Psalm 80
David A. Davis
December 3, 2023
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“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we might be saved.” Let your face shine, that we might be saved. Let your face shine. The bible has a strange relationship with the face of God. The psalmist’s repeated refrain here in Psalm 80 echoes throughout scripture. Let your face shine, that we might saved. Psalm 67 begins “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make God’s face to shine upon us.”  It was the Lord who spoke to Moses giving the words of blessing for Aaron to pronounce to the people of Israel. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6). According to the Book of Exodus, the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” (Ex. 33)

            But… pretty much at the same time, the Lord tells Moses “You cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” So Moses speaks to God face to face, friend to friend and Moses cannot see the face of God because no one shall see the face of God and live. The face of Lord is invoked as a blessing or is it curse? Let your face shine that we might be saved. No one can see the face of God and live. When it comes to the face of God, the bible is a bit confusing.

The life threatening implication related to the face of God come in response to Moses asking to see God’s glory. That’s when God tells Moses to go stand a rock and as the glory of the Lord passes by the Lord will hide Moses in the cleft of a rock and cover Moses with a divine hand until the Lord passes by. The Lord tells Moses, “Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.” (Ex 33)  My face shall not be seen. God’s glory, God’s face. God’s face, God’s glory. In the rich imagery and poetry that fills the pages of scripture, the glory of the Lord and the face of the Lord seem to be one and the same. “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we might be saved.” Let your glory shine, that we might be saved. Restore us, O God, by your glory.

In the gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus, we all know there is quite a bit of angel talk. The angels are busy. Matthew reports “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.” (Mt 1) Luke tells of of lots of angels. The angel who appeared to Zechariah. The angel Gabriel who came to Mary. And of course, the angel who lit up the sky above the shepherds and brought “a multitude of the heavenly host.” i.e. lots and lots and lots of angels. When it comes to the If we’re honest, most of us have a strange relationship with angels. Maybe it is better to say we’re just not sure what to do with angels other than enjoying them and their attire in a Christmas pageant. On the pages of scripture, angels always come with a fear factor otherwise the appearance wouldn’t always come with “Do not be afraid.” I have always just assumed that Gabriel appeared with the same radiance as the angel who stood before the shepherds. At least that’s what artists have led me to assume. Angels. Fear. Splendor. Or as Luke puts it, “Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…” Even more messengers from God, the angels of the nativity reflect something of the glory of God. Yes, mid the imagery and poetry of scripture, the angels offer yet one more witness to the glory of God. of Angels are the gospel version of the psalmist invoking the face of God. An angel of the Lord. The face of the Lord. The glory of the Lord.  Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Back in Exodus, when God allows Moses to see God’s back but not God’s face, the Hebrew dictionary is pretty clear about what is meant by “back”. It is the back side, the hindquarters, the back parts. The term bears the connotation of “rear end”. But forms of the same word can carry more of a connotation of the aftermath. The backside of something that carries with it a sense of timing; afterwards, coming after, in the wake of. All the adults in the room chipping in to pick up in the aftermath of a little child’s chaos after they go to bed. On the backside of her day. Finding the treasures left behind by a grandmother after her visit. A note. A card. A trinket. A dollar. Enjoying the backend of Grandma’s visit. Basking in the glow, still offering a shout after the parade passes by. A shout from the backside of the parade. Moses and the backside of God’s glory; the wake of God’s glory, the leftovers, the crumbs of God’s glory.

The experience of God’s glory takes an incredible turn with these angels. The angel talk in the Luke and Matthew provides the first set in the evolving experience of God’s glory. The Apostle Paul builds upon the angel talk and takes the understanding and experience of God’s glory one step further in writing to the Corinthians: “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (II Cor 4) The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let your glory shine, O Lord, that we might be saved. With the angels, the invitation to experience God’s glory comes not on the backside but out in the front. The angels tell of the now and future glory of God. Not the crumbs of God’s glory but the full radiance of God’s glory come down in and through Jesus Christ.  The Lord’s glory not in the past but the Lord’s glory in all of its divine abundance in the Child Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection.

An encounter with these angels of the Nativity is an encounter with God’s glory. The reaction to and encounter with the glory of God, the face of God, moves from curse or fear to wonder and exuberant praise. God’s glory on display results in worship and wonder for Zechariah, and Mary, and the shepherds. God’s glory revealed elicits our praise, our worship, not our fear but our wonder. Let your glory shine, O God, that we might be saved.

Martha Moore-Keish, a professor from Columbia Seminary offers an interesting twist on the angels and their song, Gloria In Excelsis Deo. She points out that the shepherds themselves were somehow moved or changed by the vision and voice of the heavenly host. They went to Bethlehem only after the heavenly light show of praise. When they returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, they would have been talking not just about Mary and Joseph and the babe, but about that angel song too.  Because, after all, that Gloria helped them to see Jesus. Maybe we need to reverse our ordinary ordering when it comes to singing gloria, Professor Moore-Keish suggests. Instead of recognizing the birth of Jesus and then bursting into song, maybe we hear and sing “Glory to God” and are therefore moved, changed, enabled, empowered, blessed, restored to see, as the professor puts it “the entrance of Jesus into our world.”

God’s glory, God’s face, and our act of praise. The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is an act of praise. Yes, it is remembering, it is communing, it is receiving, it is giving thanks. But it is also an act or praise. “Accept this our sacrifice of praise, O God, for great is the mystery of faith. Christ has died. Christ has Risen. Christ will come again.” Once again this Advent, in the telling, in the singing, in the feasting, in the shouting, let our Gloria burst forth that our hearts might be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our worship and wonder in the power of the Spirit and by God’s grace enabling, inspiring and empowering one another and others to see not simply a baby Jesus, but to see and to experience and to live into the world that God so loves, the world into which Jesus was born, the world for which Jesus died and rose again. “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we might be saved.” The face of God, The glory of God. The song of angels. And God’s glory shining in the face of the child Jesus.

Over in my office, I have a table of pictures of family and friends. My clergy prayer group I have been with for 35 years. My dear friend Rabbi Feldman and me at our daughter Hannah’s wedding. Other wedding pictures. Vacation pictures. Mostly pictures of our kids and now grandchildren. I have a picture of Hannah when she was 3 or 4 years old dressed as an angel for a Christmas pageant. You can see the costume. It is every angel’s costume ever. White choir surplus, a tiny garland ring on her head for the halo. Hannah has a finger in her mouth. She is smiling and looking right at the camera. The flash of the camera gives her halo an unforgettable sparkle, a twinkle, a shine. That toddler angel is now a mother of two.

Maybe we’re not sure what to do with angels other than enjoying them and their attire in a Christmas pageant. But when I think of the whole host of little angels everywhere who put on a white surplus and a halo and learned to sing glo-o-o-ria, or all the wise ones who put on a hat from burger king, or all the shepherds who brought a bathrobe from home, or all the Marys who held the baby Jesus and Josephs were just glad they didn’t have a speaking part, when I think of all those who whether they knew it or not, led congregation after congregation, generation after generation in hearing and singing “Glory to God”. Angels in white surpluses and twinkling garlands leading the followers of Jesus as they are once again moved, changed, enabled, empowered, blessed, restored to see “the entrance of Jesus into our world.”

In every generation, those pageant characters now grown, that motley crew who tell again and again of the Savior’s birth, they become the hands and feet of Jesus as he works to restore, to save, to make his face to shine. Angels always looking to point to, witness, and reveal the once and future glory of God. You, me, and the angels all around us.

“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we might be saved.”

Ephesians 1:15-23
Lauren J. McFeaters
November 26, 2023
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Thanksgiving and Prayer. Glory and Spirit.

Wisdom and Revelation. Enlightenment and Inheritance. Glory, Power, Rule, Authority.

Power and Dominion. My heavens, it’s a lot.

 

Jesus comes to us out of God’s glory. The glory comes to us with purpose. The purpose is an  unfathomable. The majesty has an incandescent beauty given for us. All intended for the salvation of humankind: The Revelation of Jesus the Christ, Christ the King, the Very Glory of God, sent for your salvation and for mine. [i]

 

And at the heart of such extravagance, at the heart of Christ’s radiance, comes a Lord who lavishes upon us – Hope. With the eyes of our hearts, we’re told, we will know the hope to which we have been called. In a world gone mad, we are to dare to hope.

 

You know, we downsize the word Hope. We economize it. We rein it in, and put it on sale. It always starts with, “I.” We say things like:

“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I sure hope the grocery store still has cranberries.”

“I hope Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce find a date night.”

Or from this weekend’s ad campaigns:

From Best Buy:  Joy & Hope Are in the Air!

From Macy’s Fine Jewelry:  Hope for More Silver & Gold!

And from Bass Pro Shops, because who doesn’t love a sports store, comes:  Enjoy the Magic & Hope of Santa!

 

We smash hope into little, itty, bitty, tiny packages, that makes hope a miniature wish, a miniscule goal, a microscopic plan.

 

But then we meet the God of the Ephesians, and hope becomes  a holy expectation…

“… that, with the eyes of our hearts enlightened,

we may know what is the hope

to which God has called us,

what are the riches of our Lord’s

glorious inheritance among the saints,

and what is the immeasurable greatness

of his power, for us who believe …”

 

Here is a 1^st century church; a vulnerable church, being torn apart by disunity, gutted by politics, needing the guidance and wisdom of Paul their pastor, who is writing to them from prison.  And Paul, wanting to help them recover themselves, wanting them to know he has not forgotten them, and never will, offers Gospel Medicine to their wound of hopelessness. He goes straight for the good news.

 

And Paul is never, ever, interested in offering the good news for “someday, sooner or later, one day in the future.” He prays quite specifically for the church, here and now, to be lit up from within, here and now, praying that God gives them a spirit wisdom, as they mature in faith, and a sacred  hope that binds each believer to the Risen Christ.

 

Jan Richardson, a favorite artist, minister, and blogger, puts it like this: Paul makes clear that Christ is putting his power to work in us, and not just for someday, but for now. Even as Paul writes about the risen Christ being seated in the heavenly places, he also bears witness to a Christ who wore our flesh and abides in us:  Hoping for us when our hope is shattered; Hoping on behalf of us when our lives are in chaos: Hoping in compassion for us when our world is gutted – that is Christ’s Hope – not always comforting or comfortable – but a hope that asks us to imagine what is beyond our imagining; and to bear what seems unbearable. ^[ii]

 

Hope is a hard word these days. Hope gets a bad rap. Our world will tell is that Hope in Christ is for the ignorant and the unschooled. Hope in Christ is for immature, juvenile people that can’t keep a rational thought in their brains. And yet through Christ:

We may not fully understand hope,

but we know it when we see it;

that it meets us where we are;

and does not leave us where it found us. [iii]

 

When Isak Dinesen begins her novel Out of Africa she says this:  “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.” The book recounts her years in Kenya, and when she has lost all hope, and can no longer stay in Kenya, she must sell her possessions, and prepare to leave for Mombasa, and then for Denmark.

 

For twenty years she has loved Nairobi, and has been transformed by its people. Her most beloved friend is her  interpreter, Farah, and she tells him:

 

You must have the people of the farm

ready to leave before the rains.

Do you understand? Or they will lose everything.

Farah, for their safety, you must make them understand.

 

This land is far – where you are going, he asks?

Not too far, she lies, for she is going thousands of miles away.

How can it be now, with me and you, Farah wants to know?

Do you remember how it was … on safari, she says. In the afternoons I would send you ahead, to look for a camp,

and you would go and wait for me and build a fire,

so I would know where to find you.

Well, this will be like that.

Only this time I will go ahead – and wait for you.

It is far, where you are going?

Yes. It is far.

Then you must make this fire very big, he says,

so I can find you.

You must make this fire very, very big so I can find you. ^[iv]

 

When you have experienced God’s hope,

you understand God has lit a fire so big

that you will never be lost, and can always be found.

 

Jesus, Christ and King, will never let you go.

 

You are sealed by the Holy Spirit

and belong to Christ Jesus forever.

And we are not ignorant and juvenile, but audacious and bold.

We know God’s hope is not made of wishes, but of substance.

It’s a hope that knows how to sing when there seems little cause; that prays when there seems little potential;

and raises us from the dead —

not someday,

but this day, every day,

again and again and again. [v]

ENDNOTES

[i] David A. Davis. “All in All.” Nassau Presbyterian Church, November 23, 2008.

 

[ii] Adapted from Jan Richardson. “So That You May Know the Hope.” Nov. 19, 2014, paintedprayerbook.com.

 

[iii] Adapted from Anne Lamott.

 

[iv] Isak Dinesen. Out of Africa. New York:  Random House Publishing Group, 1992. Reprinted from the original 1937 edition.

 

[v] Adapted from Jan Richardson. “So That You May Know the Hope.” Nov. 19, 2014, paintedprayerbook.com.

 

Habakkuk 2:1-3
David A. Davis
November 19, 2023
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We have an 85 lb. black lab whose name is Rooney. You may remember seeing the video of Rooney interrupting my sermon recording in our living room very early in the pandemic. When Rooney came into our home as a puppy, I was not really ready for another dog. I was outvoted 3 to 1. Two of the people voting in favor were no longer living in our house. Rooney is now 8 years old. One of Rooney’s favorite things to is to sit with Cathy and me on our back patio, especially at night. Our house backs up to Smoyer Park. So when we sit on the patio there are no lights to be seen. With our string of lights turned on, you can’t see a thing beyond the pavers that form the patio. Rooney goes to the very edge of the patio, sits down, and keeps watch. He won’t move until we go inside like he is protecting us from deer, fox, rabbits, squirrels. I have never asked Rooney whether he is keeping watch into the darkness with his eyes or with his ears but I am guessing it is both. Watch keeping.

“My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.” (Ps. 130) “For God alone my soul waits in silence, from God comes my salvation.” (Ps. 62) “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Ps. 27) Watch keeping.

From the prophet Habakkuk: “I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what the Lord will say to me and what the Lord will answer”.  Watch keeping. The prophet’s image is one of standing guard, being a lookout. Habakkuk announces that he will take his place high atop the wall. It is a very large wall that surrounds the city. He will ascend to a strategic point up on the wall; a corner, the highest point, or just the right spot with the best panoramic view. One doesn’t climb up to the watch post to enjoy the view. It is a spot to keep an eye on the movements of enemy forces or watch preparations for battle. Watch keeping is where protection begins. It is a place for vigilance. It is an environment with an edge to it not to be confused with a retreat setting or an oasis for reflection. It is not one of those Old Testament mountaintops but like those places of theophany where God spoke to Moses and Elijah, Habakkuk announces that he intends to watch and wait for a “Word from the Lord.” When Habakkuk demands an answer from God, he goes to the watch post. He turns to watch keeping. “I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what the Lord will say to me and what the Lord will answer”.

There is not much to know about Habakkuk. There is not much information about the prophet in the Hebrew bible. Historians of antiquity and bible scholars don’t’ add much more. Habakkuk was a prophet of God. A prophet who most likely lived in or around Jerusalem. The ancient city had expansive walls and plenty of watch posts and ramparts. Habakkuk was a Hebrew prophet at a time when Babylon was the empire of the day. That means that the city was in ruins. Jerusalem was under siege. The prophet’s world was crumbling around him. Not much more can be said about Habakkuk. The prophet’s call, however, is to watch keeping.

The book of Habakkuk is just three chapters. Chapter 1 is Habakkuk’s complaint to the Lord. After the few verses I read to you, chapter two is the Lord’s response. Chapter 3 is identified as the prophet’s prayer though Habakkuk’s very strong complaint should be understood as a prayer, a lament as well. The lament begins like this: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen? Or cry to you, ‘violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong doing? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.” It is the prophet calling on God to look around. “I’m not sure which world you are watching over but my world is falling apart. Evil carries the day. Violence never seems to stop. The bad guys always seem to win. You should be astounded at the nations that thrive. Righteous leaders are no where to be found. Aren’t you the God of old? Aren’t you the one to do something? Aren’t you the one who is supposed to make a difference?”

Habakkuk and his timeless complaint. He doesn’t stop there. “By the way Lord, I am getting tired of asking and pleading and getting nowhere. Nothing changes. So I am just going to climb up there to the watch post, stop my complaining and wait. I will wait to hear and watch to see what you have to say.”  You and I may not know a whole lot about Habakkuk but a whole lot of us have been to the watch post. Waiting for some answer, some explanation, some purpose that is yet to be revealed by the Lord of All.

Then the Lord answers Habakkuk. It’s a short book so the prophet didn’t have to wait long. “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay.” God reassures Habakkuk there is still a vision even for these days; for the here and now. A vision of God’s future. If you don’t see it, you don’t grasp it, you don’t understand it. Be patient. It is surely coming.

When the vision, the assurance, the promise comes, the Lord tells the prophet to make it plain. Write it so that the people can carry it with them on the journey. Write it so they can read it and comprehend it along the way. So the runner can know it along the way. The vision, the assurance, the promise, the comfort, the message is sure and true. God is here, the world belongs to God, you belong to God. Despite all the signs to the contrary in crumbling world, God is steadfast and true and full of mercy, love, and grace. And as the Lord affirms and proclaims to the prophet, “The righteous live by faith”. The righteous shall live by faith rather than answers and certainties. Share the vision in a way that it is not just etched in stone but etched into the hearts of those called by God “to run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12).

In Habakkuk’s prayer that concludes the book, the prophet offers praise and adoration. In our small group this week studying the prayer of Hannah and the prayer of Mary we had a good discussion about whether prayer always has to start with praise and adoration. One can’t help but notice Habakkuk starts with complaint and moves later to praise and adoration. His prayer of praise and adoration is a prayer that God would come and save God’s people; that God’s people would endure. He also acknowledges there will still be waiting and a need for patience. Amid the watching and waiting, Habakkuk finishes the prayer:  “Yet……I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength.” Amid watching and waiting, yet… I will rejoice. The prophet of such strong complaint. The prophet of such strong praise. And in between Habakkuk went to the watch post. Watch keeping.

During these last weeks of this series on ways to pray from the Old Testament, I have found myself re-reading Anne Lamott’s short book on prayer entitled Help Thanks Wow. Len Scales discussed this book in the first Adult Education class of the series last month. In the section on prayer as simply asking God for help, Anne Lamott writes this: “One modest tool for letting go in prayer that I’ve used for twenty-five years is a God box. I’ve relied on every imaginable container- from a pillbox, to my car’s glove box, to decorative boxes friends have given me. The container has to exist in time and space so you can physically put a note in it, so you can see yourself let go, in time and space”

She goes on her practice of jotting down the prayer requests that are the most distressing and heavy on her heart. She takes the note, folds it up and sticks in the box and closes the box. “You might have a brief moment of prayer” Lamott says, “it might come out sounding like this: ‘Here. You think you’re so big? Fine. You deal with it. Although I have a few more excellent ideas on how best to proceed’. Then I agree to keep my sticky mitts off the spaceship until I hear back”.  She tells of waiting for response that surely won’t be a voice or skywriting but a time when you know again who God is and who you are. “Maybe after you put a not in the God box you’ll go a little limp, and in that divine limpness you’ll be able to breath again….Breath is holy spirit. Breath is life.” Lamott tells of a friend of hers who is a priest who told her that “through prayer, we take ourselves off the hook and put God on the hook, where God belongs.”

In sharing her twenty-five year practice of the God box, Anne Lamott is sharing her version of the watch post. Her version of watch keeping. Hearing and seeing and being claimed again and again by a vision from God. Clear and easy answers? Not so much. But an assurance that there is a vision for the here and now. A promise of God’s presence and a reminder deep within that God’s future is real. An almost mystical affirmation that God is still in control. For at the end of the day, and all through the night, the righteous shall live by faith.

From complaint to praise and a vision of the promise of God that comes right smack in the middle of it all. From complaint to praise, with a visit to the watch post right in between. You remember Jesus said “Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”.  How many times have we heard it, read it, pondered it. The invitation of Jesus. It is an invitation from our Lord and Savior’s to bring your complaint to him, even when, especially when your life or the world feels like it is crumbling. Jesus’ invitation to come to the watch post with him. Jesus invites us to meet him at the watch post. Jesus invites us to come watch keeping. “Come unto me”.

Jesus is our watch post.

1 Samuel 2:1-10
David A. Davis
November 12, 2023
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Hannah doesn’t hang around long in the pages of scripture. She is only mentioned here in the first two chapters of I Samuel. She never gets a shout out by name in the New Testament. She doesn’t make that list in Hebrews chapter 11 where the preacher does that riff: “by faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Jacob, by faith Moses and more” That list is all men. By the middle of I Samuel 2 the narrative tells that “the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.” And then Hannah exits the bible’s stage. “The Lord took note of Hannah.” The primary meaning of the Lord “taking note” is a reference to the vexing biblical theme of barrenness and fertility. But I am guessing the Lord taking note of Hannah goes much further than her having children. The Lord took note. Clearly, so did Mary the mother of Jesus. The Lord took note of Hannah. Mary took note of Hannah. And so should we.

Hannah’s prayer that I read for your hearing is not her only prayer. Earlier in the story Hannah goes to pray to the Lord in the temple.  “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord,  and wept bitterly.” Eli the priest sees Hannah and because her lips were moving yet her prayer was silent, Eli accuses her of being “a drunken spectacle”. Hannah stands up for herself before the priest. She tells him she has had nothing drink and that she has been “pouring out her soul before the Lord.” “Do not regard your servant as worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time”.  You go Hannah! Take note of Hannah. She stood up for herself, for her faith, for her relationship to God, and for her prayer life. She gave it to Eli. She gave it to God for that matter pouring out her soul. After Samuel was born Hannah “lent him to the Lord” for as long as lived.

“Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord, my strength is exalted in my God. Mary prayed and said “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Hannah prayed “the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird their strength.” Mary prayed “The Lord has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.” Hannah prayed “the Lord raises up the poor from the dust; the Lord lifts the needy from the ash heap.” Mary prayed “The Lord has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Hannah prayed “The Lord will guard the feet of God’s faithful ones”. Mary prayed “God’s mercy is for those who fear God, from generation to generation.”  Hannah’s prayer is Mary’s prayer. Hannah’s song is Mary’s song. Mary’s Magnificat is Hannah’s Magnificat.

Both Hannah and Mary praying to the God of justice. Praying, singing, painting a world of justice, righteousness, compassion, and transformation. Both Hannah and Mary telling of the never-ending mercy and the certain presence and the present act of God. Hitting notes in their song that proclaim the world as we know it turned upside down, a world overflowing with peace, a world where the lowliest find themselves joining a divine song of joy and praise. Both Hannah and Mary singing a picture of the kingdom of God.

As Hannah finishes her prayer and soon takes her leave from the pages of scripture, Sanuel remains and begins to “minister to the Lord in the presence of the priest Eli.” The writer of I Samuel tells the reader that “the sons of Eli were scoundrels” who had no regard for the Lord. The reader is also informed that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days, visions were not widespread.” Scoundrels run amok and no one seeking a word from the Lord. That seems like a biblical way of describing a world far from what God intends. A world where humanity is not at its best. A world where the faithful must have been wondering about the silence of God; the perceived absence of God. A world where the darkness is too bright and the mercy and grace of God too hard to find. Hannah breaths her prayer into that world.

It’s a prayer, like Mary’s prayer, that begins with exultation and praise. It moves toward a daring affirmation of all that the Lord of heaven and earth can do.  The prayer proclaims what God can do and the restored world God intends. One scholar describes it as a prayer that acknowledges that the Lord has the power to intrude, intervene, and invert. But in acknowledging God’s power to intrude, intervene, and invert, one can also conclude that  Hannah’s prayer is also invoking, asking, pleading for God to be and to act. What goes unspoken in the prayer from the one who poured out her soul to the Lord, what goes unspoken and yet must have been a passion deep with Hannah’s soul, was her lament for the world around her. God’s people around her.

Biblical theologian Walter Brueggemann describes Hannah’s prayer this way: “This song becomes the song of Mary and the song of the church as the faithful community finds in Jesus the means through which Yahweh will turn and right the world…. This song becomes a source of deep and dangerous hope in the world wherever the prospect and possibility of human arrangements have been exhausted. When people can no longer believe the promises of the rulers of this age….this song voices an alternative to which the desperate faithful cling.” Yes, Hannah’s prayer, Mary’s song, the church’ song. A prayer for you and for me. A prayer for us amid our lament for the world around us.

Brueggemann writes that Hannah “flings” her song in the world’s power of death and darkness. He calls it an “act of daring hope.” Through Mary, Hannah also flings her song into the future of God’s people. Songs work that way sometimes. It’s a song that stuck. A song the church can’t get out of its head. A song that has a future. A song for the people of God to keep on singing. A song to pass on from generation to generation. A song that never ends.

Several weeks ago, our 2 and a half year old granddaughter Franny was staying with us for the weekend while her parents went to a wedding. Franny has discovered our piano that sits likes to tickle the ivories with me. As we both sat on the bench, I started to play “Blessed Assurance”. Franny’s face lit up and she yelled, “That’s Franny’s church song!” So we sang it together. Her grandmother and I didn’t teach Franny the song. Her parents didn’t teach her. Franny learned her song at Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City. The church taught Franny her church song. Songs work that way sometimes.

That’s how it should be with Hannah’s daring act of hope. Passing the prayer from generation to generation. That in every generation God’s people might cling to the belief that this old world still belongs to the God who created it while again and again calling on God to be and to act. Hannah’s song. Mary’s song. The Church’s song. It tells of God’s world. God’s kingdom. And together we shall sing it, and pray for it, and live toward it, and work for it. Our exultation and praise takes shape in here so we can witness to the God of restoration out there. Inspired by our acts of praise in here, we are empowered and enabled and inspired to be instruments of God’s grace out there. So transformed, we whose hearts exult in the Lord, whose strength is exalted in our God, so transformed that we know ourselves to be midwives of God’s kingdom here on earth. Ever longing, ever asking for that kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

This last Monday Cathy and I went up to New York City to meet our new granddaughter Maddy for the first time. I have told a lot of people of the years that my day off is Fridays because on Monday I am too tired to enjoy it. Monday’s are the day of the week when I do my first bit of sermon preparation. There may be no better way to begin sermon preparation than holding your four day old grandchild. At one point in the afternoon, I found myself alone with Maddy as I sat on the sofa holding her. She was asleep and I was humming a few hymns probably more for me than her since she was sound asleep. I found myself thinking about this beautiful newborn child and what a few friends, family members, and colleagues have said by text and email as we shared the news of Maddy’s birth: “Welcome to the world, Madeline Fay.” Welcome to this world. The world surrounding us here and now.

That’s when the sermon preparation started. Because I realized right then, maybe for the first time really. I realized that Hannah’s prayer and Mary’s prayer have something in common beyond the content. Something in common as important as the content. Both Hannah and Mary were praying to the Lord of heaven and earth for their child. They both were praising God and asking God to be and to act in the world in which their child would grow up. Longing for that world to more like the world God intends and for God to work on that a whole lot sooner than later.

Hannah’s prayer to the God of justice. Hannah’s prayer. Mary’s prayer. The Church’s prayer. Our prayer.

“My heart exults in the Lord, my strength is exalted in my God.”

Amen.