstory. Prior to the story of First Samuel, Israel has been governed by a series of judges. These are people that God calls and raises up to lead Israel during difficult times. After this will come the period of the kings of Israel, but in between is this story of Samuel, and it begins with Samuel's parents, Elkanah and Hannah. Elkanah was married and had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, and Peninnah was able to have children and Hannah was not. She had never had a child. And remember that this story was written 400 years before the time of Christ. That's when it takes place.

And we know that during that time, infertility was viewed as, one, being the woman's fault, which we know isn't true. It was also thought at that time that God blessed or withheld children based on the character of the mother, which we also know isn't true, but that's the world that Hannah lived in. And Penninah in particular made Hannah's life incredibly difficult because she hadn't been able to have a child. And so at the time of the harvest, Elkanah and his wives come to Shiloh, where the temple to the Lord is, the Ark of the Covenant. And we have here Hannah, at the entrance to the Ark of the Covenant.

I Samuel 1: 9=11, 19-20

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made this vow: oh Lord of host, 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 Nazarite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants and no razor shall touch his head. Hannah and Elkanah rose early in the next 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. In due time she conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, I have asked him of the Lord.

There are two things about Hannah that I think you have to realize. One is that she prays with this boldness. She comes to the entrance of where the Ark of the Covenant is, and she prays in front of Eli in a way most women never prayed. In fact, the text tells us a couple of verses back, Eli thinks she's drunk, that she must be out of her mind to be so bold and come to the tent of the Ark of the Covenant and pray. The other thing to remember about Hannah, however, is that she's deeply bitter. Life has been very hard for her. Life for women who couldn't have children was terrible in this time period. And she is grieving and she's bitter. I imagine she's mad at God that this hasn't happened, and she takes all that bitterness and all that anger and she does something faithful with it.

She prays to God and says, will you please give me a child? And what she doesn't know is that she's praying in front of someone who is also grieving and bitter, and that's the priest Eli. Eli is the priest of the worship area there at Shiloh, and Eli is getting older in age. And the way it usually worked is that Eli's sons would become the next priest of the temple at Shiloh. But the text tells us that Eli's sons are wicked and evil and they have no regard for the Lord. And so as Eli sits there guarding the Ark of the Covenant, he too is bitter, and a little angry I would imagine, because he doesn't know what's gonna become of the priesthood after he dies and he's getting older. And so we have these two people, angry, bitter, full of grief, and one of them prays boldly for a child.

And she prays so boldly that she says this, if you will, but give me a child, I will dedicate him back to you, Lord, I will make him a nazarite. Now, nazarites were men who would dedicate themselves to the Lord's service. They wouldn't drink any wine or anything like that. They wouldn't cut their hair for the time that they were a Nazarite. There were a couple of other vows they had also. Your most famous Nazarite, yes, was Samson who got his hair cut. Another famous Nazarite is John the Baptist who dedicated himself to God. And a lot of times if it was the man making the vow, it would be for a period of time. But Hannah in her boldness says, I will make him a nazarite for you all of his life. And in fact, the text tells us that as soon as Hannah weans Samuel, she's gonna take him back to Shiloh and give him to Eli.

She doesn't even get to raise her son. Eli will raise him there in the temple. And what we learn, what the outcome of Hannah's prayer is, is that she's going to give birth to Samuel who will bring about God's promises for God's people Israel. Samuel has a purpose, and Samuel's purpose is this: He will be raised up as the priest of Shiloh. When God decides to call a king at God's direction, it will be Samuel who chooses Saul until Saul becomes wicked, and then who will choose David. God is raising up Samuel for God's purposes. Hannah's bitter and angry prayer is answered because God has a purpose for that child. It's a beautiful story, but I don't know about you, but I think about all the bitter grief filled prayers that I have prayed that haven't been answered. For me, a part of my faith story is that I grew up in a home with a mother who was an alcoholic. And when I was a little child, my grandmother taught me to pray, and I would pray every day that she would stop drinking. And she never did. She died an alcoholic.

And for me, as a little child who did not have a church community, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. I was desperate. And when my heart became bitter, I just quit praying. And in fact, I came to believe that God just did not love me, that God did not love some people. I didn't have the spiritual maturity to have a church community that would say to me that God heard my prayers even though God wasn't answering them in the way that I wanted. But what I know today is that God always hears prayers. God always grieves with those who are grieving and that God is always working out God's purposes for good. It doesn't mean that I think if you are suffering, it has some purpose. It does mean if you are suffering, God is with you. And God can bring light even out of the darkness.

For me, when I had those terrible bitter prayers, I couldn't see the future. But now with distance and time and so many years, I know this: that my mother had a much harder life than me and that her mother before her had had the same disease, and her mother before her, and as far back as I can see, there have been this dark thread of alcoholism and addiction in my family, and I honestly don't think my mother was strong enough to overcome it, but I am. And it will end with me. Does it make the suffering worth it? I don't know. I just know that it is a loving God who was with me in the grief and in the pain, and it is a loving God who has enabled me to live the life I live now. There are prayers that are answered. Maybe you have prayed for a child and one hasn't come.

Maybe your heart is bitter about something you have asked for over and over again that you feel like you truly need, and it hasn't been answered. To that, I would say remember the story of Hannah, who even in her bitterness continued to pray to God. It is an act of faith to pray even when we are in pain. And I would say, remember this, that Hannah went to the temple and was surrounded by her community of faith. When you walk into this room, if you are having a hard time believing in a loving God, make no mistake, I will believe for you until you can believe it again.

We have a faith community that can hold us during those dark times until we can see God's good purposes, that God is working out in the world. And so maybe Hannah's prayer was answered because God wanted her to have a child. Maybe it was answered because God had a purpose for Samuel, I don't know. But the text tells us this, that we can bring our most difficult parts of our lives to God and lay them before God, and God will hear us. And we may not get what we want, but we will get the presence and care of a loving God who will bring light out of darkness. Sometimes today, I find myself not asking God for the hard thing because I'm afraid of being told no, and then I remind myself that I'm a spiritually mature Christian and I can handle no. That if I don't get what I want, that you will be there for me and I will be there for you. And so I've started again to pray with boldness for all the things that I want. Recognizing that even when there is a no, it doesn't mean God hasn't heard me,  It just means that God has other purposes to work out.

The whole of the biblical witness is the story of a God who always hears us, who always cares for us, who is always with us, and who will bring about good out of darkness. If you can't believe it today, I'll believe it for you until you can believe again. Thanks be to God and amen.