Welcome/Call to Worship
Good morning! I’m Pastor Ashley Dargai. To those here in the chapel and those joining us online: we are so glad you’re here!
This morning, we will sing songs of worship, pray together, hear from scripture and one another, as we move toward the pinnacle of our service: the table of our Lord, where we will take the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of our most Gracious Host, Jesus. The purpose of our time together each Sunday is to bring our hearts closer to the heart of God, so I invite you to participate as much or as little in our prepared liturgy as your spirit is willing.
We welcome all sounds and smells from the youngest to the oldest and everyone in between. For our young ones, there is a customized Children’s Bulletin and crayons for children to participate in worship as well as a designated area in the back for families of little ones who need to move around with a box of quiet crafts and manipulatives for children and their grownups to pull from. We believe that every age offers a unique perspective of the image of God. We know that the energy and spirit of children can be different than adults and we consider that reality a gift.
A couple of announcements before we begin:
There are visitor cards in the pew in front of you—if you arrived during the pandemic or later, of if you have moved and have not updated your info with the church, please fill it out and drop it in the offering plate when it goes by later in worship.
If you are missing Sunday School while we await the final unpacking of the boxes and updated guidance from the Pandemic Response Committee, we have a Table Talk class for adults meeting at 10 AM in the Heritage. There is also a combined children’s and youth class available at the same time meeting in the parlor.
Last week was Covenant Sunday, but if you have not filled out your financial covenant card, there is still time! The cards can be found on the entry table, and you can drop them for 2022 in the plate. They are also available our website.
Thanks to everyone who came to the work day yesterday! If you haven’t checked out the Fellowship Hall yet this morning, I encourage you to stop by and ooh and ahh over the work done.
This afternoon at 5 pm, we will gather at John and Sondra Williams’ house on their back porch for our first meeting of Bible and Beer. We’ll drink beer, look at a scripture together, and enjoy each other’s company. If you need the address, it is sitting on the entry tables so you can write it down or snap a picture. Because it is an outdoor event, please note the cooler weather as the sun sets and dress warmly!
And on December 4, ACC will have a booth at Azle’s Christmas on Main Street. Sign-ups for shifts at the booth will be available starting this week.
To keep with all the life we live together here at Azle Christian Church, make sure you follow us on Facebook and subscribe to our weekly e-blast and monthly newsletter. To sign up for the eblast and newsletter, go to our website, azlechristianchurch.org, and subscribe. There is also a live calendar on our website where you can see what we have going on each month.
In addition to Facebook, you can also find us on Instagram and TikTok, both at @azlechristianchurch.
We are nearing the end of our series: Wishin’, Hopin’, Prayin’: Longing for God in a Chaotic World. Today, we travel way back in time to before Israel was even a kingdom and consider their origin story.
Let’s pray to turn our hearts toward God for this hour.
Spirit of truth, open to us the scriptures, speaking your holy word through song, through the bread and cup, and through offering ourselves, and meet us here today in the living Christ. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord be with you.
Most Holy One, God of the healed, Creator on the move, what else is there to say except thank you? Are any words adequate to address You on this cool morning in this warm place before the table You have set before us? Thank You, thank You, thank You.
The sun rises and plays peek-a-boo in the clouds, delighting in giving light to the world, the dew kisses the grass affectionately each morning, and the birds hug the air as they take their first flight of the day. Each part of creation exists in a state of gratefulness to the One who made them, to the One whose breath gave them existence, to the One who sustains their life. May we even know half of what it is for our hearts to beat the rhythm of “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” a beat ingrained into the music of the spheres.
We confess, O God, that we do not say thank you enough. But God, we ask for that which is in us that may return in gratefulness to be cultivated, so that our mustard seed “thank you” will one day overtake the garden of our life like a kudzu plant, whispering, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” as it grows and expands.
You, Holy One on the move, may we catch You on your way, may we be bold enough to address You and humble enough to ask for mercy, and may we always come back saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
And now we pray together the prayer that our brother and redeemer Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father…”
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
Sermon
1 Samuel 8:1-9
When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, 7 and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
We have been in a series called Wishin’, Hopin’, Prayin’ in which we have been looking at the longings, hopes, and prayers in scripture—what did our faith forebears hope for? How do their prayers inform ours today? What do we do with longing unfulfilled? And today, we’re looking at Israel’s longing for a king. It comes early in the Hebrew Bible and is followed by lots of prophets saying, “Maybe this was not a good idea.”
Our story begins today at the end of Samuel’s life. The priest has grown old, the text tell us. We read his birth story a few months ago: how his mother Hannah had earnestly prayed for a child, a son, and when she had Samuel, she brought him back to the priest Eli to be raised and dedicated to God’s work. And here we are at the end: he has done a good job. Later on in 1 Samuel, he will address Israel for the last time and no one will have a complaint against him.
But right now, there is a complaint and it has to do with his two sons: Joel and Abijah. They are not great. They are corrupt men: they profiteer, take bribes, and pervert justice—actions that strike to the heart of the covenant relationship Israel has with God. It’d be one thing if Samuel and his sons had another job—but they were judges. Where will justice come from if the judges appointed to ensure justice in the land are instead perverting it for their own gain?
At this point in Israel’s history, the nation is a loose federation of tribes, governed by judges. This is no longer the small band of people in the desert: the Israelites have grown and expanded and have real, honest-to-God nation problems. We already know their leaders do not inspire confidence. But they are also experiencing military threats from the Philistines—you know the nation where Goliath comes from. They are feeling the heat. No wonder they’re asking for a king. The people will say later on this chapter that they want a king so they he can “fight their battles”—the threat of conquest and domination looms large in their collective imagination.
And to add to the physical and political insecurity of their existence, they had a lot of land and property to consider. They had more than just the packs on their backs now—they had vested economic and political interests that needed to be protected. They just want to “be like the other nations,” the ones they’re rubbing up against in friendship and in conflict.
But you see, Samuel’s concern is that this request for a king is not only a sociopolitical request. This is Israel we’re talking about. This is a people whose very identity is based on the fact that they are not like other nations. They are to be set-apart, God’s people, distinct from the world around them. How can Israel maintain its unique connection to God in covenant if they become like other nations? How can Israel have an earthly king without undermining the sovereignty of God?
This covenant relationship did not appear out of nowhere. It came as a response to oppression and suffering. This covenant was created precisely outside of vested interest power arrangements. It’s important to remember that the Israelites did not overthrow the Egyptians—they were delivered from them. The Israelites did not take over Pharaoh’s palace—they wandered the desert and worshiped God under the stars, in a collapsible tent.
So this desire for a king represents a significant shift in Israel: away from distinctive community and toward conformity with the patterns of other people. In this case, they are shifting from a delivered desert people to a nation with a head of state and centralized military and economic power. As they move from a decentralized, shared rule of judges to a monarchy, what’s at stake is not a mere governmental detail of who is in charge—it’s the very identity and particularity of Israel.
And if we were to keep reading this chapter, we would see that Israel wants a king to fight their battles for them. But Samuel is quick to say: he will not fight your battles for you, you will fight his battles for him. Because what kings do is take. They take your sons and turn them into cogs in the military machine. They take your daughters and turn them into feeders of the product lines. They take your land—the fields, the vineyards, the olive groves—and use them up in service to the kingdom. They will take your servants, your livestock, and your flocks, and dub them the kingdom’s property. All that is yours—even your very life—will be yours no longer.
So, no, a king will not fight your battles. You will fight his. A king will not lead you, he will rule over you. A king will not facilitate abundance and common interest, he will take what he wants and hisinterest will reign supreme.
But like a comical Monty Python movie, the people ignore Samuel’s warning and say, “A king! We want a king!”
So according to our text, God rubs God’s temples and sight, “Just give them a king. It’s not you, it’s me.”
This conflict between whether or not a king is the right decision is an undercurrent of 1 and 2 Samuel. Even as King David is anointed and blessed, Samuel’s voice in the background serves as a warning to the people. This is not the deliverance you think it is, he whispers.
I’ll save you the trouble of reading the rest of the Hebrew Bible this morning to see how the kingdom thing works out: in the very long line of kings, including when Israel and Judah split into two nations, there are only two unproblematic ones. Only two good kings. And our most famous ones, David and Solomon, are not it. Hezekiah and Josiah—those are the only palatable kings.
In the book of Judges, the book that immediately precedes 1 Samuel, the story ends with the lines, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” And let me tell you, that theme will extend to the era of kings, but this time—it’s not just the regular folk. The very wealthy and powerful people do what is right in their own eyes, with little accountability, in the name of God.
And while 1 Samuel is written from the perspective of real time—that whoever penned the story is writing as if in his study at the end of each day—we know that this part of scripture was written during the Babylonian exile. The Israelites were living in Babylon—their beloved Jerusalem destroyed and their loved ones killed, the survivors carried off as captives of big, bad Babylon. They were forced to live as slaves to another nation, separated from the people and spaces that anchored their identity.
And so they wrote down their history as an act of self-preservation. They told their stories quietly at the dinner table. They obsessively scanned the timeline to see what had gone wrong. How could this happen to them? Ah, don’t you remember old Samuel warning us? One man may have said. And another would respond, “Yes, but then God anointed King David! So I think it was fine!” And then another would chime in, “Well, look how his reign turned out. Murders, assaults, family drama. God anointed? That seems generous.” That response was probably a wise woman.
We see this conflicted storytelling throughout 1 and 2 Samuel. This struggle to preserve their identity, their dignity, their hope for their people.
But even without this context of authorship and timelines, I bet we could have guessed the king stuff was a mixed bag at best. Of course, we have millennia of hindsight, but we’re also people who live under the rule of an imperfect government. To be clear—Americans are not a continuation of ancient Israel. We are not special in the way ancient Israel was special. Our separation of church and state is very different than the theological government we see constructed in 1 Samuel. Different cultures, different continent, different millennia.
But no matter where we fall on the political spectrum here in the U.S., we do wrestle with how to best mix our theological and sociopolitical desires. Because the way we draw on our faith, our covenants, and our experience in church community does inform how we live in the rest of the world, doesn’t it? I hope so. Our bone-deep beliefs of justice, of liberation, of peace—those are not things we simply like on social media, but they are ways of living and being in the world that we inherit through our practices in church, through our individual meeting with the Divine, through our encounters with scripture and faith tradition. Our best hopes as citizens of a nation in this world are in part formed by our identity as Christians.
And whether we like it or not, we live inside governing structures. We adhere to laws and pay our taxes and go to the voting booth with our convictions. And as people of faith, we try to figure out how to merge our theological desires about community and flourishing with what is written on a ballot. We advocate for imperfect leaders, we act as a thorn in the side of some of them in hopes they will change their minds, we talk to our friends and family, we pray.
Because on one hand, our actions in the political sphere are powerful ways to love our neighbor. To make their lives better in tangible, measurable ways. And on the other hand, as much as we just want our government to function dang it, we also know that it is woefully inefficient. We are always in conflict about how to best merge our highest hopes as Christians with our scaled expectations as citizens of this world. We are doing our best.
And all the while, we keep gathering around this table. We keep serving each other the bread, trusting that something that is broken will somehow make us whole. And we keep pouring the cup, trusting that something that is messy will somehow make us clean. And we keep remembering Jesus together, a man who came from a nation that wandered in the wilderness under no king, and who was ultimately murdered by the state. And we trust that this person whose name we now carry will somehow help us learn how to live in a world where we look forward to a kingdom, the reign of God, while also having no idea how that can be a good idea given the current state of affairs.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that this interaction between our faith and politics, the way they are threaded so delicately, is fraught. And what we see here in 1 Samuel is that it has always been fraught.
The Israelites had a lot of valid reasons to be scared, to be concerned, to be frustrated. They had a strong military power breathing down their necks. Their leaders-elect, Joel and Abijah, were not trustworthy. They had grown in number as a nation and had very real issues they needed to take care of.
And the testimony we have from a reflection of that time, from 1 and 2 Samuel, is conflicted—is a king a good idea? It’s not clear.
And it’s not clear how to engage our own faith and our sociopolitical decisions in a way that maintains our integrity and prioritizes our faith commitments.
Unfortunately, scripture is not a guidebook. It’s a witness to the world God wants.
It testifies to the hopes and fears of a people, of persons.
And echoing through this messy time in Israel’s history is that millennia later, we know we are not alone in our hand-wringing, in our desire to want what God wants and bring more of what God wants in this world.
I mentioned that the line of kings that will come after this moment is not encouraging. But the leaders are not the only important people in the long story of Israel.
For every bad leader, there was a prophet or two, committed to hearing from God about how Israel could love their neighbor better and more faithfully. There were voices in the wilderness and in the town square calling the people to account, not letting them forget their covenant. There were average people gathering around tables telling the story again of their distinctiveness, of the way they were called to be different than those around them.
And that witness is still true today. May we have ears to hear.
Amen.
Stewardship Moment
There are many ways to support and resource the ministries of Azle Christian Church: Venmo, giving online, giving box, offering plate.
The deacons are going to hand these plates over during our final song, starting at the front row and they just to need make their way to the back where a deacon will collect them. You can drop your offering, an “I gave online card,” or an information card.
Invitation
If you’d like to become a member of this faith community, or if you’d like to become a disciple of Jesus, please talk to me after service or sometime this week.
Benediction:
Please rise in body or spirit for our benediction, the final song, and the Doxology.
Our benediction:
May the peace of Christ go with you wherever He may send you
May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm
May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you
May He bring you home rejoicing once again through our doors
Amen.