"Waiting..."
There's a word at the heart of our Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, from I Samuel 1:4-20; 2:1-10. Hannah embodies it. Prays for it. And sings because of it. This word is 'Waiting.' Waiting describes our existence in relationship to God, in both the Old and New Testaments. Waiting. It's a difficult word; especially when we're so filled with anxiety and fear. Read these words from the Psalmist: 'My eyes grow weary while waiting for my God' (Psalm 69:3; cf. Psalm 130:5-6 and Isaiah 59:9).
The challenge is that waiting is perceived in our time as such a big waste of time. Hmm? Like ... 'But I can't wait I've got so much to do!' Or maybe, something like ... 'I can't take it anymore. It's hopeless!" As my mentor, Paul Tillich once observed: 'World history is a cemetery of broken hopes, of utopias which had no foundation in history' (Theology of Peace; p.187). And yet, this is exactly what kept Hannah in the game, hangin-in-there.
For Hannah knew well the long history of her people Israel - of God's promise of steadfastness to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants (Genesis 12:1-3) ... that was the soil from which hope sprang forth: the story of Joseph, the Exodus event, David and Goliath, and at Creation itself, when God made somethin' even out of nothin'!
You see, the Old Testament people of Israel, like Hannah were able to wait because they had received God's promise, a word of hope, and everlasting Word, one that allowed them to wait. They received something that was at work in them, like a seed that had started to grow. And together they knew it would continue to grow, no matter what.
'Together.' This is such an important word as well ... especially for our time of individualism. It's why the church as 'community' is so vital. Religion might be a private matter but not Christianity. The whole meaning of Christian community lies in waiting together around God's Word of Promise - offering each other reassurance, especially in dark and troubling times, that the seed will still grow. A waiting that reminds us to 'Be still before the LORD' (Psalm 37:7) and watching that seed burst right through the seeming concrete impossibility of it all, and breaking finally into a song of rejoicing ... as with our beloved forebear in the faith, Hannah (I Samuel 2:1-10). God's amazing grace ...
dr. j.r. christopherson
Thoughts for Sunday
In Sunday’s Scripture narrative, the Israelites fear they are leaderless because Moses has been gone for 40 days. So, they revert to worshiping a golden calf! “What were they thinking!” Not so fast. They’re scared and want what is familiar. And therein lies a critical difference - - between serving idols and trusting God. We humans easily confuse the two, however, and it’s important to understand the difference. One is about control, the other about love.
Here are some huge differences between idol worship and worshiping God:
- God is the creator (and owner) of all that is - - life itself.
- Life therefore is not finally our own - - we are managers of that life and asked to live in a way that is pleasing to the Creator.
- The core of what pleases God has been revealed in Scripture, most richly through Jesus - - we best describe it in the word “love” or “compassion”. This, in its many forms and manifestations is what the worshiper of God is called to - - a very different “bottom line” from other gods.
- Yes, there is reward promised - - it comes imperfectly in this life through greater joy, blessing and meaning. But it is promised completely in the life after.
It’s fascinating to follow the logic of this and compare it with where worship (or first loyalty) leads with idols such as riches, power, fame, nation, recreation - - all good in themselves - - or, evil itself.
The Prison of Want
"Agnus Dei" by Francisco de Zurbarán
(EXODUS 12:1-13; CF. LUKE 22:14-20)
This coming Sunday, God’s Word wings its way once more into our hearts as well as filling our hands with the sacrament of unleavened bread and wine (holy communion) … as we hear again the story of God’s salvation in the central, defining event of the OT; namely, the Exodus with its entrée point of “The Passover.” Specifically, we hear God’s concluding instruction to his people Israel as they begin their exodus journey, out of the bondage of Egypt: “In this manner you shall eat [the Passover meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs and wine]: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste” (Exodus 12:11).
Briefly recall from last week, how in the concluding chapters of Genesis, Abraham’s descendants move from the land of Canaan – due to a devastating drought – into the land of Egypt. Some four hundred years later, these descendants (the people of Israel) become a great nation (Exodus 1:7), numbering several thousand – thanks to “Uncle Joseph” who became Egypt’s Secretary of Agriculture. But Israel’s great prosperity led to idol worship and immorality (Judges 24:14). Soon the Egyptian Pharaoh, Sethos I pressed them into slavery and hard labor – building what we know today as the great pyramids, in order to maintain control over them.
And so, for yet another couple of generations, the people of Israel suffered great persecution, until around 1280 B.C., now in bondage to a new Pharaoh, Ramses II. The Israelite people lifted their repentant pleas to God for deliverance … and God heard their cry (Exodus 2:4). And by God’s freeing power, through his servant Moses (which is our story for this week) God passed over their sin in his great mercy, setting them quickly on an Exodus journey of unleavened bread, through the Red Sea and wide ‘n wooly wilderness, into the Promised Land. So some questions:
The Prison of Slavery to Pharaoh. How-in-the-world does this relate to our lives today?
Might such a slavery be one of living in a daily “Prison of Want”?
The Passover meal with its unleavened bread and wine, roasted lamb and herbs. So where’s the Lamb in our Christian observance of this Passover meal in Holy Communion? (Read Luke 22:14-22)
Overall, how does the Exodus journey to freedom’s home connect with us today – some 3300 years later? What are we freed from? And what are we freed for?
dr. j.r. chrisopherson