Then Hannah said this prayer:
My heart exults in
the Lord,
I am exalted in my God,
My mouth derides my foes,
For I
rejoice in your power of saving.
There is none as holy as the
Lord,
Indeed, there is none like you,
No rock like our God.
Do not
speak and talk with haughty words,
Let not arrogance come from your
mouth.
For the Lord is an all-knowing God
And God weighs our deeds.
The
bow of the mighty is broken,
But the feeble have girded themselves with
strength.
The sated hire themselves out for bread
But the famished cease
from labour;
The barren woman bears sevenfold,
But the mother of many is
desolate.
The Lord gives death and life,
Brings down to the Dead and draws
up;
The Lord makes poor and rich,
God humbles and also exalts.
God
raises the poor from the dust,
God lifts the needy from the dunghill,
To
give them a place with royalty,
And to assign them a place of honour;
For
to the Lord the props of the earth belong,
On these God has poised the
world.
Here ends the reading
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name was Mary. Upon entering Gabriel greeted her:
"Good
morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and
out!
God be with you."
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her:
"Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call him Jesus. He will be great, be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob's House forever - no end, ever to his Kingdom."
Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."
The angel said to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest will hover over you; therefore the child you will bring to birth will be called Holy, the Son of God. And did you know that you cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."
And Mary said: Yes, I see it all now; I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say."
And the angel left her.
Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and travelled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zechariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly:
"You're so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed! And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me? The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, the babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true!"
And Mary said
"I'm bursting with
Good News;
I'm dancing the song of my Saviour God.
God took one good look
at me, and look what happened!
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What
God has done for me will never be forgotten,
The God whose very name is holy,
set apart from all others.
God's mercy flows in wave after wave,
On those
who are in awe before God.
God bared God's own arm and showed great
strength,
Scattered the bluffing braggarts.
God knocked tyrants off their
high horses,
Pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to
a banquet;
The callous rich were left out in the cold.
God embraced the
chosen child Israel;
God remembered and piled on the mercies,
Piled them
high!
It's exactly what God promised
to Abraham and Sarah and to their
descendants."
Here ends the reading
You may find it helpful to follow the sermon along with these notes, completing the blanks and using the notes in your own prayer times with God this week.
Introduction
The sermon looked at two women who lived over 500 years apart in Israel. Hannah and Mary. Hannah was one of the two wives of a rich man, Elkannah. Elkannah's other wife, Peninnah had children and taunted Hannah for being infertile. In the ancient world being infertile was a sign of God's displeasure as children gave one status. Hannah ______ and ________ God to give her a son. She promised to offer the son back to God to be brought up in the sanctuary as a priest. Mary was about ____ years old when the angel Gabriel visited her. She trusted that what Gabriel said would happen even though it meant she would be gossiped about and put into danger.
Hannah & Mary's View of God
In the songs that both Hannah and Mary sing they tell us three things about God.
First God is ____________. God is separate from all that is profane. God is morally perfect.
Second God is ______________. The things that God has done - in turning the tables and giving the poor good things, means that God is unlike the many other deities that competed for the attention of the ancients.
Third God is _______________. God keeps the promises that have been made.
Our Low Places
The stories we have heard inspire and intrigue us as we can identify with so much of what has gone on:
God lifts Us Up
Jesus turns the tables on those who think they are "up and in" and lifts up those who are "down and out". Jesus doesn't care where we've been sleeping and welcomes us to his table and to his church. All we need to do is to respond to that invitation by recognising that Jesus is _________, seeing that Jesus is _____________ to the other gods that tempt us and to ______ Jesus to set us free from the addictions that drag us down.
Prayer
Jesus, there have been times when I have strayed a long way from you. There have been times when I have felt that I am not good enough to be a follower of you. There have been times when I have doubted you. I know that you don't care where I have been sleeping and that you just want to welcome me home with you. Help me to trust you, to welcome you back into my life so that I may grow in seeing your holiness, realising that there is none like you and trusting your promises. Amen.
Before the sermon this could be sung. (Tune available from MCCM)
The
Sorrow
Wild Goose Worship Resource Group of the Iona Community Used by
Permission
Don't tell me of a
faith that fears
to face the world around;
don't dull my mind with easy
thoughts
of grace without a ground.
I need to know
that God is real!
I need to know that Christ can feel
the need to touch
and love and heal
the world, including me!
Don't speak of
piety and prayers
absolved from human need;
don't talk of spirit without
flesh
like harvest without seed.
Don't sate my soul
with common sense
distilled from ages past,
inept for those who fear the
world's
about to breathe its last.
Don't set the
cross before my eyes
unless you tell the truth
of how our God, who finds
the lost,
was often found uncouth.
So, let the Gospel
come alive,
in actions plain to see
in imitation of the One
whose love
extends to me.
Introduction
This afternoon we are invited to hear two songs of two women; Hannah and Mary. Both women were Jewish, both lived in Israel, but they lived over 500 years apart from each other. What they had in common, above all, was that they were uniquely blessed by God.
Setting Hannah's Scene
A man named Elkannah had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children but Hannah had none as she was barren. In the Biblical world being barren was seen as being particularly unfortunate as children gave you status. Elkannah must have been quite rich to afford to maintain two wives. This was not illegal in Israel at the time but reasonably rare due to the higher costs of maintaining two families. Peninnah resented the extra attention that Elkannah gave to Hannah due to her infertility and became spiteful towards her. As a result Hannah pleased with the Lord to give her a son. Not only did Hannah pray and plead for a son, she made a vow to God to consecrate her son as a priest to God. This was a very unselfish act as in praying for a child she, at the same time, promised to give her child away to be brought up by priests. Her son would be dedicated to God's service and would live in the sanctuary itself.
By the time we meet Hannah her child, Samuel has been born and she is singing her praise to God. Hannah's song makes three points about God: First, she says that God is holy or separate from everything that is profane; God is morally perfect. Second, she says that God is incomparable - in an age where many deities vied for the attention of the masses, this is quite a claim and third, God is trustworthy.
However Hannah's song is remarkable for the way she sees God's holiness, incomparableness and trustworthiness work out. God fulfils these attributes by turning the world upside down for Hannah.
Having a child was Hannah's salvation and she was able to deride her enemies. Those who were full are now hungry, those who were rich are now poor, those who were barren are now fruitful. Those who were needy are now sitting with royalty.
Hannah's song finds a resonance in the song that Mary sings many years later.
Setting Mary's Scene
We are more familiar with Mary's story. She is engaged to Joseph, a carpenter in Nazareth. She is probably about 13 years old at the time of the visit of Gabriel - in those days women were married as soon as they were able to give birth to children. Gabriel appears and tells her she is to bear a son. She believes but is confused, but has the faith to accept God's will for her life. In her confusion she goes to see her cousin Elizabeth who, as we heard last week, had become pregnant at a late age and was aware of the power of God. As soon as Mary gets to Elizabeth she finds that she cannot contain her joy and she sings.
Like Hannah Mary rejoices in the qualities and attributes of God. God is holy - Mary sees God as her saviour and God's name is holy. God is incomparable because of the things that God has done. God has turned the tables on the rich and powerful and lifted up the humble and poor. God is trustworthy because God has kept the ancient promises made to Abraham and Sarah.
Hannah and Mary's Low Places
In the stories we have read and thought about there are more similarities to explore between Hannah and Mary. Both were in very difficult situations. Hannah was desperate for a child so she could have someone to nurture, love and care for. She was barren in an age when infertility was seen as a sign of God's displeasure. She was being tormented by her husband's other wife and was desperate for relief from the torment and the social pressures.
Mary is in a difficult situation. She has been told she is pregnant in an age when women who got pregnant out of marriage would be stoned to death. Even now in Palestinian villages the most horrific things happen to young women who get pregnant out of wedlock. Mary risked her forthcoming marriage as well as her life in order to say "yes" to God.
Our Low Places
The stories of Hannah and Mary inspire and intrigue us as we can identify with so much of their situations.
We feel angry when self-appointed religious leaders tell us that we cannot be Christian because of how we love, or how we dress, or because we think that women should be treated as equals. We get angry when we see people who are hurting, who are ground down with life's pressures being offered easy answers by the church on the lines of "get saved" or "become a Christian - it will be all right". We get angry when people assume that Jesus is for the holy types, for those who think that they know it all and see church as a hotel for saints.
God Lifts Us Up
Yet the message of the songs of Hannah and Mary is that Jesus is to be found in low places, with lowly people. Mary says that God has routed the proud, pulled down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. It is as if the shoppers in Selfridges and Harvey Nicks in town have been turned away and the goods given, free of charge to the users of the Booth Centre. It's as if the Cathedral has been cleared of its regular worshippers and the prostitutes of Minshull Street invited in instead.
MCC is testimony to the fact that Jesus turns the tables on the establishment and invites those who are supposed to be sinners to the feast. In the words of the song we are going to listen to He doesn't care where we have been sleeping.
Play Don Fransisco Song "I don't Care Where You've Been Sleeping"
I loved you long
before the time
your eyes first saw the day,
And everything I've
done
has been to help you on the way.
But you took all that you
wanted
then at last you took your leave,
And traded off a Kingdom
for
the lies that you believed.
And although
you've chosen darkness
with its miseries and fears,
Although you've gone
so far from Me,
and wanted all those years.
Even though my name's been
spattered
by the mire in which you lie,
I'd take you back this
instant
if you'd turn to Me and cry.
I don't care
where you've been sleeping,
I don't care who's made your bed.
I've already
gave My life to set you free;
There's no sin you could imagine
that is
stronger than My love,
And it's all yours
if you'll come home again to Me.
When you come back
to your senses
and you see who's been to blame,
Remember all the good
things
that were yours with just My name;
Then don't waste another
thought
before you change the way you're bound,
I'll be running out to
meet you
if you'll only turn around.
There is Hope
Sometimes. Like Hannah, we think there is no hope for our lives. We think that we have fallen to far, that we are too addicted to the things which keep us down or that God just doesn't want us to be happy. Sometimes, like Mary, we feel the eyes of others staring at us and condemning us because of our sexuality. Sometimes we think that faith isn't meant for people like us - yet as our songs have said - songs we have heard sung and songs we have had read to us - Jesus wants to lift us up, to clear a place at the table for us and to welcome us home. The tables are a-turning and space has been found for us - the challenge for us is to allow ourselves to join the feast.
In order to really have this hope we need to do three things - the three things that are highlighted in Mary and Hannah's songs.
First, we need to realise that Jesus is holy. He is morally perfect. If we follow his example as we live our lives we know that we are following that which is true, healthy and wholesome. It will be that in following Jesus' example we have to change our lives.
Second we have to realise that Jesus is incomparable. There are many gods competing for our attention now as there were in the time of Mary and Hannah. The gods may not be alternative religious systems like in those times, but the gods of consumerism, of selfishness, of self-centredness all rise up to tempt us to follow them. There is nothing and no-one like Jesus - and we have to realise this that we follow someone who is unique.
Third we have to trust in Jesus' promises. He promises to carry our loads, to set us free from the things that drag us down, to give us peace. All we need to do is to trust him.
If we wish to sing along with Hannah and Mary we need to follow their example and watch the tables of our world be turned around.
Prayer
Will you pray with me?
Jesus, there have
been times when I have strayed a long way from you.
There have been times
when I have felt that I am not good enough to be a follower of you.
There
have been times when I have doubted you.
I know that you don't care where I
have been sleeping and that you just want to welcome me home with you.
Help
me to trust you, to welcome you back into my life so that I may grow in seeing
your holiness,
realising that there is none like you
and trusting your
promises.
Amen.
Monday 9th December - Finding Hope
Scripture Reading:
You servants pray to you in times of trouble; even if floods come rushing down, they will never reach them. You are a hiding place for me, you guard me when in trouble, you surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32 verses 6 - 7.
Thought for the Day:
We all go through times of trouble. Sometimes the trouble is physical - to do with health or finance or work or neighbours. Sometimes the trouble is emotional and to do with doubt, depression and despondency. In all these times of trouble we need to apply our faith to find hope - the theme of our sermon this week and of these "Thoughts of the Day" is "Finding Hope". When troubles come which start to gnaw at your faith, or make you despondent and depressed we need to remember three things:
1: Remind yourself of God’s goodness yesterday.
Make a list of all the things God’s done in your life and just start being thankful. This attitude of gratitude is the healthiest emotion that you can have. Doctors have proven this. Gratitude is the healthiest emotion there is. You make a list of things you can be grateful for. Remember God’s goodness to me yesterday.
2. Remember God’s presence today.
God is with you now. You're not alone. You may feel like you're alone but you're not. You've just forgotten that God’s there with you. God says, “I’m here. I’m going to help you. I’ve promised I’ll never leave you or forsake you. I’m with you right now in this crisis.” Remember God’s presence today.
3. Remind yourself of God’s promises for tomorrow.
There’s over 7000 of them in the Bible. They’re like blank checks that you can just write out: “God, I claiming this one today. I’m turning in this coupon. I’m claiming this promise.” God has said “I will give you strength. I will give you the necessary tools. I will give you the wisdom you need in this situation if you’ll just call on Me.”
God’s goodness yesterday, God’s presence today, God’s promises tomorrow. I don’t need to doubt. I don’t need to be discouraged. I don’t need to be distracted.
Action:
Tuesday 10th December - Seeing Holiness
Scripture Reading:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high throne. The Lord's train filled the Temple, above the Lord stood two seraphs, each one with six wings, two to cover its face, two to cover its feet and two for flying. And they cried out to one another in this way: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. God's glory fills the whole earth." The foundation of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said: "What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the Sovereign, the Lord of Hosts."
Isaiah Chapter 6, verses 1 - 5.
Thought for the Day:
When people use the word "Holiness" we may have a number of different images that come to mind. We might think of holy places - like great Cathedrals or Shrines. We may think of particular music we associate with holiness - for me I always think of monks or nuns singing Gregorian Plainsong. We may think of particular people, saints like Mother Teresa or Francis of Assisi. All these things are, of course, holy, but they can be rather divorced from our every day lives. God is holy but God is seen in so much more than certain buildings, particular songs or in special people. Isaiah experienced a vision of the holiness of God when he went to pray in the Temple in Jerusalem. He saw the Lord and he saw the angels who minister to God. In essence something is holy if it has been touched by God.
Action:
Wednesday 11th December - Incomparable
Scripture Reading:
Oh Lord our God, how great your name throughout the earth! Above the heavens is your majesty chanted by the mouths of children, babes in arms. You set your stronghold firm against your foes to subdue enemies and rebels. I look up at the heavens, made by your fingers, at the moon and stars you set in place - ah, what is humanity that you spare a thought for us, mere mortals that you care for us? Yet you have made us a little lower than the angels, you have crowned us with glory and splendour, making us lord over the works of your hands, set all things under our feet.
From Psalm 8
Thought for the Day:
The writer of the Psalm has spent an evening staring at the Heavens and experiencing, with awe, the holiness of God. The Psalmist realises that there is no one who is like God. In the world of ancient Israel, as in the time of the Early Church and in our own time, there were many different religious traditions to choose from. Even when the Jewish people left Egypt, they looked back to their days of slavery and hankered after some of the gods whom they had previously worshipped. They knew that God was without comparison, was high above all other gods, but still they wanted to "shop around". In the world of the Early Church Christians stood out from their friends and family in that they recognised God was incomparable and they refused to worship anyone, or anything else. In our time, we know that God is without compare, but we often are tempted to "shop around" and look for meaning, happiness and worship elsewhere.
At this time of year the temptation is to bury this time of Advent and the coming season of Christmas in worries about presents, rushing around shops, looming stress, worries about spending time with people we may not want to and in spending too much money. Whilst Christmas is a fun time of the year and whilst it is wonderful to celebrate with friends and loved ones, if we loose sight of why were are celebrating we are starting to compare God - who is incomparable - with the gods of greed and consumerism.
Action:
Think of ways in which you can enjoy this time of the year without becoming so stressed that you loose sight of what Advent and Christmas is all about.
Thursday 12th December - Turning the Tables
Scripture Reading:
I waited and waited for the Lord, now at last God has stooped to help me and has heard my cry for help. God has pulled me out of the horrible pit, out of the slough of the marsh, has settled my feet on a rock and steadied my steps. God has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; dread will seize many at the sight, and they will put their trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40 verses 1-3.
Thought for the Day:
On Sunday we heard two songs from women in the Bible who felt that the Lord had turned the tables on the world. Hannah, who was infertile, was given a child and she recognised how the Lord lifted up the poor from the mud and removed the rich from the places of power. Mary, who said "yes" to God despite what others might think, realised that the Lord "fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty".
Our world is not like this, however. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In our world one third of the people have access to two thirds of the wealth. Jesus said that the poor were blessed but we sometimes wonder how blessed they are. Our newspapers are not full of "news" but gossip about over rich celebrities, whilst in the developing world people struggle to find food. In our Region in MCC our churches in Europe - whilst always thinking we have not got enough money for our ministry - are immeasurably better off financially than the churches in Africa.
Yet, Jesus turns the tables on all this. In his ministry he told the holy people that he wasn't there for them and ate, instead, with tax collectors, prostitutes and those who were seen to be unclean. MCC was founded to turn the table around so that those who had never been invited to the feast were seated in places of honour.
Action:
Friday 13th December - Praying and Pleading
Scripture Reading:
Then Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. "There was a judge in a certain town who had neither fear of God nor respect for humans. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying ';I want just from you against my enemy!' For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, "Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for humans, but since she keeps pestering me I must give the widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death." Jesus said "Now will not God see justice done to the chosen who cry day and night even when God delays to help them? I promise you, God will see justice done to them and done speedily."
St Luke Chapter 18 verses 1-5 and 7
Thought for the Day
In Sunday's service we heard of Hannah who prayed to and pleaded with God for a son. Hannah was infertile in an age when children were seen as signs of both God's favour and social status. To be infertile was to be seen as being punished by God. In the reading today Jesus urges us to pray and pester God like the unfortunate widow pesters the judge for justice.
Sometimes we think we cannot pray for our own needs. We may feel comfortable joining in the prayers for the world and for other people in church on Sundays. We may find we are able to pray a set prayer, like the Lord's Prayer, or even pray for other people but feel very uncomfortable praying for ourselves and our own needs. Yet all of us have worries, stresses, struggles and strains. There is no shame in talking to God about these, asking for strength to cope with them and asking for freedom from the things that would drag us down.
God will always answer our prayers and will always give to us those things which will, ultimately, do us good. Sometimes we may think that God is not answering our prayers or that God is saying "no". This may be because what we are asking for will not do us good or it maybe that we need to show God how serious we are about the thing we are praying for. The widow in today's reason didn't give up after being rebuffed and we may be sure that Hannah had prayed for a son for many years.
Action:
Saturday 14th December - Saying "Yes" To God
Scripture Reading:
Gabriel said: "Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever ad his reign will have no end…..Mary said I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me."
St Luke Chapter 1, verses 31 -34 and verse 38.
Thought for the Day:
It is amazing to realise that the whole divine plan to save the human race rested not on great spiritual battles or strategic decisions by hosts of angels, but on the willingness of a 13 year old Palestinian girl to say "yes" to an angel. Mary must have been terrified by Gabriel's appearance. She would have known what people would have said in her village about her when the pregnancy began to show. Worse, she would have known that if her fiancé did not stand by her she could face expulsion from the village, shame and even death by stoning. By saying "yes" to God she was risking her reputation and her life as well as her relationship.
We too are called to say "yes" to God and we too are called to risk much. By saying "yes" to living a lifestyle based on Christian values we are being different from the culture of our world which may cause people to make fun of us or misunderstand us. By saying "yes" to God's call to love without counting the cost and to give without realizing we are returning to God what already belongs to God we are being radically different from the ideology espoused by our world and by our culture. By saying "yes" to God's call to grow in spirituality and maturity we are going against our cultures which value immature and hysterical behaviour.
We, like Mary, are called to say "yes" to God and to do so without regard to the consequences, trusting that God honours our obedience.
Action:
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.