Mother’s Day can be a day that seems exclusive – only relevant to those who have borne children. But it is really a day for everyone – because we all have a mother! The quality of that relationship – good, strained, or non-existent – inevitably has a huge impact on the life of every human being. If you’ve had a great mother, we rejoice and celebrate with you. If you had a complicated or missing mother, we sympathize with you. This week, we will be looking at the story of a faithful and faith-filled mother, and how her story can inspire all of us.
The story of Hannah opens the book of 1 Samuel, a book which begins the saga of the monarchy. This unfolding story of the monarchy – a succession of warrior kings, some goodish and many quite bad, which ends in captivity and exile -- is introduced with the story of a barren woman, longing for a child. In Hannah’s story, we see weakness and vulnerability paired with an astonishing faith in the God of Israel. When he grants her request for a child, Hannah prays a powerful prayer extolling the God who brings down the mighty and lifts up the humble. Her words will be echoed centuries later in the triumphant prayer of another mother, Mary. If Israel’s kings had lived and governed according to the words of Hannah’s and Mary’s prayers, what a different trajectory Israel’s story would have had.
Motherhood is not for the faint of heart! It is filled with joys, challenges, vulnerabilities, and ultimately stretches us to our limits. But in Hannah’s story we see a model of how weakness and vulnerability can be submitted to God in a way that leads to victory rather than defeat. And that is a message that is relevant for all of us – men and women, fathers and mothers, young and old, single, married, or child-free. Please join us as we allow a mother to point us toward the God who brings down the mighty, lifts up the humble, and watches over his children.
