1 Samuel 1:14-20

Pentecost +24 - Year B

1 Samuel 1:14-20

In Mark we have stones, already built together, falling apart. In Samuel, Hannah is pursuing a keystone for her life to put in place.

Whether from a perspective of things frozen in place or a lack of something to hold on to (Remember Martin Buber’s descriptions of evil) there is a desire to understand the ununderstandable, to keep cognitive dissonance at bay. Disciples want to know when and where and whether they’ll get a reward. Elkanah is trying to figure Hannah out. Hannah was having a reverse-Job experience of being tormented by what she didn’t have available to be taken away. Eli was working on why a rational sacrificial system brought so many sad drunks his way.

“In due time” both comforts and antagonizes us. We appreciate that some things are outside our control and, yet, knowing that something is possible, we want it right now.

May you appreciate the caughtness of your own due time and laugh at how you try to alternately ignore it and run after it.