Getting back to Hagar

Getting back to our story about Sarai and Hagar. Yes, Hagar was without a doubt showing contempt for Sarai. Since Abram would not intervene Sarai began to abuse her servant to such an extent that Hagar indeed ran away. Hagar's new found sense of power enabled her to act on her own, to become her own person.

In her desperate situation, she found God and felt that God understood her plight. She named God the “one who sees.” It is through Hagar that God is shown as a God who cares about the oppressed. But God did not take her out of the situation. God told her instead that what she endured would be seen by God, and that she would become the mother of a great nation. Thus God gave to Hagar the same promise that God gave to Abram. Her faith in that promise enabled her to return to the home of Abram and Sarai. Her son was named Ishmael, meaning "God has heard." God also promised that Ishmael's life would not be submissive as hers had been.

Her heart’s desire: Hagar wanted her child to have a better life than her own. Hagar had an annunciation that strengthened her to do what was necessary. She believed that God saw her situaltion and this direct experience with God became the basis of a lifelong personal relationship with the divine. Out of that experience Hagar began a mystic journey.

Points to ponder:

Hagar was the first in Scripture to give God a name. She also claimed to have seen God and lived to tell about it. (Until this time it was believed that anyone who saw God would die.) No wonder Hagar felt strong enough to return. Hagar must have shared this vision when she returned for it was recorded in Abram’s story. During those times women’s visions were still considered credible. But not long after men's visions became the foundation for the religions we have today. Later women visionaries (mystics) were suppressed and ignored. Medieval women mystics dared to write their visions of God (often at personal risk) but their writings were mainly kept hidden until recent times. How are women viewed who want to share their beliefs or spiritual leadership in today's religious institutions?

Many women today are no longer comfortable with the “masculine only” names for God. At the same time many are uncomfortable with the feminine or symbolic names that inclusive liturgies are introducing. Does Hagar’s story justify our right to name God in terms that match women’s experiences of God? Mystics like Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen and Mechtild of Magdeburg freely used feminine names and images for God centuries ago. What particular name/metaphor associated with your personal experience of the divine might be a way to address God?

When was the last time you heard Hagar's story in a parish liturgy? God's promise to Hagar about Ishmeal's future role in the divine plan is still impacting the world today especially in the middle east conflicts. Can exploring the story also contain a solution? If God wants the same status for each of Abraham's sons then each has the same rights to the earth's resources. If it became clear that God supports peaceful equal distribution among nations rather than war how would we begin to equalize the share of poorer nations to richer nations with regard to natural resources?