“Babies, Beer and New Beginnings”

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

Isn’t it amazing how many Bible stories are about babies, beer, and new beginnings? Bible stories are a lot like country music where the basic formula always includes certain things - like losing your pick-up truck, your dog, your house, and your wife. As the old Rascal Flatts song goes, “What do you get when you play a country song backwards?” You get your house back, you get your dog back, you get your wife back…

Country music is the music of real-life people living through all the real-life challenging experiences of being human, and Bible stories are about that, too. Isn’t it amazing how many of them are about babies, beer, and new beginnings?

In the book of 1^st Samuel we hear such a story. A good ol’ country boy by the name of Elkanah had two wives. One was Peninnah, the other was Hannah. Peninnah had given Elkanah children, but Hannah was barren. And, as is often the case in Bible stories of this sort, Hannah’s inability to have children was degrading. Women who were fertile and spit out babies by the dozen were highly favored because this was an agrarian society and many children meant more successful farms. Not only that, but these prolific mothers brought great honor to their husbands because a man with a full quiver of arrows – so to speak – was considered to be very virile and manly.

Women like Peninnah were highly regarded. But women like Hannah were looked down upon.

Sounds almost like a country song, doesn’t it? The Bible has a lot of stories about women who can’t have babies.

Then comes the beer in a sort of strange way. Hannah, in her distress, turns to God. She pours out her soul to God. She weeps, she wails, she even bargains with God: “If you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” Hannah promises to raise up her son to be a priest before God.

This is a holy moment! But sometimes holy moments are interpreted by others as public intoxication! Eli the priest is sitting nearby and notices Hannah. He sees something odd! Hannah is gesturing, and hollering, and having some kind of argument, but no words are coming out! Only her lips are moving! Sort of like when you pull up at a red light and see the person in the car next to you carrying on a conversation with themselves, but you can’t hear any words. Well, Hannah’s words have run out and she is praying silently in her heart, but her lips are moving. What a strange sight! Right away, Eli knows this is a bad thing! He surmises that Hannah must be drunk!

Eli confronts her. “How long will you keep getting drunk?” he asks. And isn’t that an interesting question! “How long will you keep getting drunk?” It seems to suggest that Hannah has a drinking problem that Eli knows about. You see, people in the Bible are not unlike people like us. Sometimes people turn to alcohol or drugs to ease the pain or escape from the harsh realities of life. That’s what Noah did after the flood. The first thing he did once landing on dry ground was plant a vineyard, make some wine, and get snookered! I mean, what would you do after forty days and forty nights locked on a boat with all those kids and smelly animals?

Maybe Hannah turned to the bottle to escape her inner pain. Maybe she turned to alcohol. Maybe you or someone you love knows what that’s like, too.

But here’s a wonderful part of Hannah’s story. She tells Eli the priest that she is not drunk. “I have not been drinking wine or beer,” she says. “No, I was pouring out my soul to God.”

The friends of Bill W. – the founder of AA - will tell you that the first two steps toward sobriety are, first, admitting that you are powerless over alcohol and that your life has become unmanageable; and second, that a Power higher than yourself can restore you. In all the moments of life with its many, many challenges, admitting your need for God leads to new beginnings.

And you know how this story ends. Hannah becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a son, and names him Samuel which in so many words means, “My answered prayer.” And Samuel grows up to become a great prophet of God. A new beginning.

Babies, beer, and new beginnings.

I love miracle stories like this, don’t you?

But, there’s more to the story of Hannah than just babies, beer and new beginnings.

In many ways, Hannah represents a lot of people in our world – a lot of people in our church – and a lot of people in our families. They are the underdogs of life, the ones that never seem to catch a break, or who have experienced such difficulties that they’ve been robbed of the joy of living.

As we come up to the holiday season, there often can be something missing for those who have lost loved ones. For me, not a Thanksgiving goes by when I don’t feel the loss of those who once sat at table with us, but are no longer present. My dad died thirty-six years ago this month. And Thanksgiving has never come without a reconnection to the grief that began that day thirty-six years ago. The holidays can be especially hard for those who are grieving losses. When Christmas comes, not everybody can sing “Joy to the World”, or “Jingle Bells.” Some of us experience Christmas not as a season of light and joy, but as a season of shadows and sadness.

Many of us know what it’s like to be a Hannah.

When you think about the millions of children in Africa who are affected by the AIDS pandemic – or the families of those killed in the Ft. Hood shootings – or the families who live in the rancid ghettos of India - or the kid born into a third generation welfare family in this country – or even young football players who fall victim to their own stupidity, you can’t help but realize that people all around us are in need of new beginnings.

There are many Hannah’s in our world. Are you a Hannah? Do you know some group or some family member that is a Hannah?

How can we – or they - find their way to a new beginning?

Well, this story in 1^st Samuel has a story-behind-the-story that can give us insight into how new beginnings begin.

First, there was someone who loved Hannah, just as she was. Although Peninnah had given children to Elkanah and Hannah was barren, the text tells us that Elkanah loved Hannah. When he brought animals to sacrifice at the Temple, he would bring the meat back to his family. He fed Peninnah and their children. But, the Bible says, “…to Hannah he gave a double-portion because he loved her and her womb was not open.”

You know, some people look at other people’s tragedies, problems and mistakes and look down their noses at them. We judge them. We see them as not worthy of our concern. But people who do that are never agents of change and hope. Only when you see through the failures, mistakes and lacking of others and perceive their beauty as beloved children of God, can you become a part of the miracle God wants to work in that person’s life. Elkanah loved his wife Peninnah and their children. But he also loved Hannah – and perhaps even moreso because she was barren.

That is not the kind of love we most often see around us. It’s easy to love people because they are loveable and successful. But to love them because they are UNloveable and UNsuccessful is a foreign concept to us. Think about this for a minute: Elkanah loved Hannah in a special way BECAUSE she was barren. That’s what the text says. Maybe God loves poor people BECAUSE they are poor and have to deal with things rich people don’t. Maybe God loves sinners BECAUSE they have sinned, and now must live with the consequences of their sin. Maybe God even loves stupid football players BECAUSE they are stupid, and their irresponsible behavior may very well undo their lives!

Maybe God loves us not for all that we are, but also for all we are NOT. Maybe God is like a parent who loves all his children, but the one child who never seems to make it in life is the one we hold in a special place in our heart.

New beginnings require people who are willing to help the Hannahs of this world, and risk loving them with a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Hannah had a man who loved her. Maybe there’s someone you know who needs you to love them.

Second, Hannah found a community that prayed WITH her. One of the interesting parts of the encounter between Hannah and Eli the priest is that, once she explained that she was not drunk but brokenhearted, pouring out her soul to God, Eli got off his high horse and got down on his knees, and prayed WITH her.

And right there is a distinction between a true church and a fraudulent religious institution. Some churches – some Christians – think it is their job to point out the barrenness of other peoples’ lives. I will always remember little drug-addicted, utterly lost Barbara who one Sunday morning decided it was time to change her life. She got up early, got dressed up in her only clothes – a very revealing tank-top and bright red short-shorts – we called them “hot pants” in those days – and walked a mile or so to church. Poor Barbara didn’t know what hit her when she came through the doors and was immediately accosted by the church fashion-police. She turned around and walked away, perhaps never to darken the door of a church again.

Sometimes, religious people think their job is to judge others and regulate decency. But Jesus said the church is to be a house of prayer for all people. Our job is to pray WITH the Hannah’s of this world. And when we do get down off our high horses and onto our knees before God in behalf of others, that’s when miracles seem to happen!

Hannah needed someone to love her in a special way – a church that would pray WITH her for a new beginning – and what else?

Do you see the third ingredient in Hannah’s miracle story?

God.

The God of Love. The God of Hope. The God who never gives up on us, even when our lives are barren and broken.

Now I’m going to guess that there aren’t very many people here today who are praying in their old age to get pregnant. However, if that does happen to you, remember that we’re starting a Sunday School in January!

You may not be looking for a baby today, but many of us are in need of new beginnings.

They will need someone to love them. Will it be you?

They will need a church to pray with them. Will it be us?

And they will need a God who can make all things new. I believe with all my heart that the God we see in Jesus Christ is that good and loving God who can bring life to Hannah, and to you and to me.

Today, I invite you to place your trust in him, to risk the gift of love, and to join us in prayer for all people.

Babies, beer and new beginnings!

That’s the song of God!