Rooted in the Faithfulness of God
November 17, 2024 Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Luke 1:46-551 Samuel 2:1-10
“Rooted in the Faithfulness of God”
Melissa K. Smith
I don’t like platitudes. Their optimistic rote nature can often come across as empty, filling an empty space with words to just cut the awkwardness. On my college campus we had a pathway called the “hello walk” – it had two sidewalks side by side and for those who weren’t looking down while walking or riding their long board, they would often say, “Hello” to anyone walking by, and sometimes it would be followed by, “How are you?” but the person had already walked away – it was something to say, not something they were really asking. Sometimes the statement was, “let’s grab coffee sometime!” Another hopeful statement that hardly ever came to fruition – it was something to say, to acknowledge someone’s existence but to do nothing about it.
Platitudes feel like the “hello walk” to me – statements that are meant to cover the awkward eye-contact with a harmless statement. Examples of such phrases include, “This too shall pass,” “everything happens for a reason,” “better late than never,” “it is what it is,” and “all’s well that ends well.” And perhaps you genuinely believe what you are saying…but these are phrases that roll off the tongue and even if you mean it, perhaps the person on the receiving end equates this with chaff blown in their direction to help fill a silent and awkward conversational void.
I don’t like platitudes. They feel like statements that are said without seriously listening, without considering the burdens of the other person, and without being invested in the outcome. They feel like they are lightweight statements that try to sweep big deal issues under the proverbial rug.
Julian of Norwich, a theologian and mystic from the Middle Ages is famous for saying, “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” It sounds like a platitude, like a statement to push aside suffering and ignore it. But Julian couldn’t ignore suffering. She lived through the “Black Death” of the bubonic plague and was herself incredibly ill for a long time. She actively suffered day after day and yet she still said, “All shall be well…” I don’t think she was ignoring her sorrow and suffering…she genuinely meant that all shall be well. Why? Because she believed in God – she believed who God is, who God has been, and who God will be. One poet writes, “All shall be well doesn’t deny present experience but roots it deep in the faithfulness of God, whose will and gift is life.”
This morning, we have heard two scripture readings that are hymns, songs of praise, sung by two remarkable women: Hannah and Mary. They both navigate sorrow and conflict: Hannah before her song and Mary both during the reality of the Annunciation and after her song. In the face of their conflict, they sing incredible hymns that glorify God. Are they ignoring what they have been through or what they will go through with platitudes? Not at all. They are able to praise God because God is and has been and will be faithful. They are confident that because of who God is, “all shall be well."
You might remember Hannah’s story. 1 Samuel explains that “Elkanah had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” Hannah suffered through infertility. She could not get pregnant – scripture tells us that God closed her womb. There was nothing she wanted more than to have a child; Elkanah’s love and devotion to her could not touch her desire to have children. Peninnah made things worse by mocking and taunting Hannah.
Eventually, God did provide a son for Hannah, Samuel, which means “the one whom I have asked for.” After Samuel was weaned, she gave him back to the Lord, having him serve under Eli, the temple priest. And she sang a song of praise – the song Annie read for us this morning.
Our second scripture reading is Mary’s song of praise, the Magnificat. We often hear her story during the Christmas season – Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph but before they were married the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33).
Mary replies to Gabriel saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary said yes to becoming the mother of our incarnate Lord. But she is also saying “yes” to having a child outside of marriage – something that would have deeply ostracized her from her community. In Matthew’s gospel we read that Joseph considered leaving her quietly because of her pregnancy, but God, through the angel Gabriel in a dream, told Joseph to stay with Mary and explained, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20b-21).
And just eight days after Jesus is born, Simeon tells Mary that she will suffer saying in Luke 2, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35). Her son will be great, but the spear that will pierce his side when he hangs on the cross will pierce her soul. …Mary said “yes” to God and she gives God praise – the words attributed to Mary in scripture are this song.
How can these two women turn to God in sheer adoration and praise in the midst of what they have, are, and will experience? Are they sweeping their experiences of conflict and sorrow under the rug? Not at all. Rather, they are rooting their hope and praise in the faithfulness of God.
In the Magnificat we hear echoes of Hannah’s song. In both songs we can hear these women praise God for being mighty and holy. They speak of God’s sovereignty. Hannah says, “There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you there is no Rock like our God.” And Mary says, “for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” She goes on to tell of all the amazing things God has done and will do by instilling his justice, showing his mercy, feeding the hungry, and coming alongside his people.
These two women look to God and point to God as they give praise for the ways God is working in the world. Their songs are not self-focused. They do not point to who they are, they do not point to what they have done, and they do not point to their sons. Hannah’s song speaks to the kings that will come, but it does not talk about what Samuel will do as a priest. Mary’s song does not talk about Jesus or her pregnancy. Both songs talk about God. These women don’t have many verses attributed to them. They are not shown to say much and their stories don’t take up much real estate in scripture. But what we do have is their praise to God.
Hannah celebrated that God is a God who is powerful and just. This is a God who is so mighty that he can perform role reversals in a complicated society. This is a God who can make the rich poor and the poor rich. This is a God who can make the barren fertile and the fertile barren. This is a God who has power over who lives, who dies, and what their life is like in this world. This is a God who is all powerful, who is mighty to save.
Mary talks about God in a similar manner. Some scholars suggest that Hannah’s song serves as a whisper to Mary’s, that in Hannah’s song we see the seeds that are planted, giving way to Mary’s song and her spectacular devotion to God.
It can be difficult to turn to God in praise – perhaps right now it is difficult to turn to God in praise. Turning to God with prayers of lament and bringing God your frustrations and fears are valid and necessary ways to turn to God. But know that in the midst of it all you can turn to God in praise. Let the seeds of Hannah and Mary’s songs help you to root yourself in the faithfulness of God. Even if it is hard to praise God for what is going on in your world right now, be it personal, national, or global, we can praise God. As Mary says, “[God] has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made with our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
The Bible is filled with the ways God loves us, stories of how God enters into covenantal relationships with us, and it witnesses God’s action in the world. The Bible testifies – through prophets and apostles alike – that God is who he says he is, and God is faithful. Mary and Hannah can praise God regardless of circumstances because God is the same as God has always been: faithful and mighty to save. Praising God does not dilute your sorrow, nor does it will it away. Rather, it helps us to root ourselves, to set our foundation on God and God’s faithfulness. It helps us to not get stuck in the valley of the shadow of death but to follow God through it. We need to remind ourselves and one another of who God is – because God is who he says he is, and he is faithful and he is just. When we remember who God is we can join Julian of Norwich as she says, “All shall be well” not because we want to ignore the realities that we are facing, but because we believe all shall be well because God is who he says he is: God is all powerful and God is just.
On December 8th the choir will help lead us through worship as they sing John Rutter’s setting of the Magnificat. The advent and holiday season can be incredibly difficult as our hearts ache in the presence of an empty chair around the table. Perhaps it will be hard to celebrate because the world feels so heavy and wrought with division. Follow Mary and Hannah’s examples: Sing praises to God, not to sweep the sorrow under the rug, but to lift up who God is: He is faithful and just. Let the Magnificat on December 8th help you to root your hope and praise in the faithfulness of God.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Luke 1:46-551 Samuel 2:1-10
“Rooted in the Faithfulness of God”
Melissa K. Smith
I don’t like platitudes. Their optimistic rote nature can often come across as empty, filling an empty space with words to just cut the awkwardness. On my college campus we had a pathway called the “hello walk” – it had two sidewalks side by side and for those who weren’t looking down while walking or riding their long board, they would often say, “Hello” to anyone walking by, and sometimes it would be followed by, “How are you?” but the person had already walked away – it was something to say, not something they were really asking. Sometimes the statement was, “let’s grab coffee sometime!” Another hopeful statement that hardly ever came to fruition – it was something to say, to acknowledge someone’s existence but to do nothing about it.
Platitudes feel like the “hello walk” to me – statements that are meant to cover the awkward eye-contact with a harmless statement. Examples of such phrases include, “This too shall pass,” “everything happens for a reason,” “better late than never,” “it is what it is,” and “all’s well that ends well.” And perhaps you genuinely believe what you are saying…but these are phrases that roll off the tongue and even if you mean it, perhaps the person on the receiving end equates this with chaff blown in their direction to help fill a silent and awkward conversational void.
I don’t like platitudes. They feel like statements that are said without seriously listening, without considering the burdens of the other person, and without being invested in the outcome. They feel like they are lightweight statements that try to sweep big deal issues under the proverbial rug.
Julian of Norwich, a theologian and mystic from the Middle Ages is famous for saying, “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” It sounds like a platitude, like a statement to push aside suffering and ignore it. But Julian couldn’t ignore suffering. She lived through the “Black Death” of the bubonic plague and was herself incredibly ill for a long time. She actively suffered day after day and yet she still said, “All shall be well…” I don’t think she was ignoring her sorrow and suffering…she genuinely meant that all shall be well. Why? Because she believed in God – she believed who God is, who God has been, and who God will be. One poet writes, “All shall be well doesn’t deny present experience but roots it deep in the faithfulness of God, whose will and gift is life.”
This morning, we have heard two scripture readings that are hymns, songs of praise, sung by two remarkable women: Hannah and Mary. They both navigate sorrow and conflict: Hannah before her song and Mary both during the reality of the Annunciation and after her song. In the face of their conflict, they sing incredible hymns that glorify God. Are they ignoring what they have been through or what they will go through with platitudes? Not at all. They are able to praise God because God is and has been and will be faithful. They are confident that because of who God is, “all shall be well."
You might remember Hannah’s story. 1 Samuel explains that “Elkanah had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” Hannah suffered through infertility. She could not get pregnant – scripture tells us that God closed her womb. There was nothing she wanted more than to have a child; Elkanah’s love and devotion to her could not touch her desire to have children. Peninnah made things worse by mocking and taunting Hannah.
Eventually, God did provide a son for Hannah, Samuel, which means “the one whom I have asked for.” After Samuel was weaned, she gave him back to the Lord, having him serve under Eli, the temple priest. And she sang a song of praise – the song Annie read for us this morning.
Our second scripture reading is Mary’s song of praise, the Magnificat. We often hear her story during the Christmas season – Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph but before they were married the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33).
Mary replies to Gabriel saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary said yes to becoming the mother of our incarnate Lord. But she is also saying “yes” to having a child outside of marriage – something that would have deeply ostracized her from her community. In Matthew’s gospel we read that Joseph considered leaving her quietly because of her pregnancy, but God, through the angel Gabriel in a dream, told Joseph to stay with Mary and explained, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20b-21).
And just eight days after Jesus is born, Simeon tells Mary that she will suffer saying in Luke 2, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35). Her son will be great, but the spear that will pierce his side when he hangs on the cross will pierce her soul. …Mary said “yes” to God and she gives God praise – the words attributed to Mary in scripture are this song.
How can these two women turn to God in sheer adoration and praise in the midst of what they have, are, and will experience? Are they sweeping their experiences of conflict and sorrow under the rug? Not at all. Rather, they are rooting their hope and praise in the faithfulness of God.
In the Magnificat we hear echoes of Hannah’s song. In both songs we can hear these women praise God for being mighty and holy. They speak of God’s sovereignty. Hannah says, “There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you there is no Rock like our God.” And Mary says, “for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” She goes on to tell of all the amazing things God has done and will do by instilling his justice, showing his mercy, feeding the hungry, and coming alongside his people.
These two women look to God and point to God as they give praise for the ways God is working in the world. Their songs are not self-focused. They do not point to who they are, they do not point to what they have done, and they do not point to their sons. Hannah’s song speaks to the kings that will come, but it does not talk about what Samuel will do as a priest. Mary’s song does not talk about Jesus or her pregnancy. Both songs talk about God. These women don’t have many verses attributed to them. They are not shown to say much and their stories don’t take up much real estate in scripture. But what we do have is their praise to God.
Hannah celebrated that God is a God who is powerful and just. This is a God who is so mighty that he can perform role reversals in a complicated society. This is a God who can make the rich poor and the poor rich. This is a God who can make the barren fertile and the fertile barren. This is a God who has power over who lives, who dies, and what their life is like in this world. This is a God who is all powerful, who is mighty to save.
Mary talks about God in a similar manner. Some scholars suggest that Hannah’s song serves as a whisper to Mary’s, that in Hannah’s song we see the seeds that are planted, giving way to Mary’s song and her spectacular devotion to God.
It can be difficult to turn to God in praise – perhaps right now it is difficult to turn to God in praise. Turning to God with prayers of lament and bringing God your frustrations and fears are valid and necessary ways to turn to God. But know that in the midst of it all you can turn to God in praise. Let the seeds of Hannah and Mary’s songs help you to root yourself in the faithfulness of God. Even if it is hard to praise God for what is going on in your world right now, be it personal, national, or global, we can praise God. As Mary says, “[God] has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made with our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
The Bible is filled with the ways God loves us, stories of how God enters into covenantal relationships with us, and it witnesses God’s action in the world. The Bible testifies – through prophets and apostles alike – that God is who he says he is, and God is faithful. Mary and Hannah can praise God regardless of circumstances because God is the same as God has always been: faithful and mighty to save. Praising God does not dilute your sorrow, nor does it will it away. Rather, it helps us to root ourselves, to set our foundation on God and God’s faithfulness. It helps us to not get stuck in the valley of the shadow of death but to follow God through it. We need to remind ourselves and one another of who God is – because God is who he says he is, and he is faithful and he is just. When we remember who God is we can join Julian of Norwich as she says, “All shall be well” not because we want to ignore the realities that we are facing, but because we believe all shall be well because God is who he says he is: God is all powerful and God is just.
On December 8th the choir will help lead us through worship as they sing John Rutter’s setting of the Magnificat. The advent and holiday season can be incredibly difficult as our hearts ache in the presence of an empty chair around the table. Perhaps it will be hard to celebrate because the world feels so heavy and wrought with division. Follow Mary and Hannah’s examples: Sing praises to God, not to sweep the sorrow under the rug, but to lift up who God is: He is faithful and just. Let the Magnificat on December 8th help you to root your hope and praise in the faithfulness of God.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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