Bulletin for Sunday, June 21st, 2026
Cat Goodrich
Faith Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD
June 21st, 2026
Perplexing Texts: The Witch of Endor
1 Samuel 28:3-25
I saw a reel this week from a Glaswegian woman who claims to be a witch. She was advising her followers to capture the energy of the solstice – today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. She said, rise at dawn, and hold a piece of thread, or yarn, or twine. As the suns first rays hit your skin, tie a knot. A knot, she said, has ancient power to capture and hold energy. Since the solstice is the longest day in the year, when the sun pours more energy out into our world than any other day – power and energy are abundant. So, throughout the day, when you feel your energy rise, tie another knot. That little bit of spell work can help us to grasp it, she said, to save for a time when your energy is low. So in the future, when the weather is grey and damp, or your spirits are low – whenever you find need a boost, untie a knot, and the energy will be released.
WHO WOULDN’T WANT THAT??!
I can remember, for that matter, playing with a Ouija board, at my friend Virginia O’Donnell’s lake house on Lake Bistineau when we were about 10. It was a wooden cabin, up high on stilts, with a tin roof and a big screen porch, and a wide grassy lawn leading down to the lake that was filled with cypress trees, hung with Spanish moss. We must have stayed up late, because I remember it was dark – and she and I conjured a spirit, all right, the ghost of somebody’s great aunt, who claimed to predict when and how we would die. And I don’t know whether there was a ghost with us or not, I’m still haunted by what that Ouija board said.
Bobby Hall told me that the man who invented the Ouija board was a Baltimore native – there’s a plaque describing the event in the 7-11 across from his apartment. The board was named during a séance more than a century ago and hundreds of thousands continue to be sold each year. And I get it: who hasn’t longed to speak to the dead? Who hasn’t thought of a question they wish they could ask a dearly departed relative or friend? Who doesn’t have at least one question you didn’t think to ask your mom before she died – or can’t help but think of something you wish you could’ve said to your father? I can understand what drives people to seek any means of communication with those beyond the veil.
And for that matter, who hasn’t wished they could see the future? Every child who has held a magic eight ball knows the frustration of receiving the message: reply hazy, ask again later. Plenty of people would pay good money to know the outcome of the midterm elections, to know if the nominee will be the right one, the winnable ticket. No tourist destination is complete without a shop selling palm or tarot readings, a bookstore stocked with crystals and incense, promising glimpses of the future and energies balanced, harnessed for good health, for power, or for strength.
All of this to say: in this age of advanced technology and AI, of high tech ghost hunters with infrared cameras and ultra sensitive microphones – if even now people are still yearning for a way to harness energy and power, to discern the future, and commune with the dead… surely we should not be surprised to find a witch in scripture who claims to be able to summon the voices of the dead!
But I am surprised! I am surprised to find her here, conversing with Saul under the cover of night. I am surprised to see her raising the spectre of Samuel, as surprised as I am to read the verse “Saul had expelled all witches and wizards from the land,” as surprised as I am to find David, David who famously slew the giant Philistine Goliath with his slingshot – fighting on the side of the Philistines! What is going on here?
Samuel, remember, ruled over Israel as a judge and a prophet, but the people called for a king. So eventually, God anointed Saul to serve as king over Israel. And Saul was a good king – for a while. But he struggled with enemies without and within, and distrusted even his closest advisors. He pulled young David from his court and made him general over thousands of soldiers – casting out David, who had been a source of advice and divine insight, when he realized God favored David over him. Thus began a pattern where Saul, plagued by boughts of mania, chased and clashed with David’s armies. David spared Saul more than once, and still Saul pursued him. But Saul lost hope when he felt like God was no longer guiding him. And sought guidance anywhere he could find it: even through a medium at Endor. The spectre she raises predicts death and destruction, which indeed proves to be true. So what’s happening here?
Nothing more than humans being humans, I suspect.
That is, hoping that the border that lies between this life and whatever comes next is more like a permeable veil than a solid, impassable wall. We’ve all hoped for that, wondered about that at some point, haven’t we?
This passage also speaks to human longing – especially in times of crisis, for wisdom and encouragement from trusted mentors, even if that mentor has died. Most of us have wished we could ask for help from someone who isn’t around anymore, right? And the sense of profound loneliness and even abandonment that can come when life doesn’t work out the way we’d hoped it would; when we must deal with the ramifications of bad decisions or the consequences of greed or jealousy.
The presence of the witch, lurking here in the twisted saga of Samuel, Saul, and David, points to our human tendency to look every possible place for a sense of certainty as we make decisions and face the unknown. She’s not the only mystical, mythical presence in the biblical story – not by any means. Saul himself was chosen to be king by the casting of lots! It was common practice to discern God’s will using an ancient form of dice, cast to help make a decision. The high priest himself would’ve worn a golden breastplate containing two objects known as the urim and the thummim, which were used in sacred discernment. That is why the garment was called the breastplate of judgment.
So it was common, then, to use tools to assist in the making of decisions, and to guide the practice of prayer.
Some in our Bible study this week guessed that the ghost of Samuel is nothing more than Saul’s own conscience, giving voice to his guilt over bad decisions, and naming what he fears will come true. What we all hear when we lie awake in the middle of the night, giving voice to our anxiety and fears.
Unhelpfully, in his commentary about this passage, Walter Bruggemann says that while it’s natural to be curious about the powers presented by the witch of Endor, we shouldn’t let our curiosity about the supernatural supercede the theological message of the passage- which is, be faithful to God in all things; ascribe to other, lesser powers at your peril.
And maybe we can relate to this warning, too – there certainly are plenty of powers that vie for our attention and loyalty. Plenty of distractions in this age of high tech AI that will lead us astray from the goodness we were created to do. And there is a great temptation to read cosmic, supernatural meaning into military defeat or violent conflict – as God’s punishment, or abandonment, instead of admitting human hubris, misjudgment, or folly.