SETTING THE CONTEXT

After Israel entered the Promised Land during their early years in Cannan, they fell into a cycle of sin and repentance. The people would fall into sin against God, God would judge them and send some kind of consequence upon them, they would cry out for rescue, then God would raise up a national leader or judge to rescue them and bring about spiritual renewal. The time of the Judges was a time of moral and spiritual decay. There was no human king, God was supposed to be their king, but the people chose lawlessness instead. The book of 1 Samuel tells the story of the change from the period of the Judges to the time of the monarchy and especially to the time when David was king. Samuel was a prophet and the last of Israel’s great judges. He would be the one to anoint the first kings of Israel. This is the story behind his birth.

READ 1 Samuel 1:3-20

THE SERMON
How many of us have experienced deep disappointments? Perhaps they have come from illness or loss, tragedy or unfulfilled dreams. Perhaps they have come from broken relationships or alienation of some sort. The story we read this morning is for those of us who have been tormented by what we lack, for those of us who have or have wanted to shake our fist at God and ask why me, for those of us who have cried out for healing.

One of my seminary professors, Kathy Black suffers from a chronic illness and she has also pastored a church for deaf people so she has really wrestled with the Biblical understanding of healing and especially Christ’s healing stories. She makes a distinction between healing and cure and I want to take a few moments to explore that with you. Cure is defined as the elimination of symptoms if not the disease.^[i] If I am cured of headaches, it means I won’t have another headache. Healing has many meanings and comes in many forms. It may mean I have a sense of peace even in the midst of my disease or disappointment. It may mean a repair of relationships or restoration to a community. It may mean well-being and a full life in spite of the challenge or disappointment. Sometimes healing even comes in the form of death when the person is unshackled from this world. Healing involves God bringing wholeness to body, mind, spirit and relationships and that can happen in many ways. Healing can mean cure, but it doesn’t always mean a cure.

1 Samuel is a book about great leaders. It is a book about a succession of powerful men, Samuel, Saul and David, but behind this is the story of a brokenhearted barren woman named Hannah. She has a lot to be unhappy about, she is teased and harassed by her husband’s other wife. She hopes and waits and feels that ache of longing for year after year. She is misunderstood. What does she do with all of that? She takes it directly to God. She pours it all out, no holds barred. If the Psalms and Old Testament stories show me anything, they show me that God can handle our strong emotions. Complete honesty with God is essential and in Hannah’s story we see her healing. The part we didn’t read tells us about her response of thanksgiving. She gave that precious child, Samuel, back to God as she promised. As soon as he was weaned, he was raised in the Lord’s house in another town and he became a great prophet for the nation of Israel at their crucial time of change. Just as this new life emerged out of Hannah’s barrenness by the power of God, Israel’s new life emerged out of Samuel and the men he anointed king by the power of God.^[ii] There is healing of individual and nation. This story is about God and God’s power to heal. As Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann said ”The story invites us to reflect on the question, how is a new future possible amid the barrenness that renders us bitter, hopeless, and fruitless?”^[iii] It is possible through our honest committed relationship with God, our faithfulness, and God’s powerful healing love.

I’d like to tell you another story called the Thanksgiving Special. “Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, and then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole that from her. During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she always looked forward to, called saying she could not come for the holiday. Then Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. “She has no idea what I'm feeling,” thought Sandra with a shudder. “Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?” she wondered, “For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?”

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The shop clerk's voice startled her. "I.... I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra. "For Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the 'Thanksgiving Special, '" asked the shop clerk.”I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?" "Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said; "I have the perfect arrangement for you." Just then the shop’s door bell rang, and the shop clerk said, "Hi, Barbara...let me get your order." She politely excused herself, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses, except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers. Sandra watched for the customer's response.

Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. "You'd think after three years of getting the 'special',” Barbara, replied with an appreciative smile, “I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," and she gently tapped her chest. Then she left with her order. "Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh.... she just left with no flowers!" "Right,” said the clerk, "I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet." "Oh, come on, you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!” exclaimed Sandra. "Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling much like you feel today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery." "That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk, "and for the first time in my life, had just spent the Thanksgiving holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel." "So what did you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and never questioned the good things that happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask questions! It took time for me to learn that hard times are important. I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. Sometimes it took the sting of the thorns to encourage me to make changes I needed to make in my life. You know, the Bible says we can trust God in all things, that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His compassionate care we learn to comfort others." "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God. I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life."

Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" said the clerk. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving Special!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator. "Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?" "No...I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from "thorny" times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

Sandra said. "It's all too...fresh." "Give it time,” the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Don't resent the thorns." Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out. "I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute." "Thank you. What do I owe you?" "Nothing. Nothing, but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first." It read: "O God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the difficulties I bear; teach me the value of my thorns."^[iv] Heal me.

Hannah reminds us that God’s healing power is available. May we like her open our disappointments and wounds, the thorns in our lives, to God’s powerful healing touch. Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on November 19, 2006.