God's People: Hannah

Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord .Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”
As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in my victory. ~ I Samuel 1:8-15; 2:1


In Hannah we get many of the themes that we'll see play out in scripture over and over again. Barren women, faithfulness, promises and praise. In Hannah's song we see one of the most poetic examples of praise to God in scripture.

 But one theme that stands out here is an accusation of drunkenness.

 We've seen it before - with Noah. And we'll see it again, as the apostles are accused of it at Pentecost.

 Hannah's example is more like the latter. Like the followers of Jesus, Hannah is filled with the Spirit of God and so consumed in a state of prayer, that the priest, Eli, believes her to be drunk.

 We of the Lutheran tradition tend to be a bit more reserved in our prayer life than Hannah. Maybe we are a bit more like Eli.

 And it makes me wonder. As we find ourselves in a time where the church is facing all kinds of challenges with dwindling membership and loss of influence, are we missing some of the fire that Hannah found? 

 If we aren't excited about our faith, can we expect others to be?

 I'm not saying that every prayer or worship service needs to have the exuberance of Pentecost or of Hannah's prayer. Really...they can't all and still have integrity.

 And yet sometimes I wonder what it might be like if someone saw me and couldn't help but say: "There's another one of those drunken fools for Christ. I want some of that!"

 Prayer: Good and gracious God: you've given me much to be crazy about. Help me not be afraid to show it! Amen.

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