“Longing in Hope”

Sermon Preached By Karen Millard
November 19, 2006
Remembrance Sunday

1 Samuel 1:4-20; 2:1-10     Mark 13:1-8

Do any of you know anything about waiting? 

Have you ever sat and wondered when will this end?  

Have you ever asked, God how am I going to get through this?

I know I have.  If you have ever done a university degree, or a high-school degree, or probably even a class for that matter you will know that feeling of I may not have learned it all, but I’ve had enough for now.  Well year four of a Master’s of Divinity degree is not a whole lot different.  I long to see this to completion even if I am not sure what is in store at the end

When I read the story of Hannah this week, I immediately ached for her; I know what’s going on here.  She’s had enough of the wrestle, enough of the pain, and she longs for new life, for new birth, for peace, for resolution.

I get it I’ve been there, maybe not in exactly the same situation, and  quite frankly I haven’t been as faithful as Hannah because I think it takes me a lot longer to get down on my knees and pray, but I know what it is to long, or to feel like I just have not gotten it all together.

Last week I had a birthday, and as this day crept up on me, a whole lot of other emotions and beliefs crept up on me as well.  I was not expecting it, what went through me came as quite a shock.  But a friend told me this week that according to Carl Jung midlife begins at 35. 

What a relief that news was, because quite frankly the thought crossed my mind, this must be what a mid-life crisis feels like. 

Now I know most of you are saying 35 mid-life, yah right, you are so young.  It’s true, 35 may seem young, but I figure if I’ve got someone as big as Carl Jung on my side I’m going to stick with that theory. 

You see most of the time, I am pretty happy with my life; I know who I am, and where I am going, most of the time, but not a couple of weeks ago.  Instead I was faced with the fact that I am 35 years old and I don’t have it all together.  I am broke, I am a student, I am single, I have no idea where I will be this time next year....and the list goes on.  By this time in my life I should have a house with a white picket fence (so they say), a career, two kids and dog. 

Right?  (You can laugh, I know this sounds ridiculous)

But as if this wasn’t enough; right in the midst of this I attended a Mary Jo Leddy retreat on ‘Radical Gratitude.’  Radical what?   Was my most common thought of the day?  I’ve got some radical thoughts but gratitude is definitely not on the top of the list.

What is going on?  I had to ask over and over.  After all I am one of Mary Jo’s Leddy’s biggest fans, and quite frankly any other day I would think ‘radical gratitude’ is a darn good idea.

Like Hannah, I found myself longing for relief, longing for new life, longing to pass through this ache and pain.  I just wanted to get to the end, to the real life.  Now, unlike Hannah, most of these beliefs are things I placed on myself, things that some of society might believe but I don’t really buy into, so I was able to pass through that pain, by putting some things back into perspective.  

But being barren in that day and age would have brought ridicule, and suspicion upon Hannah.  She was mocked and teased by her husbands other wife. Peninnah taunted her over her barrenness for many years, and Hannah got to the point she could take it no longer.  She prays out of such desperation that the priest thinks she’s drunk.  (Absolute desperation).

But I see a gift in this passage an example of great faith.  I think Hannah prays so fervently because she has faith and hope.  If she didn’t believe God was active, then she would not have prayed like that.  Reinhold Niebuhr says, “The ultimate form of hope is prayer.” 

It is hope that carries us through to the other side.  Martin Luther King Jr. said “Hope is not the same as optimism… we must accept finite disappointment, but we must never loose infinite hope.” 

At first it would seem the disciples in our passage in Mark are hoping for something entirely different.  They beg Jesus to tell them when the kingdom of God will appear.  But they too are looking for new life.  Luke 17:20 has Jesus stating “the kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or There it is!’  For, in fact the kingdom of God is among you.”

As the disciples marvel at the great structures of the temple, Jesus tells them this will not remain.  How disheartening this would be.  Can you imagine if someone came into Canadian Memorial next Sunday morning and said, this is all going to be destroyed?  We might all have a little bit of reacting to do.  I think our defenses would go up.  We would remind the person how this place has been built and how wonderful it is.  None of that is false; the gifts of this place are immense.  I don’t see Jesus speaking to a church that longs for peace, and seeks to do justice.  And we don’t know when Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple if he meant literally or figuratively, but we do know that the message was connected with the end of the era.

I am sure you folks have an understanding of the end of an era.  We talk a lot in the United Church about the death of Christendom.  Many of us long for what was.  Even I can remember days when most of my friends went to church on Sunday morning, and it was not odd to share about my faith.  But those days are no longer.  And For some of you, this whole emerging spirit campaign might feel a bit like this, the end of an era, the destruction of what has been. 

I have heard so many different reactions to the ads and the structure of the campaign.  I personally fall into the age category emerging spirit is targeting.  As you now know I am 35 and proud…well, I’m still working on the proud of it part.  I’m almost there.    

Emerging spirit is targeting my age group, and in all honesty there are pieces of it I struggle with.  But on the other hand I have found myself being shocked when I look at the clock and realize I just spent an hour and a half on ‘wondercafe.’  We live in hope that new life will be birthed, that we will discover new things, that lives will be touched and transformed.

Jesus warns us not to focus on the conflicts.  He says there is no question that they will occur.  And secondly we are not to fall for false Gods.  He goes on to say disaster will still come, but this is not the end, it is the beginning of the birth pangs. 

This passage is known as an apocalyptic passage, a prediction of the end of times.  N.T. Wright uses the phrase ‘earth shattering’ to translate the apocalyptic language that sounds like the end of the world.  The word ‘apocalypse’ actually means an ‘unveiling.’  Rene Girard interprets these apocalyptic messages to say not that God will destroy, but it will be human initiatives that destroy.  And so Jesus warns his disciples, that others will try to deceive them.  Some may even say they are God themselves. 

We have all heard stories of people claiming to be God, and most of the time it is easy for us to look at those cults or individuals and see deception.  But my question for each of us is what is the God that we are deceived by today?  Are we longing for something that will bring us freedom and truth, or are we longing for a false God, an unrealistic event? 

There are so many other God’s we struggle with in our world and time. 

• If I only had this much money,
• or if I could only get that promotion,
• or if I could only find that perfect relationship,
• or if I could only get my life together,

Then, then I could really live.

Do we live in despair in this constant longing?  Or do we live in hope of new life?

At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry he said that the new era has come near, but it will only arrive after a time of witness to his message.  New life does not come easy.  If you have ever seen a birth you know what I am talking about.  Here is this woman, in most cases surrounded by emotions of excitement and possibility, and yet she is in intense pain.  Her face grimaces, she grits her teeth, she tenses, she moans, and may even scream, she can hardly remember how to breathe.  And then this messy, grotesque, chaotic event turns into new life, change, joy and fear all wrapped up into one overwhelming life changing, birthing experience.

Most of us spend much of life waiting for things to happen.  There is always some future event that, we are convinced, will solve some deep problem.  Once that happens, we say to ourselves, we will be able to get our lives together.  Scripture is filled with waiting too.  But waiting is about a time of change, growth and transformation. 

One author wrote: “It is not always easy to wait.  We live in a world of violence and despair.  In our own time there are memories of the great world wars, the Holocaust, the bomb, and the Korean and Vietnam wars. There is the AIDS epidemic, economic struggle, and the continuing violence of our society. We fear for the safety of our children, and wonder what the future holds for them. We worry about terrorism, about "smart bombs" and "dirty bombs." We wonder where God is in all of this.”

I have been doing a lot of work in the last months around raising awareness for the homelessness crisis in B.C.  This has spurted forth in me as I work with battered women and children who are forced to leave their homes due to abuse, and there is nowhere affordable for them to go. 

As I read Girard this week he warns “in the midst of all this, the disciple must walk with care, for he/she cannot associate self with this process.  Rather, this is a description of the reality in whose midst the disciple must give witness to following Jesus, of his/her belief in another kingdom, distinct from the kingdoms which seek to found themselves on reciprocal violence.  In the midst of all this conflictual reality, the good news about God, and the coming into existence of the arduously constructed kingdom of universality which we have already seen, will be borne slowly and almost silently to all nations.”  N. T. Wright argues that the earth shattering message is that if we do not follow God our world will turn upside-down.

So like Hannah, we long for something new.  We pray for new life in all the world around us.  It is interesting that in scripture barren women who bore offspring late in life are usually in special favour of God, like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Elizabeth.  An unusual birth was thought to be symbolic of the importance of the person in later life.  Samuel, whom Hannah bore, means ‘he over whom the name of God is pronounced.’  Is God at work in us as we wait?  Is the holy birthing opportunity within us?

As we wait and pray, and as we dream and even if when we live in anxiety, we are not alone.  Life is emerging in the midst.  God values us, and what we build, but God also desires that all be lifted up.  God desires that life and light are brought to all those who are suffering in the midst.  These passages ask us to keep awake; to live in the present.  Don’t be stuck in the past, concerned about yesterday; and don’t be dreaming about the future, worried about all that might happen.  God through the spirit continues to work in us, breathing into us, speaking to us, and empowering us now in this very moment. 

Baclav Havel reminds us “Hope is a state of mind, not of the world.  Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” 

One author wrote “Hope is not in knowing where you are going but in knowing who is leading the way.”  You are not alone, God is with you in your longing. 

I think we have an option; we can live in a time of fear and dread or in a time of great hope?  Are the birth pangs, bringing exciting anticipation of what is in store, of the opportunities of God in this place, in your life?

God does not ask us to stop longing; instead it is in the longing that we discover God.  What birth are you longing for?  What are the opportunities of God in your life?  As we enter into this Advent season, the season of waiting, consider placing your longings into the presence of hope.