Judy DesHarnais - Diaconal Intern
November 18, 2012
1 Samuel 1:4-20; Canticle of Hannah; Mark 13:1-8
God turns things upside down, Raises up the weak and allows the strong to crumble.
In studying to become a deacon I am taking a course on Anglican History. We have had the privilege of seeing pictures of awe inspiring Cathedrals throughout the British Isles. As an engineer I am amazed at what these medieval masons were able to build; especially given their rudimentary understanding of physics. The beauty of these sacred structures lifts my spirit. In the Gospel reading I imagine the disciple marveling at the size and grandeur of the Temple in Jerusalem was equally awed. And then dismayed with Jesus response; “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” In our history class we have also seen the ruins of churches and cathedrals destroyed by invasions, fires, or just collapsing of their own weight. During my life the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem has been a given, a thing of ancient history. While I have felt a twinge of sadness at seeing pictures of people praying at the Wailing Wall, I had not paused to think what the destruction of the temple would have felt like at the time. The temple was built with much care and much material sacrifice. It was a magnificent structure. It was central to who the Jews were as a people. The Israelites believed that the Temple was truly and in fact the house of God. When the Temple built under Solomon was destroyed the people of Judah ceased to be a nation in any worldly sense.
Change and destruction are a reality of the world in which we live. Buildings, no matter how magnificent or well constructed are destroyed. Nothing we build can last forever; Sobering thoughts for me as a Civil Engineer. In my day job we try to reduce the vulnerability to natural disasters. Building levees diversions and floodwalls to reduce the impact of flooding on communities. Most springs we have built emergency levees to protect communities on the Red River of the North and prevented billions of dollars in damages. But in Grand Forks in 1997 the flood was bigger and the emergency levees couldn’t be built high enough or fast enough. Over 75% of the City of Grand Forks was flooded and while flooded a number of downtown buildings caught fire and were completely destroyed. Suddenly thousands of people were without homes and many were without businesses and the jobs that go with them.
A few weeks ago Hurricane Sandy brought devastation to some of the most populated areas of our country. People lost their lives, homes were destroyed, and power and trains were shut down for days or weeks. Things we assume can only happen in less developed or well constructed areas happened here.
While we should and do learn lessons about making more resilient structures, the real lesson is that our hope can not be in buildings or even in Temples. Disasters will happen, our lives will be turned upside down and it isn’t the end of the world. When Jesus is asked to tell the disciples when the Temple will be torn down and what the signs will be Jesus answers instead about the times to come after his death. He addresses the end times but also the times that are not yet the end times. “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginnings of birth pangs”. If all the tragedy that we have experienced in the world has been the beginnings of birth pangs this is one long pregnancy and labor.
The allusion to birth brings me to the turning points in the history of God’s relationship with Israel. Many of the critical junctures in God’s relationship with his people are linked to the promise of a child. First the relationship of God with Abraham and Sarah; The promise of a child to an older and barren couple that starts the history of Israel. Again with Hannah, a barren woman who gives birth to the last of the Judges and the anointer of the first Kings of Israel. Later to Elizabeth and Zechariah another old and barren couple who are promised a son, John who would proclaim the coming of Jesus. And finally the birth of Jesus. Unexpected births seem to form an outline of God working in the world.
The reading from 1 Samuel tells the story of Hannah. Hannah wanted a child. She was barren, a term almost unheard of today. It seems to infer that she failed as a woman and wife, perhaps that she was cursed. In a day when many choose not to have children it may seem a remote and strange concept; though perhaps not for those who still today struggle with infertility. Today the suffering of these women and men are private, acquaintances can just assume that they are childless be choice. But in the time of Hannah married women were not childless by choice. Adding further insult her husband had a second wife that had many children.
Hannah prayed fervently, so fervently that she was accused by the priest of being drunk. In her prayer she promised God that if she were blessed with a son she would dedicate her child to the Lord. She was blessed. She believed her son was a gift from God. And she followed through on her promise. She dedicated this son to God. After he was weaned she gave him to the priest. This son was Samuel the prophet who anointed Saul and David to be Kings of Israel. It was Samuel whom God awoke in the night and spoke to. Imagine so fervently desiring a child and then giving that young child up.
I was struck as I read what Hannah promised God, that he would be a Nazarene that he would not shave his hair….. These were promises that Hannah, on her own, could not possibly keep. But what Hannah promised did come to pass. Her child was truly a gift from God. He was raised as a gift to God.
What would we do differently if we truly believed all of the children in our lives were gifts from God? How would we treat one another differently if we acknowledged that each of us was a gift from God?
What if we truly cared for those whose world had been turned upside down, those whose temple had been destroyed, those who came from broken families, those who are unemployed, and those who had never had a home to lose?
During my diaconal training I had the pleasure of meeting Julia Dinsmore, a woman that has struggled with homelessness, generational poverty and mental illness. Her mother struggled with mental illness and sometimes became violent. Her father struggled with alcohol and she has as well. Although she had somehow managed to graduate from high school she was functionally illiterate. She had children by different fathers raising them on her own in poverty. Julia has also been an advocate for single parent families trying to make it out of poverty. In the early 90’s she and other single parents living in public housing wanted to help each other start businesses that they could do in their homes while caring for their own children. One of many obstacles they confronted was a prohibition of running home businesses from public housing. The group decided to meet with individuals, groups and churches that were already involved in fighting poverty to find partners to help realize their dreams.
Julia shared her experiences in running into brick walls, once she attended a conference on poverty and just as she reached the mike to address the presenters they stopped taking questions. At one church they were asked what they needed, they were thrilled to be asked, they answered homes and the meeting resumed talking about providing meals. On one occasion after they made their request the chair of the church finance committee said “Those people don’t need homes… We give them turkeys at Christmas and Thanksgiving.” Huh? Not only was this illogical, it was said while Julia and her group were sitting in the room at the meeting. It stung Julia so profoundly it kept her awake and became a poem “My Name Is Not ‘Those People’”.
That poem has been translated into many languages and written about and shared and discussed at conferences. And through all of that Julia did not receive any money for it. Recently she has been selling banners of the poem and a book that includes that poem, a piece of her story and many other poems. The book is My Name is CHILD OF GOD NOT “THOSE PEOPLE”. Thinking about seeing the brokenness in each other and yet recognizing one another and ourselves as a Gift of God I want to share this poem by Julia Kathryn Dinsmore
I Call Myself…
I call myself…
Storyteller, artist, social change maker of twenty-five years,
Working to end poverty and homelessness,
Singer, songwriter, learning to practice Christianity,
Becoming a servant kingdom builder,
Generosity, and beggar in the land of plenty.
I call myself…
Daughter, sister, mother, auntie, cousin,
Grandma, lover, friend, ally mentor, neighbor,
Student, teacher, seeking after justice and mercy,
Claiming the birthright of my spiritual inheritance,
Respected because of who my enemy has been.
I call myself…
Wisdom, fool, sinner, redeemed, hospitality,
Abandoned, scorned, judged, unwanted,
Wounded and broken, victorious, restored,
Remade, refined, renewed, remarkable,
And a precious unfolding of creation,
Most important of all,
I call myself …Child of God.
When I can know myself as such
A promise is born.
It is by answering to this name that
I can call you …. Child of God too!
Hannah begged God for a child and after receiving the blessing of her son Samuel, heard of God, she offered him to God. Unlike Abraham who won a reprieve from his offer of Isaac, Hannah really did give up her son. And God used Samuel in profound ways. Let us seek to see the blessing in each of us and let us learn to offer ourselves to service to God and in service to one another.