{"id":4499,"date":"2022-11-27T18:59:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T18:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/27\/hope-based-on-genesis-167-13-and-luke-126-38\/"},"modified":"2022-11-27T18:59:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T18:59:39","slug":"hope-based-on-genesis-167-13-and-luke-126-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/27\/hope-based-on-genesis-167-13-and-luke-126-38\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHope\u201d based on Genesis 16:7-13 and Luke 1:26-38"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

This Advent
\nstarts with annunciations \u2013 announcements to two women of what life
\nthey are bringing forth into the world. \u00a0These are told as God’s
\nmighty acts, the ways God impacts the world through these women and
\ntheir sons. \u00a0They set up the anticipation of Advent \u00a0– a knowing of
\nwhat is coming, an awareness that it is not here yet, and some rather
\nsignificant worries about the journey from here to there. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The
\ntwo stories today are united not only by the announcements they
\ncontain, nor the scared young women, nor the extraordinary sons they
\nwill have. \u00a0In a way we might not have noticed before, the stories
\nare united by slavery.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hagar
\nIS enslaved. \u00a0Mary’s response to God, once it is translated without
\nattempting to soften it, is \u00a0\u201cHere am I, the woman-slave of God;
\nlet it be with me according to your word.\u201d
\nThis response reminds me that Mary was a vulnerable girl, one who was
\nresponding to the STATEMENT (not question or request) from a Powerful
\nGod of what would happen to her. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nDoes Mary respond, \u201cI have no
\npower here, so do what you wish\u201d? Or \u201cI am willing?\u201d \u00a0Would it
\nmatter? \u00a0The messenger had told her what would be, not asked her if
\nshe was willing. \u00a0The response that says, \u201cI am a woman-slave of
\nGod\u201d could be humility and respect, or a desire not to be killed
\nfor disagreeing. \u00a0Mary is written into a no win situation. \u00a0To say no
\nto God, when a direct messenger is sent, is known to be a bad idea.
\n(Yet, many of us do it regularly with only continued nagging to pay
\nfor it… so, there is that.) \u00a0To agree to a pregnancy while engaged
\nand not sleeping with one’s fiance is to become eligible for stoning.
\n It would be proof of adultery. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nMary’s response says she is
\nGod’s slave. \u00a0Hagar’s life is one of a slave. \u00a0These are not the same
\nthing, but the connection between should be unsettling. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Hagar
\nis enslaved. \u00a0She is enslaved and endures both physical and sexual
\nviolence. \u00a0Before our story begins, she runs away into the
\nwilderness, which means she was deciding to die rather than endure
\nmore. \u00a0Yet, in the wilderness, by spring of water which meant life
\ncould continue, Hagar had an encounter with the Divine. \u00a0(She is the
\nfirst woman to do so, also the first woman to be told directly she
\nwill bear a child…. one of only three.) \u00a0She is addressed, by name,
\nby the Holy Messenger. \u00a0She is told what will happen.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

And,
\nshe is told to return to the violence she had run from. \u00a0Further,
\nshe is told that the
\nviolence she experiences will become the legacy of the child she
\nbears, who will struggle against those he will call kin, as well
\nthose who come after him. \u00a0(This is an ancestor story, where the
\nancestors serve as symbols for the people who claim their names.)
\nThen Hagar NAMES God, which is a HUGE deal, and calls God, \u201cThe God
\nwho sees me.\u201d \u00a0 Ishmael’s name mean’s God hears.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThese indicate a powerful
\nblessing experience. \u00a0These indicate she took hope from this
\nencounter. \u00a0She feels seen, and heard. \u00a0Now, of course, an experience
\nof the Divine IS a blessing, and would be one that she couldn’t have
\nexpected. \u00a0EVEN THOUGH she gets sent back to slavery, back to
\nviolence, back to abuse, Hagar calls God, \u201cGod who sees me\u201d and
\ncalls her son, \u201cGod hears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nPhew.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n I find myself wishing God had
\nchanged things for her, not just sent her back to the same situation
\nas a slave, experiencing violence. \u00a0Yet, I cannot dismiss the power
\nof her experience. \u00a0It wasn’t perfect, it didn’t end with happily
\never after. \u00a0Oppression, even, continued. \u00a0And, for Hagar, there was
\nhope. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut, hope is sturdier than
\nperfection. \u00a0Hope is grounded. \u00a0Hope is real and faces the world as
\nit is. \u00a0Hope doesn’t require fairy tale endings, it means us where we
\nare. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is good, because if only
\npeople who know no oppression can have hope, few people could.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHagar’s story isn’t particularly
\nunique. \u00a0Many people have been enslaved in human history, including
\nto this day. \u00a0Many people have experienced sexual violence. \u00a0Many
\npeople have been forced into marriages where sex is expected, but not
\ntruly consented to. \u00a0I fear that most women in history can identify
\nwith Hagar.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd yet, there has been hope.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHagar’s pregnancy was
\ncomplicated. \u00a0I think maybe Mary’s was too. \u00a0And, the Bible says,
\ntheir pregnancies changed the world for the better. \u00a0We needed
\nIshmael. \u00a0We needed Jesus. \u00a0We needed them raised by their mothers,
\nwho had particular wisdom, particular faith, particular experiences
\nof the Divine, particular gifts.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis idea of a complicated
\npregnancies, ones that threatened the life and well-being of the
\nmother, ones that changed the course of history, THESE are stories of
\nAdvent.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThese are stories of things NOT
\nbeing as they should be.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThese are stories of waiting for
\nGod to act to make things better.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHagar felt blessed by her
\nencounter. \u00a0A miracle here is that the people who wrote the book
\nunderstood themselves to be Issac’s descendants, but they wrote the
\nstory of Ishmael’s mother. \u00a0And they admitted the wrong done to her.
\nAnd they thought of her as blessed. \u00a0And they perceived in her
\nexperiences of God, EVEN THOUGH they thought of her descendants as
\ntheir enemies. \u00a0That has a sense of the hand of God in the telling of
\nthe stories to me. \u00a0That’s not generally how we tell the stories, the
\nway the victor’s narrative reigns.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWhatever Mary’s experience of
\nher pregnancy was, I still believe that the life and faith of Jesus
\nwere formed by his family, and his mother. \u00a0And somewhere along the
\nline I do believe she had profound experiences of God, and was able
\nto teach them to her son.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHagar and Mary were people with
\nlimited choices. \u00a0These women were on the margins, their sons were on
\nthe margins, but their sons ALSO cared for others on the margins and
\nin doing so changed human history. \u00a0Even encounters with God didn’t
\nmake everything better. \u00a0But being HEARD, being SEEN, being CHOSEN,
\nmattered. \u00a0It gave them hope. \u00a0It gave them meaning. \u00a0It gave them
\nstrength. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, I believe, it gave their
\nsons compassion. \u00a0And I note, as well, the power of being heard,
\nseen, and loved.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat’s another of those weird
\nthings about real hope. \u00a0It can take the hard, the horrible, the
\nugly, the painful, even the traumatic, and work with it. \u00a0Real hope
\ndoesn’t require a pristine, hygienic, sterile environment. \u00a0It meets
\nus where we are, just like God. \u00a0And it works from here. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHagar being enslaved was not OK.
\n It has never been OK for any human who was enslaved. And, those who
\nhave lived as enslaved people still had hope. \u00a0They had hope for the
\nend of slavery. They had hope things wouldn’t always be that way. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nSome had hope of escape. \u00a0Some
\nhad hope of little moments of connection or compassion with others.
\nMany had hope in God, the one who never stops caring no matter how
\nhard things get.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, changes are pretty high the
\nmother of Jesus didn’t get pregnant after choosing her marital
\npartner, experiencing desire, and consenting to intercourse. \u00a0This,
\ntoo, is not OK. \u00a0And, this too happened to many, many, many women.
\nIt continues to happen. \u00a0It is not OK. \u00a0But it isn’t the end of hope.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

I
\nam now preaching after the most recent attack on the LGBTQIA+
\ncommunity in the form of a gunman attacking Club Q in Colorado
\nSprings. \u00a0The attack was less deadly than it might have been because
\nof the actions of a vet and a drag queen, who took down the gunman.
\nThank God they stopped him. \u00a0And yet 5 people are dead, 19 are
\ninjured, and once again the safety and sanctity of the club has been
\nviolated. \u00a0Trauma abounds. \u00a0Grief abounds. \u00a0The sickening reality of
\nthe danger of being queer or trans is affirmed. \u00a0The still present
\nhorrors from the similar attack on Pulse Nightclub are resurgent.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd I wonder about this sticky,
\nsturdy, real hope I’m talking about. \u00a0What does it even look like?
\nIs this a hope that someday our children will be able to dance in
\npeace? \u00a0 Is this a hope that maybe one person who might commit
\nviolence like that could receive love in ways that prevent it? \u00a0Is it
\na hope that reasonable gun laws might make these shootings harder
\naccomplish? \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nCause I still want hope to look
\nperfect. \u00a0I want it to be that there is NO more violence against
\nqueer and trans people ever again. \u00a0I want an end to gun violence,
\nand an end to violence. \u00a0I want clubs to thump and throb with music,
\nnever again interrupted by gun fire. \u00a0I want veterans to come home
\nwithout PTSD, and not need to position themselves to see exits, and
\nnot be needed to stop shooters. \u00a0Ok, I want there to be no need for
\nveterans.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, I’m struck by both God and
\nhope being more willing to be in this reality than I am. \u00a0To know the
\nbrokenness we live in, and not give up. \u00a0To see how hard things are,
\nto see how interconnected the struggles are, and not be overcome. \u00a0To
\nknow the grief, the heartache, the violation, the trauma, and not let
\nit be the only or the final word.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nOur God is a God who sees.<\/p>\n

\nA God who hears.<\/p>\n

\nAnd a God of hope. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nGod calls us from this world of
\nviolence into the kindom of peace. \u00a0God gives us gifts of peace, love, joy, and hope.
\nGod calls us to be peace-makers, love-sharers, joy-spreaders,
\nhope-increasers. \u00a0May we receive and act on God’s call. \u00a0May this
\nAdvent be a time of quiet transformation so that what God is growing
\nus may soon break forth. \u00a0Amen <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

November 27, 2022<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Advent starts with annunciations \u2013 announcements to two women of what life they are bringing forth into the world. … Continue reading \u201cHope\u201d based on Genesis 16:7-13 and Luke 1:26-38<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,28,33,86,1531,1529,1265,1532,1533,848,1530,405,56,57,1528,1463],"class_list":["post-4499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-umc","tag-advent","tag-annunciations","tag-break-forth","tag-first-umc-schenectady","tag-god-hears","tag-god-of-hope","tag-god-who-sees","tag-hagar-and-mary","tag-hope","tag-schenectady","tag-sorry-about-the-umc","tag-thinking-chruch","tag-womens-lectionary-for-the-whole-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}