November 18, 2012
Pentecost 25
1st Samuel 1:4-20
Mark 13:1-8
(prayer)
A few days ago I found myself watching the Disney animated movie "Cars". For you who may be unenlighted by such fine cinema, the setting is a small, forgotten town that was by-passed when the interstate highway was built many years ago. Radiator Springs was, literally, off the map.
Perhaps the main theme of the movie is that when one travels in a fast, straight line because the only thing that matters is the destination, you can miss out on a lot of valuable stuff along the way.
[clip - Our Town - 3:35]
"The road didn't cut through the land, it moved with the land."
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In 1898, the Presbyterian Church of Canada, established a mission congregation in Leduc. In the past 114 years, much has been built on that foundation: St. David’s United Church of 2012 is the current expression of that evolution.
We are no longer the Presbyterian church of 1898; we are not the Methodist Church of 1900; we are not the union church of 1911; we are not the St. David’s congregation that was born along with the United Church of Canada in 1925; we are not the vibrant Clearwater United Church; we are not the small house church in Beaumont, nor the ambitious congregation that opened up a store front church right across the street from the iconic St. Vital’s Roman Catholic Church.
This is not 1940, or 1968, or 1988.
It is not even Y2K when I was called to share this ministry with you-all.
We are … the United Church of western Leduc County in this unique moment in time – founded well in our past, but looking ahead.
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This moment is a pivot point in time. We are balancing the past that has brought us to this exact second … with the possibilities that are to come. And so, in this moment, we can both look back and look forward. These are both valuable efforts that need each other.
On its own, a focus on the past is simply nostalgia with little meaning beyond the recollection.
Similarly, on its own, dreams and hopes are merely wisps of smoke, ungraspable: thoughts without substance.
Finding balance in this moment -knowing how and why we are here, knowing how and why we are who we are, with a view to where we hope to be - can bring us into deep focus.
On this 25th Sunday after the day of Pentecost, two Sundays before the beginning of Advent, as we recognize and celebrate this congregation’s 114 years of history, we can look ahead from solid ground.
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In the hills of Ephriam, lived Elkanah and his two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. Yes, he had two wives: a practice that was more socially acceptable at times in the past, than it in most of the world today. My focus today is not to judge or value various marriage customs.
Even so, the fact that Elkanah's wives competed for his approval and affections are central to the context of our first reading today.
One common very practical purpose of having a mate of the opposite sex is to create members of the next generation (from scratch). In the ancient world, infant mortality rates were higher than today and ... at the opposite end of the scale, life expectancies were much shorter. As a result, it was the view in the ancient world that a woman's ability to provide children was classed as very important. Last week, I read the 137th Psalm in church and it compared a man with many children to a warrior the with a quiver full of arrows. The polygamy practices of the day, had to be (at least partially) rooted in the need to populate the next generation. In today's reading from 1st Samuel, Peninnah is very proud of her status as a strong child-bearing woman. And because Hannah could lay no claim to that status, Peninnah mocked her repeatedly - sadly because the culture placed so much value on childbearing for young women, Hannah was made to feel worthless.
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Even in ancient times, marriage was not all about procreation. Affection was/is part of the mix and (in spite of whatever else might be challenging) it remains a truth throughout the ages: love conquers all!
Elkanah's love for Hannah reached beyond the nursery. The text tells us that he loved her deeply. This affection softened the pain caused by sister-wife's taunts.
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Softened, but not eliminated.
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It is tragically sad that the societal expectations heaped on to Hannah left her feeling that, no matter what else about her life that was good, she still didn't measure up.
We can feel like that too - expectations heaped on us from outside can change the depth of who we are on the inside.
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Peninnah was relentless and it wore away at Hannah until her barrenness was all that she felt defined her. It got to the point that all of Hannah's prayers surrounded her desire for her life to be about something more.
One day, the priest, Eli, saw her desperation (at first, when he saw her silent prayer of despair (mouth moving, but no sound), he thought she must be drunk). He offered her hope - hope that God understood her situation.
Her future hadn't changed yet. But as she stood on the precipice of hope and looked forward, the desperation left her.
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A common characteristic of Biblical stories is the upside down twist, the triumph of the underdog, the turning of the tables of expectation ... so it should not surprise us that Hannah got pregnant and had a child. She named her son, Samuel - a name that means God Has Heard. Hannah dedicated her son to God's service. She looked to the future and saw wonderful potential and deep hope in Samuel. He grew to be one of the most renounced prophets in the land: advising judges and eventually choosing and challenging kings in Israel.
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Jesus and his closest followers were mostly rural peasants from Galilee in the north. When they pilgrimaged to Jerusalem, they marvelled at the sights unique to the big city. The shear size of the city, the number and variety of the people and the big buildings. Probably, the same way I get when I go to cities larger than Leduc or Edmonton.
"Look at the size of those buildings!"
Jesus could have said yeah pretty impressive, eh. But he never seemed to pass over a teaching moment so instead he channeled his inner 'Debbie Downer' and said Yeah, they're big now. But they'll eventually be damaged or they'll erode - sooner or later they'll crumble and become rubble and dust (mwa mwa).
Later as they looked down at the city from their campsite on a hill just outside of town, the disciples asked Jesus to say a bit more, like ... Is this 'tumbling down' coming soon?
Jesus' answer was (I think) intentionally vague: When you hear about conflict, war, disaster ... it's still not time yet.
The disciples were simply instructed to be very careful as they might move forward.
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We are not who we were, but those past experiences form part of who we are today. Good and bad have been part of this journey; joy and struggle, up and down.
The path ahead is not a nice clean, straight sanitized 'interstate'. Our future will include its curves, its ups and downs and we will need to confront and accept what we come across.
This true for us, corportately: as a body:
We are no longer the Presbyterian church of 1898; we are not the Methodist Church of 1900; we are not the union church of 1911; we are not the St. David’s congregation that was born along with the United Church of Canada in 1925; we are not the vibrant Clearwater United Church; we are not the small house or store front church in Beaumont.
This is not 1940, or 1968, or 1988 ... or 2000.
We are … the United Church of western Leduc County in this unique moment in time – founded well in our past, but looking ahead.
How will we move forward as this particular Eyelash within the body of Christ?
And it is also true for us, individually that we stand on the edge of an uncertain future:
We will react to the road ahead - we may move with it or (at times) need to forge a new path.
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But today... as we find ourselves at this moment, this instant of time, looking forward, out on what may be, we can hold on to an ancient faith (one that helped Hannah's sad countenance turn around) ... We are not alone. We live in GOD'S world.
God is with us. God has been with us. God will be with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
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Let us prayer,
When life is happy, laugh with us God.
When life is a struggle, hold us close, God.
When life is uncertain, help us know that you are always there.
Amen.
#510VU "We Have this Ministry"
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