The Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday (Proper 28), November 17, 2024

In the Old Testament the books of 1 and 2 Samuel tell the story of the first kings of Israel and the rise of the Israel’s monarchical prophets of which Samuel is the first. This week’s reading from 1 Samuel tells the story of Hannah, a woman of the Old Testament, whose identity is primarily understood through her role as a Samuel’s mother.

In these chapters we learn more of Hannah’s character, the pain she endured and the faith she demonstrates. Yung Suk Kim (2008) compares Hannah’s story to that of Job. Like Job, who was visited by his friends who thought he must have done something wrong to incur God’s wrath, so Hannah was taunted by Peninnah for being childless. Being childless was a point of great shame for women in the ancient Hebrew culture and also, for Hannah as it still is for many women a source of great pain. Like Job, Hannah was also a woman of deep faith who endured trials and was rewarded for her faith.

Hannah’s story is an example of prayer in action. British theologian Clare Hayns focusing on the words in verse 9 to describe Hannah’s boldness “she arose and presented herself before the Lord”. Hannah uses her agency to cry out to God, she is not passive, she does not wait for others, or for God to act, but instead undertakes to change her situation. Hannah cries out to God in her pain, “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly” (1 Samuel 1 v 10). We see an example of the relationship between God and creatures in this interaction between God and Hannah. There is a growing and mutual relationship between God and Hannah and as the story continues, we read that God responds to Hannah’s plea and she conceives, later giving birth to a son.

South African feminist theologian Elna Mouton describes a feminist reading of the bible as an opportunity to rest in the space between “wonder” and “discomfort”. This passage provides such a space as we reflect on all those who have also cried out to God in their pain when unable to have children. Unlike Hannah their prayers have not all lead to parenthood. This passage can be simply read as we need to have faith like Hannah, but Mouton suggestion of the feminist hermeneutic is helpful as we seek to comprehend and experience the “richness and complexity, both the admiration and the discomfort”.

The story of Hannah shows us we can bring all our emotions to God, crying out in times of pain and confusion and also when we are simply awestruck.

Optional Resources

This months lectionary integrates scripture with aspects of popular culture. When we engage with scripture or with a church service, we take with us those things that influence us from broader life and culture. Below are some suggestions that came to me from as a I reflected on these passages; this list is by no means exhaustive. If you find them useful, please do use them as you prepare to lead worship this coming week. May they bless you.

Books and Films: The Shack, Private Life, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Music: What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong.

References:

Hayns, C (2021) Unveiled: Women of the Old Testament and the choices they made. Abingdon; Bible Reading Fellowship.

Mouton, E (2017) ‘Feminist Biblical Interpretation: How Far Do We Have Yet To Go’ in Claasens, L, J and Sharp, C,J. Feminist Frameworks of the Bible: Power, Ambiguity and Intersectionality. Bloomsbury Press.

Suk Kim, Y. (2008) The Story of Hannah: From a Perspective of Han. The Bible and Critical Theory. 4 (2) p.26.1-26.9.

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Doral Hayes is the Principal Officer for Ecumenical Development and Relations at Churches Together in England and is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England. Doral holds a MA in Contemporary Christian Theology from Newman University, Birmingham and is currently undertaking doctoral research in ecumenical theology at the University of Roehampton, London. Doral is a contributor to Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God, edited by Jeff Wells, Thomas Jay Oord, et. al. She lives in Buckinghamshire, England with her husband, two teenage children and a crazy whippet.