November 18th:
Call: 1 Samuel 1: 1-11 Text: Hebrews 10: 19-25 Read: ?? Last Sunday was Stewardship Sunday And despite the obvious generosity of the members of the congregation We still, as is customary, have a need for additional funds so that we can expand our ministry. One way - and a creative way at that - to raise those funds Would be to have sponsors for my sermons. Today's sermon presents a good example. I could begin it by announcing (and here any of you with children or grandchildren will probably recognize my inspiration) Today's sermon is brought to you by The number 48 And The words: "provoke" and "respond" And at the end I could add My sermon today Has been made possible by gifts from worshippers like you. PBS would be proud of me. (The congregation is another matter) Having seemingly moved the church From 26 Main to 123 Sesame I would now like to begin the message by apologizing to Garrett. I had him read one of the more melodramatic passages in the scriptures But I had him read it straight. You and I are now going to take that same scripture And we are going to interactively bring out the melodrama in it I suspect that we are going to have more fun than I allowed Garrett to have Picture the old silent movies With love; with good; with evil With good triumphing over evil With the audience participating with its responses Well, you are a congregation - not an audience But you are going to have to do. I need to have you participate. There are three human characters in the story with which 1 Samuel begins One is Elkanah The others are his two wives: The heroine Hannah The villainess Peninnah Now, whenever I pause after a sentence or phrase in which something good or touching happens I want you to respond, "Oooooooo." Whenever I pause after a sentence talking about Hannah, I want you to respond, "Hallelujah!" Whenever I pause after a sentence in which I describe what Peninnah has done, I want you to respond "Boooo!" Let's give it a try [run them through the names] Now, the scripture - interactively There once was a man by the name of Elkanah He had two wives One had given him children. Her name was Peninnah [B] The other was barren Her name was Hannah [H] Now this man used to go up year by year from his own town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh Where Eli's sons were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed he would give a portion to his wives and children To Hannah, he gave a double portion Because he loved her Even though the Lord had closed her womb [OOO] Peninnah, though, felt superior because she had given her husband children, and therefore used to severely provoke her rival. [B] So it went year by year As often as she went to the house of the Lord Peninnah used to provoke her. [B] It bothered Hannah so much that she could not eat And Elkanah went to her and told her not to be sad And asked her if he was not more to her than even ten sons would be [OOO] So, after she had eaten and drunk at Shiloh Hannah presented herself to the Lord [H] Deeply disturbed, Hannah prayed "Oh, Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and will give your servant a male child I will set him before you as a nazirite Until the day of his death [H] In due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son She named him Samuel [H] As we know, Hannah kept her promise Samuel became priest and prophet He was God's instrument in warning the people about earthly kings And was likewise the instrument through whom God anointed both of the first two kings: Saul and David. And here you can practically hear the music from Handel Hallelujah As we listen to this story, We find Elkanah sweet, kind, thoughtful, and a wonderful husband We find Hannah sensitive, loving, sad, and faithful But, We find Penannah irritating, upsetting, mean And as she provokes Hannah She provokes us as well It is really easy to boo Peninnah! It's really hard not to. We respond to Peninnah's provoking behavior by getting angry. And that is why it is such an interesting scripture to pair with The text from Hebrews For in the text, the writer tells us, instructs us, even commands us to "Provoke one another!!" and having just acknowledged that Peninnah's provoking Hannah angered us we are surprised and even uncomfortable when we hear that instruction After all, if we didn't like it when Peninnah did it Why should we expect anyone to like it when we provoke them? Why should anyone expect us to like it when someone tries to provoke us? But the word "provoke" has more than one meaning One is to incite to anger Another is to give rise to or evoke Still another to bring about or induce In all of these meanings, one thing holds true "provoke" requires a "response" Our scriptures require us to react and to respond Or else they are just words on paper Our faith too requires a response That response is to share the message of our faith with others Peninnah provoked out of meanness, jealousy, and self importance Hannah's response was hurt and sadness, Our response was anger The fact that provoking requires a response Is why the writer of Hebrews can write this: [10: 19-25] Whereas Peninnah provoked hurt and anger We are to provoke one another to love and good deeds We are to provoke one another to not neglect meeting together We are to provoke one another to encourage one another As noted the word "provoke" in all of its specific definitions Means to stir someone to action - to get a response We are not always comfortable doing that. And any time we try to stir someone to action We do risk getting them upset. Kyle Idleman Is the creator of the "I'm Not A Fan" video study we are offering on Sunday nights. And he is the author of the book that accompanies it. In that book he tells of how a parishioner once sent an e-mail Asking to be removed from church membership In the e-mail, the stated reason was "I don't like Kyle's sermons." What a devastating thing for a pastor to hear! Kyle wanted to understand what it was about his sermons That the parishioner didn't like So he called him. The parishioner stammered a bit when he found that it was Kyle on the phone, Finally, however, he made this point, "Well, whenever I listen to one of the messages, I feel like you are trying to interfere with my life. And Kyle's response was, "That's a part of my job description." But it is not just a part of his job description This morning's text tells us that it is a part of the job description Of all Christians Remember, the Great Commission (you ought to, I certainly mention it enough) In it Jesus charged and commissioned us to be his witnesses and to make disciples for him at home and to the ends of the earth The mission statement of the UMC repeats it, "The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." [BOD section 120] And it adds, "Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple making occurs." We do have a charge or commission We do not have a choice. We may annoy someone along the way But if we are confident That through the blood and flesh of Jesus we can now enter the new and living way he has opened for us; If we are confident that we have a great priest over the house of the Lord; We can approach with hearts and bodies sprinkled and washed; and By holding fast to the confession of our hope. And then, we can consider what we must do To provoke one another to love and good deeds Not neglecting to meet together But instead gathering together to encourage one another. We fulfill Christ's commission by both provoking and responding As we do so, we can be confident that God has a hand in all this For while Peninnah intended to provoke Hannah Hannah's response was not just hurt and sadness She also responded by demonstrating her faith As she sought and reached out for God's help By action and prayer So with these two passages you and I have Both an instruction to provoke And an example of how to respond when provoked The instruction is part of our job description. The response is part of our blessings That's why God insists that we be provocateurs for each other. Two of our sponsors - provoke and response - got their air time As for the number 48 - this is my 48th sermon of 2012. And it doesn't care about air time It's sole purpose is to remind us of the instruction in the scriptures