BibleWorm

A special live episode on 1 Samuel 1:1-20 and 2:10, recorded at Heartland Retreat Center in Parkville, MO, with pastors from the Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation's Pastoral Leadership Revitalization Program.

This week we’re reading the story of Hannah as told in 1 Samuel 1:1-20 and 2:1-10. Really we’re supposed to be talking about Hannah’s song in chapter 2, but we find the story of Hannah herself so compelling that we linger over it to see what it can teach us. We ponder the way Hannah prays out of her wretchedness, speaking her truth before God in ways that may at first seem overly bold. But God’s response to her prayer teaches us that God can handle our truths, just as God received hers. We also linger over the responses of Hannah’s husband Elkanah and the priest Eli, who don’t really understand what Hannah is going through but who, each in his own way, tries to support her. And we wrestle with Hannah’s song, which depicts the inversion of society and reminds us that God is the one who is in charge, no matter how much we might try to imagine otherwise.

This week we read Exodus chapter 32: 1-14 – the infamous story of the golden calf. Okay, we all know that this was not the best move the Israelites have ever made. But let’s slow down our reading and see what else we can find in here. What are the Israelites feeling, and what do they mean to do by making this calf? Is Aaron sensitive and subtle in navigating this situation, reducing harm – or is he going along with whatever in order to keep the peace? And who is responsible for these Israelites at this point in the story anyway?

This week we’re reading the story of the first Passover as told in Exodus 12:1-13 and 13:1-8. We talk about God setting the people free from Egypt, and wrestle with the violence that seems necessary for God to enact judgments against Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. We marvel at the resetting of the calendar and the ritual of the Passover that are both instantiated before the Exodus even takes place. And we think about the role of ritual both in preserving the memory of the past and in creating space for new generations to claim the story as their own.

This week we are reading the story of Joseph in Genesis 37: 3-8, 17b-22, 26-34 and 50:15-21. This is an emotionally complex story- a novella maybe like none other in the Hebrew Bible. It's a story where love unequally distributed causes hatred among brothers; a story where obligation and affection get mixed up in complicated ways, and people get so turned around that they actually think deception will make everything less complicated. And it raises the question – why do things turn out the way they do? That question and the rocky emotional landscape of this story surely ring true in our messy human lives.

This week we’re reading the story of God’s promise to Abraham as told in Genesis 15:1-21. When Abraham expresses anxiety about the future, God shows him the stars as a sign of the good things to come. So, too, we think, the signs of God’s promises are all around us, if only we can step outside of our small worlds to see them. Yet this text also speaks of promises delayed, of generations passing before God’s promises will be fulfilled. In times when things feel hopeless, this text invites us to trust in God rather than being overwhelmed by our present circumstances God receives Abraham’s trust and reckons it as righteousness. Perhaps God will do the same for us.

This week we are back to the beginning, reading parts of the second story of creation and the story of the Garden of Eden as they are found in Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 3:1-13. For stories that we’ve heard a thousand times, we had a lot of questions. Is there a relationship between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, in the story or in our own lives? What does our knowledge of good and evil – of complexity, of our mortality, of our own shortcomings – do to us and for us? Is it possible to hold that knowledge alongside a full and trusting relationship with the Divine – without hiding, without deception?

This week BibleWorm meets Queen Esther, winner of some biblical version of The Bachelor. We learn about the blood feud between the people of Haman and the people of Mordecai, and see the all too familiar trope that Jews - or anyone deemed an “outsider,” really - is a danger to the kingdom. We see loyalty without uniformity in action. And we see all kinds of different models for standing up to the artificial and dangerous power structures in the world.

This week BibleWorm continues our summer series on the Forgotten Books of the Bible with a look at Esther 1:1-22, the story of the Persian Queen Vashti and her refusal to appear before the king. We discuss the fragile egos of the king and his courtiers who fear the capacity of women to say no. We talk about the power of the patriarchy and the lengths it will go to to suppress voices of dissent. We admire Vashti’s courage to protect her own sense of dignity and the dignity of all women even though it costs her the crown. And we wonder about the ripple effects of such acts of courage, which make ruling ideologies tremble, if only for a moment.

This week BibleWorm explores Ruth chapters 1 and 3, trying to imagine Ruth’s own perspective and calling out some of the ways that the book portrays painful parts of the immigrant experience. We see how the scene at the threshing floor plays on the worst stereotypes of Moabite women, and how Ruth’s beautiful statement of loyalty to Naomi also carries with it an erasure of her own heritage. We try to recognize our own blind spots, and lean into the scholarship of others who can help shed new light.