This morning, the first Sunday in March, is the day we in the PC(USA) celebrate the gifts of women. The theme this year is ‘Women Keeping the Message Alive’. Women have of course been keeping the message alive in their – our – own particular way for a very long time and this morning we will read about how a woman named Abigail used her gifts in her own particular way.
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Many ears ago when I worked in the corporate world, my boss and I worked for weeks designing a new project. After we finished the design, he presented the idea to his boss - more than once - and the plan was rejected each time. He said, ‘We’ll never convince him. He has his own way of thinking about things, and his own plans and he’ll never change.’
We were silent for a moment and I said, ‘Well, why do you keep going to him directly? What you need to do is talk it up to all the other managers and win them over to the idea. Then there will be this ground swell of enthusiasm. Everyone will be seeing it our way, and we can let everyone else hammer away at his resolve.’
My boss’ eyes got as big as saucers. ‘I never thought of that.’ he said. ‘It’s a wonderful idea.’
‘I wish I could take credit for it, but it’s not a new idea.’ I said. ‘Women have been doing it for millennia. I’ll bet your wife does it to you all the time.’
He almost fell off his chair. ‘You’re right - She does.’
‘Women’ I said, ‘rarely try for direct confrontation. Instead, they circle the wagons.’
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The older I get, the more I appreciate being a woman. The older I get, the smarter my mom seems to become. Women have such a different way of looking at the world and the older I get, the more I appreciate the special-ness of being a woman. Whenever a crisis strikes, men - for the most part - have that ‘fight or flight’ thing going - direct confrontation at any cost -- or get out of there as quickly as they can - while women take a moment to organize, examine the alternatives and take their best option - women prefer to circle the wagons.
God has in all cultures and in all times worked with both male and female to further the cause of the kingdom. God calls each of us to be messengers and soldiers for the kingdom. We are all called to use our whole person - our whole personality -- all our gifts and talents in God’s service.
In this morning’s scripture, we have a peek at the rich history of women of acting as whole persons as they follow God’s leading in their lives. We see a woman in the
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As our story opens, things are not going well in
David has sends some of his men to Nabal to ask for food as a way to thank David for his protection - protection money - kind of like the Mafia. It is the time of sheep-shearing, a time of great feasting and rejoicing and since Nabal is a not hurting for money, David is not asking for much. But Nabal is on Saul’s side of the battle and he has refuses to give David’s men anything - and pretty rudely at that by calling David a runaway and slave -- a nobody. Because of this insult to his honor David is furious.
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When faced with a crisis - with a major insult to integrity of pride, the ‘manly’ thing to do is that old ‘fight or flight’ thing - and that is exactly what David does. He orders his men to put on their swords and prepare for battle -- he wants to kill every male in Nabal’s household -- a harsh reaction, one that shows that even the best of persons can make an error in judgment when tempers flare. And so here he comes riding out of the wilderness and down the hills with 400 of his guys - intent on wiping out Nabal and his guys.
Just as things are looking pretty grim, a servant comes to Abigail and tells her about the incident. Apparently Abigail already has a reputation in her household as a person who can get things done - and what does she do?? She hurries - after all, there are 400 guys coming -- circles the wagons and gets into action. She must be circling the wagons before she takes action because what she does just can’t be done by one person.
She must be a great organizer and project manager because she has a huge amount of food prepared -- 200 loaves of bread, 2 skins of wine, 5 sheep - already dressed and ready to roast, 5 measures of grain, 100 clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs. --
Now I don’t personally keep this much food in the pantry, but it’s a good thing she did. She sends the food off to David hoping to intercept him as he and his men come racing down the mountain so that he will change his mind about killing everyone -- and after all, who can resist a home-cooked meal?.
It’s like those credit card commercials that are on TV now, where the marauding hoards appear ready to strike down the person who has the wrong credit card - the one with high fees and lots of penalties. Our heroine, Abigail, is the one who quickly reaches into her wallet and brings out the card that stops them in their tracks.
Not content to simply send the food, she musters all her courage and goes out to meet David herself. Meeting him on the way, Abigail dismounts her donkey, bows down to David and does something that takes him completely off guard -- She takes all the blame for the argument on herself -- Blame me - she says, It’s all my fault.
What can David do? He stops in his tracks -- he reconsiders his rush to vengeance and recognizes Abigail’s mission as a message from God. She has approached him with humility and a large peace offering. Her calmness has soothed David’s anger and given her the position of advantage. She has won him over not by argument and intimidation, but by wise action and kind words.
In a time when
In turn David pronounces a blessing on her ‘Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand.’
Abigail’s intervention keeps David’s anger in check in the short term. In the long term, her quick actions keep David’s reputation and his fight for the crown of
Abigail’s actions may have been motivated by her concern for her household, for justice, for peace or, if she recognized David as the Lord’s anointed, for the reputation of her future king. Whatever her motivation, we do know that she spoke as she was moved by God and acted in God’s will and with God’s strength -- and she did it in a way and with gifts that were peculiarly feminine.
Whatever her motivation, her intervention in this quarrel and its results were important enough in the history of
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But, gosh - that was a few thousand years ago and a few thousand miles away. What has that got to do with us - today - and here?
It has everything to do with us, today and here.
We started our story today by saying that one of the servants came to Abigail and told her about the incident. He came to her expecting that she both could and would do something -- we see that Abigail was already living a full life and that she was intelligent, resourceful and wise. This is an important key - our savior calls us all to be ready for a call to participate in the divine plan of salvation -- and actually, we all have that call already. The gift of the holy spirit which we all enjoy, the sanctification.
-- and we do that by being all we were meant to be and by exercising all the gifts of the spirit we have been given. Like Abigail, we need to be prepared to work toward God’s purpose whenever that call comes. We may not have time to prepare in the time of need.
Abigail did not have time to run to the grocery store. She had no time to prepare a nice speech that might discourage David from his course of action. There was probably not even much time to pray about any of these things. Whatever had to be done had to be done in a hurry -- there was an army on the way -- she had to act quickly -- and she had to have the wisdom and grace of God to go with her.
We can never gauge the effect of our words and actions upon others. The intervention of Abigail in the nick of time teaches us that when we have wisdom to impart, faith to share, and help to offer, we must not hesitate to take any risk that may be involved. Possessing heavenly intelligence, self-control, common sense and wisdom, Abigail exercised boundless influence over a great man.
But as we enter a new century, we find that the church is no longer the social center of a community. People don’t automatically attend church when they move to a new town. Church attendance is no longer expected in ‘nice society’. There are many more demands on our time and interest. More of us are living in urban areas and find ourselves surrounded by strangers.
C. Jeff Woods, in his book, ‘Congregational Megatrends’, says that ‘Relationships - not crusades - are becoming the basis for evangelism. Evangelism is up to us. The day of appealing to the masses is over. The day of friendships has arrived....(or perhaps returned-my addition) People will no longer cross the threshold of the church building to hear about Jesus without a personal invitation from someone they trust.’ The Jesus that people see first will be the Jesus they see in us.
The direct approach no longer works. You have to circle the wagons and take the less direct approach. Abigail knew the importance of relationships, of the indirect approach. She was a master at circling the wagons, building consensus and taking her best action. In the 21st century we have so many more choices and opportunities than did Abigail and yet we find that the same qualities that made her great, are the same ones that will make us great in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of the world.
If Abigail could circle the wagons, could use the gifts and abilities to do the work of God, then we – woman or man - are called to do no less.
Amen.
