In the process of being weaned

1 Samuel 1:1-28, 2:1-10

Many of us know the story of Hannah from the Old Testament. She labored and toiled over the fact that she couldn’t bare children; the Lord had “closed her womb” (v 6). Though her husband, Elkanah, did not blame her and loved her very much, he didn’t understand her. I guess that’s pretty typical of men, right ladies? Even Elkanah’s other wife (back when polygamy was cool), Peninniah, made fun of her and rubbed in the fact that she had her own children. That’s not nice. Verse 11 says Hannah then “vowed a vow” and this was her heartfelt prayer:

"O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."

It wasn’t until Elkanah saw her break down in tears on her hands and knees and pray this prayer through muttering lips (v 7) that he understood her distress. At first, he thought she was drunk and accused her of not loving him as much as she should (v 8, v 12-14) but she explained to him the shame and trouble of her heart. He felt for her and blessed her for her honesty and fervent prayer (v 17).

The text says that they rose early the next morning and worshipped. After that, “Elkanah knew his wife” (which is to say they… well, you know) and “the Lord remembered her”. They conceived a son and when he was born she named him Samuel because she had “asked the Lord for him”. Not long after she weaned him, he was ready to be taken to the temple to be given over to the Lord and temple officiants.

Normally, a baby might be weaned off of breast-milk anywhere from six months to a year (assuming mothers weaned the same length of time as most mothers do now). If we can assume this, Hannah didn’t have her own child in her possession for very long. She simply wanted to experience the love of a child and the feeling of having her own son do the work of the Lord. So, she knew she wouldn’t be in charge of him long before she gave him over to the Lord’s service. Most importantly, in all of this Hannah made sure not only to deliver the promise she gave to God (to give her firstborn son over to the Lord) but she first praised God for His goodness and answering her plea. Hannah’s prayer, found in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 is a great example of a prayer of complete thankfulness, faith, and joy for God’s goodness and salvation

I can relate to Hannah’s situation. My soul has often toiled over my place in God’s will. My soul has been troubled over what He wants of me and how I can live my life as a servant like Samuel did. I've often replaced the words "son" in Hannah's prayers and pleas with the words "will" and "vocation". I was reluctant to accept God's call of church ministry on my life, but I've since prayed in like Hannah, "...forget your servant but give my your will, your vocation for my life, then I will give it to the LORD for all my life." I believe that I've accepted a particular call on my life and I'm in the weaning process. The space between the Lord's call and fulfilling the Lord's call is upon me now. I'm in the stage of God's call where I've vowed to give it over but am not ready to be taken to the temple.

I've been enjoying this last year where I've really been able to soak up a lot of worship experiences, practices, and lessons and it's all preparing me to take on God's call in my life. It's exciting. Much like Hannah (I'm sure) cherished every moment of time with her son before she brought him to the temple, I am cherishing every moment of blessing before I "move on" to the next thing in life. On the other hand, than there's all the waiting involved...

I am in still being weaned in preparation for greater things.

Speaker notes from @dcbfantastical conference

Late last night I returned from David Crowder's Fantastical Music Conference in his hometown of Waco, TX. Situated on the beautiful (and large, if you’re walking) campus of Baylor University, the Fantastical Conference was absolutely (ok, I’ll say it this one last time)… fantastical. From the selection of musical artists, to the fold-out-conference-information-kit-in-an-Altoids-can, to the keynote speakers, it’s near impossible for me to relay the awe, wonder, and inspiration this conference put in my heart and mind. But i'll try my best.

Since the main auditorium we participated in did not have wifi (and I wasn’t willing to pay insane 3G roaming charges), I wasn’t able to tweet the most interesting tidbits of information as they came to us. Instead, I opted to take as many notes as I could on my iPad and share them as a whole later on. So, here are some (certainly, not all nor the most inspiring) of the main points of my favorite 3 keynotes speakers: Francis Chan, Rob Bell, and Louise Giglio. Please keep in mind these aren’t exact quotes, but certainly the gist of what I thought they were speaking to me and my own experiences:

Chan:
- After reading the account in Exodus 15 where the people praised after the Red Sea miracle: “imagine the affection the people of God would experience is we witnessed a miracle of such extravagance in front of our own eyes today."
- ”The goal is not that we leave church feeling that our worship experience was “good”. The goal of a worship experience is God looking down to us and saying "that was good"
- Just because we cry out to God in our worship doesn't mean he's listening; our lives and relationships must be right as well (directed us to Acts 5)
- God wants us to sing in unity and encourage one another. When we can march side by side in unity, that’s when people will know our salvation.
- If we put ourselves and our story in the bible how would it look? Radical? Normal? Tame? Are our churches congruent with New Testament living?
- If we take care of the poor, oppressed, and needy as part of our worship God will answer us immediately.
- Repentance is important for the spiritual life of an affective worshipper

Bell:
- Rob Bell’s speaking was based around the importance of words. The worship leader places particular words on people’s lips; guiding the breath and stops/starts of people’s voices. Words are breath put together create a magnificent space
- Bell had a very interesting concept saying we should approach the bible more literately, not literally. The importance of metaphor in our worship language is used to explore our feelings and puts forwards our thoughts in a more concise manner.
- we need to have our worship experiences & art reflect the feelings, culture, & emotions of our culture; people can understand the gospel easier is they understand it in a way that is understandable to them (much like Jesus did using parables)
- Bell says there are three kinds of biblical language:
1) atonement language (to be biblical is to be an acute observer of the world around you using images, metaphor, and experience) – as leaders, we need to come up with new metaphors and images that speak to the wolrd around us
2) enthronement language (that language of Christ as kind, majesty, splendor, drown, etc.) – may be difficult for non-Christians to understand this language because royalty is unfamiliar to us
3) three-tiered universal language (putting value on the omnipresence of God; up/down, above/below, grave/depth, etc) – these are the kinds of metaphors we want to replace to make the Word understandable to people around us; in/around, oxygen, on, with us, etc.
- Be careful not to stifle the people who are using current experience, language, and image that can reach the unsaved, unchurched, and unsure. Letting the world know “WE ARE GOING TO BE FINE” is the sacred task ahead of us.


Giglio:
- we are cosmologically insignificant yet divinely prized
- “Creation literally sings and boasts of God's wonder”. Giglio showed a great example of this by displaying sights and sound sounds/noises that created objects like stars and flowers make. These objects were spoken into existence by a creative and beautiful God.
- So, we should sing because we are part of God's universe. Why not join with all creation when it sings?
- We operate on such a thin line of worshipping a creator/maker though everything around us worships Him right now.
- “I sing because I live in god’s universe.”
- “Why not join it?”