Carolyn and Fran explore the profound suffering and faithful persistence that Hannah embodies in 1 Samuel 1:4-20; we note the evocative language used in the passage to describe her relentless ordeal of infertility and talk about the pastoral implications of preaching on the text. We note the abundant hope and thankfulness expressed in Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:1-10), and that though it comes from Hannah’s experience of despair, it casts God’s power and faithfulness in communal terms, for all Israel. The passage from Mark (13:1-8) evokes birth pangs in an entirely different way: apocalyptically. We mention the pitfalls in preaching from apocalyptic texts, but note resonances in our current global situation with regard to climate change particularly.