Is God Listening?
There are times in our life when we ask ourselves? Is God listening? Does God hear our prayers? Particularly in the past two years , - I’ve heard many people ask this question. This morning’s gospel isn’t exactly reassuring either. Jesus tells his disciples “ For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines”... What about floods, fires and pandemics ?
There are times in life when blessings abound, when our hearts are filled with gratitude and the sun seems to shine brighter and the air clearer. God seems nearby and prayers are answered readily. But sometimes that’s not the case. Darkness comes into our lives. We feel overcome with sadness, grief or a helpless inability to turn things around. God feels far away and distant. We wonder. Does God hear our cries and prayers?
Hannah, from the Book of first Samuel wonders this very question. She is a faithful woman who is begging God to hear her prayers. She is despondent and struggling with infertility, unable to conceive a child. Her husband Elkanah is perplexed. Why is your heart sad? You have everything you need, lots of money, a great husband - me! “Am I not more to you than ten sons!” he asks her? Her rival, Elkanah’s other wife, “provokes her severely” - in modern language, she bullies her and further exacerbates her feeling of isolation and failure. But Hannah is not completely without hope, she goes to the temple to pray. Here she endures doubt and insults from the priest Eli who thinks she is drunk. But she continues her quest and asks for a baby boy. She promises that if God fulfills her wish, she will raise a Nazarite son who’s hair she will not cut nor will alcohol touch his lips. Soon after, she bears a son, and names him Samuel who’s name means “God has heard”. She sings a song to God in praise, reminiscent of Mary’s song.. Ultimately Hanna’s prayers are heard and answered.
The prayers of Hanna, like prayers we sometimes utter in pain, confusion, sorrow, desperation - these are called prayers of lament. Lamentation, which is a prayer for help coming out of pain, is very common in the Bible. Over a third of the psalms are such. The psalmist writes “O my God, I cry out by day, and you answer not; by night, and there is no relief for me” Recently, we heard the cries of
Job “ I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer.” Bartimaeus, the blind beggar says “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” All reflecting the pure, agonizing prayers from the heart.
Sometimes these prayers do feel as if they are falling on deaf ears.
C.S. Lewis wrote “ The time when there is nothing at all in your soul except a cry for help may be just the time when God cannot give it. You are like the drowning man who cannot be helped because he clutches or grabs. Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear”.
In my own life, it seems when the turmoil ceases and I stop to listen, I do hear God’s voice. I remember many years ago when my daughter was struggling, I felt as if God was absent and far away, it wasn't until months later when I could catch my breath, that I saw that God had been with me all along: In the people who were in my life, in the coincidences, the little miracles that shone through. God had heard my cry. Lament is an act of faith and certainty that God hears our cries and is present to us in our deepest suffering. It turns out that it is crucial to be able to truly feel sorrow. When those feelings are pushed out, we become deadened to the feelings of joy as well.
Our modern culture does not deal well with unpleasant feelings.Kate Bowler, A professor at Duke Divinity and writer and podcast host, has written extensively on this topic. Kate grew up in a church that promised that if you were a committed and faithful Christian, you would be rewarded with success and a roadmap for happiness.. But at age 35 and mother of a toddler, she was diagnosed with stage four cancer and her world was turned upside down.. In her book “Everything Happens for a Reason and other lies I’ve loved. ” She writes, “The world loves you better when you are shiny, when you are cheerful, when you still believe that your best life now is right around the corner. The modern world is a fever dream promising infinite choices and unlimited progress.” She asks her readers to come to terms with their limitations and fragile humanity.
Giving ourselves and others the permission to grieve and to express sadness is a gift. Especially as we slowly, hopefully move out of this pandemic. We grieve for the way things were, for the people we have lost and the places we haven't seen. When we make room and validate these feelings, hope comes rushing in and new beginnings beckon. In a few minutes we will be commissioning our Community of Hope lay chaplains. One of the skills that they bring to our community is the ability to be present, to listen, to not judge or fix. A Benedictine model that allows a person to simply be where they are at, at that moment. We are blessed to have them in our midst. And so we look to the future with hope knowing that there are people here who will listen and the conviction that God is also listening. Even when we don’t feel it. God is listening and God is near. Amen
