A Purpose Forgotten

A Purpose Forgotten

Where Grace Meets Shiloh: Part 3
August 31, 2025

1 Samuel 4:1-11, Jeremiah 7:12-14

When the troops returned to the camp, Israel’s elders said, “Why did the Lord defeat us today before the Philistines? Let’s bring the chest containing the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh so it can go with us and save us from our enemies’ power…”

…So, the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated, and everyone fled to their homes. It was a massive defeat: thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fell, God’s chest was taken, and Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

~ 1 Samuel 4:3, 10-11 (CEB)

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Israel thought that bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle would guarantee victory.  Surely, if God’s presence was with them, they couldn’t lose.  And yet they were still defeated.  The priests’ sons were killed, and the Ark was captured so the Philistines could mock their God.

The problem wasn’t the battle itself, but the fact that Israel had already rejected God’s presence through corruption and idolatry.  In 1 Samuel 3, God tells Samuel that Eli’s family would face judgment for desecrating God’s name. 

When things fell apart, the people wanted a quick fix.  They used the Ark of the Covenant like a magic talisman or a lucky charm, while ignoring the evil and injustice they had long tolerated.

This story is more relevant for the church today than most of us care to admit.  For centuries, we’ve turned a blind eye to evil done in God’s name.  We’ve aligned ourselves with power and wealth over justice and mercy.  We’ve let politics override the way of Jesus and then put on public displays of faith hoping God will restore our former greatness.  But no performance or virtue signaling can substitute genuine repentance.    

While parts of the church may indeed repent and thrive, a large majority of the church in our nation finds herself in Israel’s shoes.  We have lost our integrity and any credible witness we once had of God’s loving presence among us. 

God has not stopped working.  In 1 Samuel, the capture of the Ark sets other events in motion.  Even now, God is  calling the church to repentance.  The Spirit is moving in places of hope, love, compassion, and justice beyond our walls, through people we might least expect. 

But for our part, we must own the ways we have misrepresented God and live with the consequences.  It’s not just about individual morality or living a good life.  It’s about our corporate witness, across denominational lines, and the negative image of God Christians have, and continue to put forth in the world.

We are not being persecuted.  We are being called to account. 

Like Israel, we are being refined by fire, until all that remains is Christ.     

For Further Reflection:

• Where have we confused displays of faith for actual faithfulness?

• What would repentance look like for the church today?  Beyond words, in tangible action?

A Prayer for New Life

A Prayer for New Life

Where Grace Meets Shiloh: Part 2
August 24, 2025

1 Samuel 1:1-2:11

“How long will you act like a drunk? Sober up!” Eli told her.

“No sir!” Hannah replied. “I’m just a very sad woman. I haven’t had any wine or beer but have been pouring out my heart to the Lord.  Don’t think your servant is some good-for-nothing woman. This whole time I’ve been praying out of my great worry and trouble!”

Eli responded, “Then go in peace. And may the God of Israel give you what you’ve asked from him.”

1 Samuel 1:14-17 

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It’s easy for small churches to get an inferiority complex.  Everything in our culture says that bigger is better.  And yet, small congregations make up the majority of churches in the U.S.  Over 61% have less than 100 in weekly worship and 31% have less than 50.  Less than 10% have over 250 people, and yet these are the ones that get most of the attention.

Healthy small churches have many strengths.  They can adapt more quickly to change, nurture closer-knit intergenerational relationships, stay grounded in their local communities, and equip a higher percentage of members for meaningful service, both in and beyond the church.

As a woman who cannot bear children, Hannah is easily dismissed and misunderstood.  Her grief is mistaken for disorder and even drunkenness by Eli, the priest.  She prays fervently for a child and boldly tells Eli, “Don’t think your servant is some good-for-nothing woman.”  That line echoes for me when I think of how easily small churches are written off today.  “Don’t think your servants are good-for-nothing because of our size. 

From this misunderstood woman in this often overlooked place called Shiloh, God brings forth new life.  Her son Samuel will lead Israel as a prophet, confront the corruption of the priesthood, and anoint David, the youngest and most insignificant Son of Jesse, as King of a nation.  Hannah’s prayer in chapter 2, much like Mary’s Magnificat centuries later, celebrates a God who lifts the lowly and fills the empty.

This story isn’t directly about small churches, but it is about a God who tends to do great things in hidden and humble places.  It’s about new life beginning where others have given up hope.  At Shiloh, we are reminded that an entire movement can begin with a single prayer, a vulnerable act of faith, and a God who has not forgotten us.

Diana Butler Bass once said to a group of anxious church leaders, “I don't think I've ever heard so many people who claim they believe in the resurrection be so worried about the death of their church.”

For Further Reflection:

• Do you think more about life or death?  Why?

• What signs of new life are you seeing in unexpected places?

• What overlooked places in your life or in your church might become sacred ground?

God of Promise & Possibility

God of Promise & Possibility

The God of Abraham - Part 2

Sunday, September 10, 2023
Genesis 17:1-20

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.  Walk with me and be trustworthy.  I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.”

Genesis 17:1-2

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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God had promised to make Abram into a great nation, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and that through him all nations of the world would be blessed.  There was only one problem… Abram and his wife were far too old to have children. 

In the ancient near eastern culture, having a male heir was crucial, so Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave her maidservant Hagar to Abram so that she could bear for them the son that she could not have.  By the time we get to chapter 17, Abram’s son Ismael is coming of age as a 13 year old young man.  We’ll come back to Ishmael & Hagar next week, but for now, it is important to remember that according to their culture, Abram did nothing wrong by having a child with Hagar to be his heir.  Though our modern sensibilities consider this immoral, even God does not condemn the morality of Abram and Sarai’s action.

The problem for God, as we see in chapter 17, is not that Abram had a child with his maidservant, but that Ishmael, despite being Abram’s firstborn, is not the child God had promised.  For the Biblical writer, it is not a question of morality or even marital faithfulness.  It is rather a question of Abram taking God’s promises into his own hands and doing things his own way.

13 years have passed.  Abram is 99 years old and preparing his son to one day take responsibility of his great inheritance.  Then God shows up and reminds Abram that the promise has not yet been fulfilled.

“What do you mean, God?  I have Ishmael.  All is well.  Why can’t he inherit your promise?” 

Next week we’ll see that God does not forsake Ishmael.  At the same time, God is working toward a new creation through the faithfulness of Abram’s lineage.  Just as God created all things from a formless void and shaped Adam out of the dust of the ground, so God wants to bring forth his people out of the barrenness of Sarai’s womb.  This is God’s promise to fulfill, not Abram’s. 

The trouble is that while Abram believes God’s promise, he feels he alone is responsible for making it happen.  He is not able to comprehend God’s power to bring new life out of barrenness.  Abram clings to the rational solutions of the flesh over the seemingly impossible work of the Spirit.  He is not trying to be disobedient.  Rather, he is trying to obey in the best way he knows how.  If God says he must have descendants, Abram made sure that would happen in the only logical way available to him.  By verse 17 we find Abram laughing at God.  In chapter 18, we’ll see Sarai do the same. 

I wonder what might be behind this laugh.  Maybe the laugh was simply at the absurdity that he and Sarai should bear children so old, especially given her inability to conceive throughout her life.  Maybe the laugh was to keep from crying over his own desperate frustration that all he invested in Ishmael seemed like it was for nothing.  Maybe it was just a laugh of “You’ve got to be kidding… Now What?!” 

More importantly, I wonder in what ways we are still laughing today as we consider the absurd and impossible promises and possibilities of God for our own life?

Ten Thousand Charms

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Ten Thousand Charms
Dreaming God’s Dreams: Part 2
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Hosea 1:2, 2:14-23; James 4:4-10

Therefore, I will charm her, and bring her into the desert, and speak tenderly to her heart. From there I will give her vineyards, and make the Achor Valley a door of hope. There she will respond to me as in the days of her youth, like the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Hosea 2:14-15 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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The movie "Fireproof" with Kirk Cameron tells the story of a couple whose marriage is falling apart. The divorce papers are on the table, but he is not willing to give up. The advice he follows comes from a journal called "The Love Dare", which is a valuable tool for strengthening marriages at any stage.

While I would recommend this movie and book to any couple, the image of Kirk Cameron's character working through the 40 daily challenges of the "Love Dare" call to mind the images of God's faithful covenant love.

In the book of Hosea, the prophet is called to marry a prostitute. God uses this sign act as a prophetic message to the people. They have prostituted themselves with other gods. In Hosea 2:8, God reminds us that she did not know that her husband had given her everything that she used for Baal. This is not to endorse the ancient marriage culture of male dominance and female subservience as normative. The point for us is not that she was exclusively dependent on her husband or that she should accept his dominance over her. Rather it is to show that unlike many earthly husbands, God does not merely shout or fight or even beat his lover into submission.

Yes, there are consequences in Gomer's life, and in the life of Israel. But even when she is unfaithful, God proves his faithfulness.

In 2:14, the Lord says he will bring her out into the desert, away from all of the allures of the world. If we’re not careful, we may interpret this as a form of abusive isolation. We don't take to kindly to a spouse telling us who we can or can't associate with or limiting our freedom to go where we choose. We must remember that God was not endorsing this culture but rather using the way things were to teach a much more important lesson.

Yes, he brought her out to the desert. Yes, he cut her off from the world of her lovers, as any husband in Old Testament times would have had the right to do. But the key difference is what God does during her exile. He does not abuse her. He does not shame her. He does not condemn her.

Instead, God courts her, as if they were a couple falling in love for the first time.

"I wills peak tenderly to her heart. From there I will give her vineyards and make the Achor Valley a door of hope. There she will respond to me as in the days of her youth, like the time when she came out of the land of Egypt."

I was talking recently with a recovering addict and she said that while the desire for the drug never really goes away, she has come to a place where her desire for God is greater.

That is the key to faithfulness.

The allure of the world is great. As Todd Agnew puts it, "If you wanted me to die to myself, why'd you make me fall so deeply in love with life?" (listen below)

It is said that the heart wants what the heart wants. God created us with the capacity for great passion, desire, and love, but often those gifts are misdirected.

Faithfulness isn't about rejecting all that is good and lovely in the world. It is about responding to God's unending passion, desire and love for us. It's about "seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). It's about desiring God more than anything Egypt or Baal or anyone or anything else could ever offer.

As the hymn writer says

[Let us] arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace us in his arms
And in the arms of our dear savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms... ten thousand charms

Spend some time in your Saviors arms as you worship with the songs below.

Let us remain faithful to the one who is always faithful to us.

“If you Wanted Me” - Todd Agnew

“Come Ye Sinners” - Todd Agnew