Out of Small Things

PROPERS:          PROPER 28, YEAR B  

TEXT:                1 SAMUEL 1:4-20

PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2021.

 

ONE SENTENCE:        Monumental movements have humble beginnings.

 

            In the hill country of Samaria – in what is today the West Bank of Israel – the town of Shiloh stood.  It is long-gone, but archeology has identified it – hard between an Israeli settlers’ village and a settlement of Palestinians. It is contested land today – subject to international negotiations.

 

            Shiloh, long ago, in those biblical days, was a holy town.  It predated Jerusalem as the central site of Jewish worship.  It was there, in a tent, that the Ark of the Covenant had been placed.

 

            People would come there to pray… and to offer sacrifices, the chief form of worship under the Law.

 

            It was to that shrine that Hannah came.  She was one of two wives to Elkanah.  He loved her deeply.  He gave a double-portion of his sacrificed food to her – a time when food was scarce.

 

            But Hannah was deeply troubled.  Even though she and Elkanah had been married for years, she had not yet given birth to a child.  And Elkanah’s other wife had multiple sons and daughters – a fact, his other wife, Peninnah reminded her of frequently.

 

            Hannah was bereft, heartbroken.  She went to the holy tent to pray.  She prayed silently –  her lips moved quietly.  Eli, the sacred tent’s overseer, saw her and assumed she was drunk. He confronted her – but she explained her plight.

 

            He sent her away, with best wishes and a prayer.

 

            She soon conceived and gave birth to a child – Samuel.

 

            An obscure moment in a tiny town, three millennia ago. The child, Samuel would have reverberations down through history.

 

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            A widely-accepted theory is that 13.8 billion years ago there was an infinitesimally small particle in a massive void.  In an instant – a fraction of a second that includes decimal point followed by 38 zeros – that particle, containing allelements in the universe, exploded.  All the planets, stars and matter that exist today began to expand and form. The universe continues to expand today – gaining speed with each moment, at a distance that is measured in light years, the number of which is measured in 59 zeros.

 

            Two Nobel Prize winning scientists from the Bell Labs allowed us to hear the hiss of that expansion in the 1950s. It is the background noise of the universe.

 

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            A young woman, perhaps 15 years old, was living in a tiny village in the Galilee.  In the solitude of her prayers, she sensed the voice of the Almighty… the Ancient of Days… YAHWEH Elohim… the One Who Is… telling her of something small, but something that would have earth-shaking effect. She was blessed among women.  Her journey is the reason for the season which begins two weeks from today.

 

            She would give birth to a child. She had known no man.  She was unmarried.

 

            The world would change because of that small moment in solitude.

 

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            It’s amazing how small events… small things… can have long-term impacts.

 

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            Samuel was born to Hannah.  He was dedicated to God as a Nazerite because he had been a gift to his parents.  Samuel would go on to do great things.

 

            A few years later,  while still a child, in the darkness and silence of the tent where he slept, he heard the voice of God telling him of the downfall of the House of Eli, his mentor.

 

            Samuel would go on. He would anoint Saul as the first king of Israel – an action he came to rue.

 

            Later, and under threat from Saul, he travelled to Bethlehem.  There he watched as the sons of Jesse walked before him.  He discerned that God had chosen none of them. So, he asked Jesse about others. Jesse said his youngest son was out tending the flocks. Samuel summonsed him. David came and was anointed king.

 

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            From time immemorial, we have seen how small events, small circumstances, small groups can change the trajectory of existence.

 

            The cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

 

            It is not only groups, though.  It has been moments.  It has been individuals.

 

From Moses to Jesus to Paul to Martin Luther to Elizabeth I to the men at Lexington and Concord  to  Martin Luther King– great events spring from small beginnings. Life is not fate. We are all potential actors on the stage of history,

 

            Bear this in mind:  There is no limit to what God can do with a willing person, even in what seems like an insignificant moment.