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Hannah was a miserable person.

What We Can Say -I Samuel 1: 1-18; Isaiah 43: 1-13: I John 1: 1-9 - February 20, 2011- Cicero
United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            Hannah was a miserable person. As her story is told in the first chapter of I Samuel in the
Bible, she lived in deep unhappiness. She was married to a man named Elkanah, who loved her
deeply, much more than he loved his other wife. The problem was, Hannah had no children,
and they lived in a time when a woman's worth was measured by the children she bore. ·And
this distressed Hannah deeply. Elkanah tried to comfort her, saying, "Isn't it enough that I love
you more than anything?" But Hannah continued to weep; and her rival-wife ridiculed her for
being without child, Eventually Hannah's depression became so severe that she couldn't eat.

            Then one day Hannah slipped away to the temple and made a special prayer. As it turned
out, the priest Eli saw her praying to herself, and at first he thought she was drunk. But she told
him about her sorrow, and Eli witnessed to her, finally giving her this priestly blessing: "Go in
peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him." Then there is this wonderful
verse in I Samuel 1: 18: "Then (Hannah) went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband,
and her countenance was sad no longer." She went from being a depressed person to a joyous
person because of an encounter with the priest Eli, who reminded her of the goodness of God.

            There is a lot of misery in this world. People we know and love, and people we meet only
briefly and hardly know, go through some very unhappy times. And in the compassion of our
hearts, we often wish we could do something about it. We wish we could be like Eli - that we
could know the words that might comfort a friend; or have something to offer someone who is
going through rough times. It seems so simple for Eli - he listened to Hannah's lament, and
then he said, IIGo in peace." And herlife was changed. Could you and I be Eli for someone?

            Of course, we may say, Eli was a high priest - and we can't all be high priests; he was a
professional. But one of the things we believe in as Protestant Christians is 'the priesthood of
all believers.' Protestant faith claims that all of us can have direct access to God, and thereby
we can be priests for each other. We can bring others into the presence of God's love. We can
be witnesses of what the Lord has done. That's what Jack and I have been preaching about for
a few weeks now, and we openly acknowledge that the thought of being a witness of faith can
be a scary one. We wonder what we should say, or if we'll say the wrong things. The Bible is
full of reluctant witnesses - people like Moses or Jeremiah or Jonah. They didn't feel eloquent
enough or courageous enough or ready enough to tell someone else about God. And you and I
often feel that way too. So what I'd like to do this morning is to share three simple statements
that anyone of us could say to respond to three of the deepest human laments we might
encounter in today's world. Certainly there are all kinds of things we could say to someone in
need, but if one of these simple statements was all we could think of, we've said a lot. We've
shared something that could make the difference in somebody's life.

            The first lament we might hear from somebody is, "I'm worthless." There are a lot of people in today's world who question their own self-worth, and there are a lot of forces in this world that conspire to make us feel that way. Christian witnesses like you and me have something to say to people who feel worthless. It is simple and true, and doesn't require any eloquence at all. It just requires a sincere heart. The words are these: God made you, and you are beautiful. There is nothing as powerful as the truth - and those words are true, and they have the power to change a life. And maybe you have to say them again and again for them to sink in, but in this world where so many people get beat up and knocked down and scorned and ridiculed-
God made you, and you are beautiful. I pray everyone here this morning hears that and
believes it. It is the heart of our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah: I have called you by name,
says the Lord; I made you, and you are mine.

            There are a lot of people who don't believe that. They have been convinced that they are
only beautiful if they fit a particular image, or they are only worthy if they meet certain
standards. It is something that is drummed in very young, and it stays with you throughout life.
But it's not true. What is true is that God made each of us in God's own image, and we carry
that within us, and it is beautiful. Canadian writer and worker with the disabled Jean Vanier
wrote, 'To love someone is not first ... to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty
and value - to say to them, through your attitude, You are beautiful. You are important. 1 trust
you. You can trust yourself. Around you there is somebody who is fighting the battle of self-
worth, and God has given you, through the gift of your faith, the message they need to hear.

            A second lament we might run across is, I feel so guilty. This is the lament of guilt for the
wrong things we've said and done --another battle many, many people are fighting - the ghost
of mistakes past and present. Children who feel they have let down their parents; spouses who
have broken their promises; parents who have lost their cool with their children; all of us who
realize that we have fallen short of our ideals.

            I heard about a little girl who was riding in the backseat of the car with her baby brother, and she asked her parents, 'Why did you have to have another kid?' Her mother said, 'Now
remember, God made your little brother and sent him to us as a beautiful gift.' The little girl
looked over at her brother, who was in the process and yelling and throwing cereal all over the
back of the car, and she said, 'Yes, but even God must wish He had a do-over once in a while.'

            According to the Bible, in the days of Noah, God wished just that - for a do-over. Humankind acted with such evil that God repented for creating us - our sin and destructiveness was so deep. And we long for do-over as well. Study after study shows the extent of guilt in our
society, and the extreme psychological and sociological implications of that guilt. Woody Allen
jokes about it. He said that his Jewish mother instilled such a sense of guilt, that he couldn't

succeed in baseball, because every time he stole second base he'd feel so guilty that on the
next pitch he'd run back to first. Would that it was that easy to erase our guilt.

            But our faith has something to say about guilt; and Christians have a very simple message to deliver when we encounter someone who is riddled by the sins of his or her past. It is this -
Jesus died for you, and you are forgiven. That simple statement carries the central truth of our
lives. It is God's answer to our guilt, and it is meant to set us free. God doesn't intend for any of
us to walk around under the weight of crippling guilt. That is the heart of our New Testament
lesson from I John: 'This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you; that God
is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light ... we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.'

            If you have not been able to let go of past failures and shortcomings, now is the time. Jesus died for you, and you are forgiven. It's that simple. And somewhere near you there is someone who needs to know that, or they can never be free in this life. And you may be the priest that God has sent to them. You may have to say it over and over, but you can set them free with the simple but absolutely true claim: Jesus died for you, and you are forgiven.

            A third lament might be summarized in the statement, 'I am powerless.' It is the belief that things are what they are, we are who we are - and we have no control over our lives or over
what happens. I saw a basketball coach who must have felt that way after his team had lost yet
another game. He said, 'Well, we can't win at home; and we can't win on the road. I just can't
figure out where else to play.' There are a lot of people who reach that level of discouragement
- they don't believe they have the power to change their situation. They don't see any way
out. They are simply at the mercy of whatever the world throws at them.

            God wants us to deliver a message to those who feel helpless. And we don't need fancy
words; it's one simple statement: The Holy Spirit is moving, and we are empowered. Do you
know that scientists have determined that if we could harness the power of the sun for one
second, it could power our nation for nine million years. And as amazing as that is, our faith
tells us that there is a power in this universe far greater than the sun. And get this! That power
is aligned with your best interests. That power, the power of God's Holy Spirit, is dedicated to
your salvation, your hope, your empowerment for all the best life has to offer. The apostle Paul
in Romans 8 said it this way, 'In all things, God works for good for those who love and fear

Him .. .If God is for us, who is against us?' The power of the universe is behind us.

            We certainly have an amazing parable for that kind of empowerment happening in the
Middle East today. Just weeks ago, no one could have imagined the empowerment of millions
and millions of people in Egypt, or Tunisia, or Bahrain - trapped without recourse under
repressive governments. But today there is dancing in the streets because of the spirit of

freedom that is moving. Amazing things can happen when people believe. Amazing things can
happen in your life and mine when we share the simple affirmation of God's power with each
other, and live it out People can be set free. Peace and justice can happen. Lives can be
changed. God needs witnesses to declare His love, His forgiveness, His power.

            One of the great preachers in recent times is Fred Craddock, and he once was travelling
through East Tennessee, and stopped to eat at a diner. He got into a talk with an older man
sitting nearby, and the man asked what Craddock did for a living. When he identified himself as
a preacher, the man's face lit up, and he asked if he could tell Craddock about the moment in
church that turned his life around. It seems that he grew up in a small Tennessee town, and he
had been born out of wedlock, and nobody knew who his father was. In that town, that was a
badge of dishonor. He was laughed at and called the 'bastard boy', and taunted endlessly. He
went around with his head down, never looked anyone in the face, never felt worthy to speak.

            He wasn't sure what it was that drew him to church, but he went most Sundays, quietly
sitting in the back corner, and hardly looking around. Then one day, after he had slipped out of
the church and was well down the sidewalk, he heard one of the men of the church yell after
him. 'Young man, young man. Come back here.' His first instinct was to run, but instead he
turned and slowly walked back to the church. The man was waiting there, surrounded by other
curious people, and in front of all of them he asked the question that this boy hated worst of
all. He said, 'Young man, do you know whose son you are?' And before the boy could respond,
the man reached over and raised the boy's chin so they could see eye to eye. "You're God's
son', he said, quietly, but firmly. 'God made you. And from now on, when you come to this
church I want you to look me in the eye and be proud of who you are. You're God's son, and I
reckon that means you and I are brothers."

            Those were simple words, but that moment, said the old man, changed his life, and set him on a whole different path. Craddock listened to that man's story, and was so thankful the man shared it, he asked for the man's name. Ben Hooper, was the response. And after the man left the restaurant, Craddock said aloud, 'Ben Hooper. Ben Hooper. Wasn't there a governor in this state named Ben Hooper?' ‘Yes,' said the waitress, looking at the old man walking down the
sidewalk. 'Governor Hooper is one of our favorite customers.'

            People are hurting today, carrying around heavy loads of worthlessness, guilt, and despair, God has Good News for them; but He needs someone to carry it. That's your job, and mine- but what can we say? It's basic Christian doctrine - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: God made you, Jesus died for you, and the Spirit is moving. Combine one of those messages with one
other - 'I'm here for you' - and lives can change. Devastated young men can turn out to be
governors. People are set free, transformed, saved. Grace is amazing.