Take It To The Lord In Prayer

(Scriptures:       I Samuel 1:1-20, 2:1-10;  Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-8)

 

Some of you – if you like action movies – may have seen the 1995 movie “Judge Dredd”.    The movie is set in the year 2139, in a future in which almost everything has fallen apart.   These ominous opening lines set the scene:  “In the third millennium, the world changed. Climate, nations, all were in upheaval. The Earth transformed into a poisonous, scorched desert, known as "The Cursed Earth". Millions of people crowded into a few Megacities, where roving bands of street savages created violence the justice system could not control...”  The movie tells us that out of all this chaos arose a system of judges, who acted as judge, jury and executioner.  Judge Dredd, played by Sylvester Stallone, was the most hardline and stringent of the judges.  Judge Dredd went around accosting evildoers, pressing some sort of weapon or scanning device to their bodies, saying “Prepare to be judged.”  If anyone protested or even questioned him, Judge Dredd’s response was, “I am the law”.   Those aspiring to be judges are told that,  “Upon retirement, you will take the Long Walk... which every Judge takes, outside these city walls, into the Cursed Earth. There you will remain for the last of your days, alone and carrying the Law.” (Source for quotes: IMDB movie database).

I don’t know whether the creators of the movie Judge Dredd had read the OT book of Judges – though something tells me it’s possible they had a passing acquaintance.   The Book of Judges describes, not a future, but a past in which social order had largely fallen apart.  Joshua, who led Israel to the promised land, had died, and we’re told that “another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.”  We’re also told that “The Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those that plundered them…whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord would be moved to pity….but whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors…..”  And so throughout the book of Judges there’s this cycle – Israel worships false gods and is conquered; God raises up a judge who delivers the people and establishes order for a time; the judge dies; the people go back to their old ways and behave worse than before.  We’re told at the end of the book of judges that “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.”   Sounds like a recipe for chaos.

Our reading from the opening chapter of I Samuel takes place near the end of the time of the judges, by which time social order had largely broken down.   The book starts out with a story about a family – a dysfunctional family, as it happens.  There’s a man named Elkanah, who has two wives, Hannah and Peninnah.  Hannah is very much Elkanah’s favored wife, but is barren.    The very  name of the second wife, Peninnah, means in Hebrew “the second” or “the other one”; perhaps Elkanah only married Peninnah  in order to assure himself of an heir.   We’re told that when Elkanah offered sacrifices, he favors Hannah with a double portion of the meat, and assures Hannah of his love – “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” – but while Elkanah’s self-esteem is doing just fine, thank you very much, Hannah is desolate because she has not been able to fulfill her wifely duty of producing an heir.  Peninnah, “the other one”, is very much aware that, despite her having borne Elkanah children, she’s the spare wife, and she takes her frustration out on Hannah.  So Hannah has turmoil within and without – the wider society has broken down, making her utterly dependent on the good graces of Elkanah; she has apparently failed in her primary wifely duty of bearing Elkanah a son, and Elkanah’s other wife is making life miserable for Hannah. 

Now this was long before the building of the temple in Jerusalem.   In those days, the Lord was worshipped in Shiloh, where the aged Eli was the head priest.   We’re told that year by year, Elkanah would go up to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice, and his family came with him.  On one such annual pilgrimage, Hannah was feeling utterly overwhelmed, and presented herself before the Lord at Shiloh.  She poured her pain out to God with tears and silent prayer, and implored God for a son, promising God that if she had a son,  the son would be raised to serve the Lord.  The old priest Eli sees Hannah’s tears and sees her lips moving…. Thinking she’s three sails to the wind, he chastise her and tries to chase her out.  Hannah tells old Eli of her pain and her prayer, and receives Eli’s blessing.   And God answers her prayer.  She gives birth to Samuel, who, as promised, she presents to the Lord – a major act of faith, as she had no assurance that after presenting Samuel, any more children were on the way  .  God honors her consecration of her son – Samuel will grow up to become the last and greatest of the judges, and will eventually bring the age of the judges to a close when he is called on to anoint King Saul and, later, King  David.   The Lord continues to bless Hannah, giving her three more sons and two daughter….it’s a famine or feast situation!

In the five years I’ve been pastor here – my first Sunday filling in here was November 11, 2007,five years ago last Sunday, and so this is the very beginning of my sixth year here – I’ve heard it said, “We’re a small church, but we pray big.”  And prayers have been answered here.  I still remember the weeks we prayed for Keith, who broke his neck in a diving accident – we weren’t sure Keith was going to make it, but he’s alive, regained some use of his arms, and perhaps, maybe, God will grant that he may be able to stand someday.    Our friend Dorothy from the auctions has come through treatment for cancer.   And those are just two that popped into my head as I was putting this sermon together; as you and I run down the prayer list, each of us may remember persons – people still on the list, people who were on the list but have since been removed - who were added at a time of illness or adversity, who have been healed, have found resolution to crises.

And Emanuel Church is still here.  We’ve had some challenging moments – Gloria, who used to prepare the bulletins and did many other things to support the church, moved to New Jersey.   One former member came all the way from Oklahoma to reclaim a piece of artwork she’d donated to the church years ago, a woodcut depiction of the Lord’s Supper – because she heard our church was going downhill at high speeds, and she wanted her thriving church in Oklahoma to have it.   The Polish Assemblies of God congregation that used to share space with us folded.  So did the “To Live Again” group. 

But, by God’s grace, we’re still here.   And there is new life.  We even hosted a wedding.  We’ve had baptisms.  Our box of toys have children once again to play with them.  Yes, we have children, even a children’s Sunday school class – not large, not every Sunday, but still, children are a part of the congregation.    We’ve received new members during most, if not all, of the past five calendar years.   And we had a wonderful 150^th anniversary celebration in 2011, with friends and former members from near and far celebrating with us.  And all our members, longtime members, new members, visitors who may be future members, have been willing to walk through the desert times, walk through the wilderness periods, in the faith that God who led us in the past will continue to lead us in the future.

We worship a God whose response to death is resurrection, who prepares a way in the wilderness, who makes a way out of no way, who brings possibility out of impossibility.  We worship a God who uses ordinary people – elderly Abram and Sarah, who again were childless until God got busy; Moses who was described in Numbers as the meekest man on earth, and who described himself as slow of speech,  Elkanah and Hannah, David the youngest son of Jesse, out keeping the sheep, and on and on – through Mary who said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” – and who, like Hannah, sang songs of exultation in response to God’s blessing.    As small as our congregation is, we are not so small that our lives, or our prayers, escape God’s notice. 

“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear/What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer”.    May Emanuel Church continue to be a small – or perhaps someday, not so small – church that prays big.  May we be a house of prayer – hopefully someday for more people, and by God’s grace a house of prayer for all people.  No matter how out of control our society may seem, no matter how out of control our lives may seem, may we never hesitate to bring our pain, our sorrow, our anger, along with our joys and our praise, to the Lord in prayer.  And may we, like Hannah, be able to sing, in all our circumstances, “My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God.”  Amen.