We are Beautiful, We are Strong, We are Complete; Judith 15:12-14

 

Rev. George Miller

August 29, 2021

Judith 15:12-14

 

For a while now, we’ve started worship with the celebration of certain days- Gunkle Day, Teachers Day, Golf Day.

 

Though there was concern that it could get to be too much, it’s been a joy.

 

We’ve acknowledged Filipino Day, Canda Day. In October, in solidarity with Ari, we’ll honor Cuban Independence Day.

 

We can do this because celebrating other countries doesn’t mean we’re any less Americans or don’t adore the USA.

 

Just as we can celebrate Iowa and Ohio, Day without it meaning we don’t love Florida or our home state any less.

 

A highlight was when we celebrated Haitian Flag Day and ya’ll showed up in your red and blue.

 

For me, celebrating Haiti was a gift, empowering me to learn more about my own heritage.

 

I looked at men from Scottland, seeing how many had the same legs and hair as I do.  Hungarians who have the same shaped eyes. Romanians with similar skin tone. Germans with their stoutness and stubbornness. 

 

Celebrating Haitan Flag Day made something wonderful happen- the ability to celebrate my own ancestors.

 

Now, when Carnide and I text, I’ll send her memes of the Haitian Flag, she’ll send memes of German and Scottish flags.

 

Doing so is a way of saying “I see you, you see me, we are beautiful, strong, and complete.”

 

Friends- repeat these words- “I am beautiful, strong, and complete.”

 

Let that set in for a moment…

 

We hope that you have enjoyed this month’s dive through the book of Judith.  We hope that everyone has felt empowered, enlightened, entertained.

 

We’ve spent 5 weeks sharing sermons about Judith and the woman who served beside her.

 

When’s the last time you spent even 2 or 3 weeks hearing about women in the Bible?  Usually, its

 

Jesus, Moses

Jesus, Paul

Jesus, Abraham

Jesus

And then Mary, Esther, Mary

And then right back to

Jesus, Joshua

Jesus, Joseph,

Jesus, John

 

How refreshing that for 5 weeks it’s been the maid and Judith.  They may have been surrounded by 132,000 soldiers, but they were the stars.

 

For all us men who’ve been present the past 5 weeks, now you have a sliver of an idea of what it’s like for women to come to church and only hear stories in which a guy is the lead action figure.

 

For all the guys, we hope that you embraced Judith and realized that her story also applies to you.

 

We hope that you discovered a wonderful thing- that as a person of faith, there is a part of Judith that also lives within you.

 

No matter who we are, male or female, everyone of us here can look upon Judith and realize that just like her, as Citizens of God’s Kingdom, we’re all

 

-Beautiful

-Warriors

-Leaning Upon the Lord.

 

Judith is not only a hero for all the kick-butt women here, Judith is a hero for everyone one of us. 

 

Judith is a hero is the truest sense who gives us an example of how to choose life when the world around you tries to surround, dehydrate, and hurt you.

 

Judith, like Moses, like David, is a deliverer of her people.  She is a person who trust God, knows how to lean upon the Lord, and  what it means to have the blood of her ancestors running through her veins.

 

Judith lives inside each one of us when we find a way to confront to injustice, unkindness, and non-humility.

 

That’s why today’s closing reading is so…beautiful.

 

It is such a holistic, healthy scene in which we see an entire nation come together to act as ONE and to show respect to the greater good.

 

Judith has faced the great monster. 

 

Like any hero, Judith has worn her armor.  Used her weapon of choice.  She has destroyed the Big Bad Wolf, the Kraken, the Darth Vader.

 

The city comes together to celebrate- “Ding Dong Holofernes dead!”

 

In this moment, we see all the women of Israel come together.  Sisters, mothers, aunts, neighbors. 

 

They bless Judith.  They dance, twirl, hop, leap, sway, sashay in her honor.

 

Judith passes out wreaths and flowers.  The women crown themselves with olive branches.

 

Judith walks before them as all the female citizens dance with joy.

 

For me, what emotionally resonates is this image of all the men of Israel.

 

The men march behind the women, dressed in full armor, carrying their weapons…and wearing flower necklaces.

 

Think about it.  These men are mighty, strong, these men have steel.  Yet…

 

…these men are man enough to also wear flowers around their neck, they are man enough to have the women lead the way, and they are men enough to honor a woman who rescued them.

 

What a testimony to self-security, a demonstration of what it’s like to celebrate someone without jealousy.

 

What an image of how Heaven and the Kingdom of God must look like.  Here we have a powerful image of equality. 

 

Women feeling safe enough to dance freely in a crowd.   Men who can walk behind, wear pink pansies, not worrying how they look, nor feeling any less a man.

 

Is this what Jesus talked about when he said, “Blessed are you?”  Is this what Paul meant when he said, “In Christ there is no male or female?”

 

How different would our entire world be if Judith was included in the Bible and taught in Sunday School. 

 

How different politics, employment, education, the church would be if we had this story and other female-based ones that were taught and known just as we teach and know Moses and Elijah.

 

In closing, a gift of Judith is that no matter if we are female or male, we are shown what it means to embrace our inner beauty, our inner warrior, and we lean upon the Lord.

 

Judith teaches us that we can celebrate one another without it meaning that we are any less, or they are any more.

 

We can celebrate Canada and Cuba and it does not make us any less Americans.

 

We can celebrate Judaism and Hinduism and it doesn’t make us any less Christians.

 

We can cheer on Judith, we can chuckle at Holofernes, we can admire the maid.

 

We can feel bad for the Assyrians when they are destroyed- it does not mean we are any less than who we already are.

 

Because in God, we are healthy warriors; we are 3 dimensional beings.

 

In other words, when we lean upon the Lord, regardless if we are in the wilderness or in the Promised Land,

 

-we are beautiful, we are strong, and we are complete.

 

And we are Emmanuel.

  

Amen and amen.

Judith-In God We Have the Victory; Judith 13:1-14

 

Rev. George Miller

August 22, 2021

Judith 13: 1-14

 

Here we are- celebrating 101 years of Women receiving the right to vote, an act of justice that was not easy to obtain or achieved overnight.

 

The Suffragette Movement was an act of faith, a belief in what is right, and in many ways a war against patriarchal structures that thought women were at their best when they were quiet, stayed home, and did things like pray for rain.

 

But the heroes of the Movement were not the kind to stay quiet, go unseen, or simply pray when they could also do.

 

These outspoken, courageous women like Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and Lucy Stone who were committed to the empowerment of women.

 

Women, who for over 100 years fought for what was right.  Women who marched, petitioned, spoke, argued with folk who said they were out of line.

 

Be quiet.  Go back home.  Let the men take care of stuff.

 

But these tenacious, audacious women refused to give up the battle, even though many of them did not live long enough to see that they won the war.

 

Susan B. Johnson, Frances Harper, Elizabeth Stanton who hacked away at their oppression until finally in 1920 women left the tent of misogyny and stepped out into a new world.

 

The Women’s Right to Vote was not something causally given or easily obtained, but something that women fought for, until the sword of justice landed on their side.

 

To all our brave, beautiful women- we celebrate not only the Right to Vote, but we celebrate YOU, doing what it takes to get what is right, even when it’s not easy, even when it feels like an army of 132,000 naysayers surround you.

 

Victory is yours.

 

Can we get an “Amen!”  Amen indeed.

 

So, although today’s story may seem a bit shocking, today’s story is 100% fitting.  But first- a recap.

 

The enemy King plans to kill all people who won’t worship him as God.  General Holofernes has surrounded the citizens of Judea, cutting off their water supply.

 

The people are just 2 days from death by dehydration or by war.

 

Judith, a widowed woman with strong faith in her God and knowledge of her ancestors decides to take action. 

 

As a woman who knows a thing or two about how men think, she dresses herself up, putting on perfume, jewelry, finery like its armor.  She brings seductive foods and designer plates.

 

Her maid carries lambskins so Judith can recline upon them like model.

 

Judith and her maid leave the city, purposely falling into the hands of the enemy.

 

Everyone’s amazed at how beautiful she is.  Her beauty bewitches and beguiles them. 

 

In a camp filled with 132,000 men, Judith uses her words, her wit, her looks as a weapon. 

 

She is an enchantress of the most powerful kind.  She tells them what they want to hear.  She does clever wordplay on the term “Lord”.

 

She makes Holofernes think he has a chance with her.  She strokes his ego, convincing him that he has a chance to get whatever he wants, be it her or the Judeans. 

 

Holofernes gives her the finest things.  He allows her to go out each night to pray.  Judith baths in the fresh spring.  She asks God to direct her in the way of triumph.

 

On the 4^th night there, with the fate of the Jewish people hanging in balance, it comes time for Judith to act.

 

General Holofernes is have a banquet, VIP only.  He tells his servant to persuade Judith to join them in drink and merriment. 

 

The General says “It would be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without having sex with her.  If we don’t seduce her, she’ll laugh at us.”

 

The servant comes to Judith. “Let this pretty girl come and join our lord for a night of wine.”

 

Judith says “Who am I to refuse my lord?  Whatever makes him happy, I will do- it will give me great joy.

 

She puts on her sexiest outfit.  Her maid puts out the lambskins.  Judith lays before Holofernes.  He’s thinking how he’s been waiting for this moment to ravish her. 

 

They drink and they drink, until eventually everyone leaves the tent but Judith and the General.

 

And here is General Holofernes, the second most powerful man in the land, dead drunk, laid out on the bed, too tired to lift his head or open an eye.

 

As the maid keeps watch, Judith, who’s been so patient, stands beside the bed, prays to God to look upon her hands.

 

With the General laying limp and out cold, Judith moves with purpose to the bedpost, she take down his sword, she grabs a hold of his hair.  With a final prayer for strength, she strikes his neck not once but twice. 

 

She rolls his headless body off the bed, pulls down his canopy, gives his head to the maid, who places it in her grocery bag, and like “that!” they leave the camp like they did every night, the 132,000 soldiers assuming the “pretty girl” and her maid are simply out for another night of petty prayer…

 

And here ends our reading for today.

 

Judith and her maid defeat the enemy, make a mockery of his masculinity, and they do it all within the confines of faith, prayer, and trust in God.

 

So…. what do we do with this story?  What is this story saying to us about God?  What is it saying to us about the people of God?

 

Are Judith’s actions to be condoned, imitated, studied, and repeated?

 

Is there any wonder this book has been left out of most Bibles? 

 

Where is the Good News?

 

Well, the Good News is all over the place, if you know how to look for it.

 

1^st- remember that the Bible was written by oppressed people as a testimony to the ways in which God looked after them.

 

The Old Testament is not a book about winners who constantly get to win.

 

The Old Testament is about the lowly, the ignored, put down upon, forgotten, and the hopeless who find their hope in the Lord.

 

The Bible is about those who are always having to overcome obstacles and through the love of God, defeat the enemy, whatever that enemy may be.

 

Abraham and Sarah- how do you overcome the enemy of childlessness when no children was seen as death?

 

Jacob- how do you secure your blessing when everything, from birthright, to marriage is something you have to wrestle for?

 

Joseph- how do you overcome the enemy of family abuse, and having a lifetime of lies thrust upon you?

 

Jochebed, Mother of Moses- what do you do when the Pharaoh says your son’s very existence is a threat and he should be annihilated?

 

Moses- what do you do when your request for freedom is ignored again and again by a system that wants to not only see you dead, but your people subservient and silent?

 

David- what do you do you’re your enemy who is bigger than you?

 

What do you do when you are oppressed, put down, facing a difficult task, when defeat is all but assured?

 

Do you become a victim, or a victor?

 

The answer, biblically speaking to “What do you do?” is this-

 

You put your trust in God.

 

You get up and go.

 

You hold on even if leaves you with a limp.

 

You fight for your family.

 

You keep demanding what is right, no matter how many “no’s” you hear.

 

You use whatever you have, to do whatever you need, even if they’re just  small insigificant stones.

 

You keep wandering through that wilderness, trusting that somehow you will emerge at your Promised Land, leaning on your beloved.

 

So what kind of Good News could Judith be telling us?

 

Think of the Suffragette Movement, how brave women like Susan B. and Ida B. did not stop, they did not quit.

 

10 years, 20 years, 30 years, they kept hacking and hacking away until they received what they deserved.

 

Though what Judith does is bloody, we got to admire that Judith got it done.

 

Sometimes in life it takes more than once to cut off your enemy’s head.  Sometimes you fail, so you try try again.

 

Now, we know this is a bit off-color, dark humor.  But think of the truth.

 

How many things in your own life have been real easy to achieve?  How many things have you had to fight for, work at, struggle with?

 

How often do people give up, how often do they give in, how often do people walk away in defeat?

 

What if, for today, we took this story as a metaphor: Holofernes representing all the obstacles in our way, all the things that have hurt us, held us back, all the things that scare us.

 

What if Holofernes represented an illness that may be in your body?

 

What if Holofernes represented the injustice you have faced?

 

What if Holofernes represents you own self-doubt and all the negative things you say to yourself?

 

In that case, Judith becomes that metaphor for how we can hack away at that which seems to control us.

 

That chronic conditions are a reality, but it does not mean they have to control us completely.

 

Injustice is not something to idly accept, but to fight against and destroy.

 

Self-doubt is something that’s best left powerless the moment we wake up and leave your bed.

 

Maybe it is good to think of how we each possess our own inner Judith.  How we each have a warrior inside.

 

Following our lesson from Song Of Solomon 8, it’s good to note, that she does not do this alone.  Not only does Judith have her maid, she has her God.

 

Throughout this story there is no doubt that everything Judith does, everywhere she goes, is under the guidance of God. 

 

Judith welcomes God into her life.  Calls upon God.  Leans upon God.  Finds her faith in God.

 

She saves herself herself and liberates her people through God.

 

So, as we come to the climax of today’s book and as we celebrate Women’s Equality, let us continue to find ways to reach out to God, to hold God near.

 

To know that in God we have the victory.  With God we have a way to fight our battles and face our enemies, whatever and whoever they may be.

 

For that, we can say “Amen.”

Judith: The Faith of a Trickster; Judith 9:7-12

 

Rev. George Miller

August 15, 2021

Judith 9:7-12

 

Growing up in the 70’s there was a television tradition that many people participated in- the yearly viewing of “The Sound Of Music.”

 

Every year, you could count on Maria to take us to the mountaintop and the Von Trapp family to liven our hearts.

 

There’s a scene that’s stayed with me, forever shaping my philosophical view.

 

Towards the end of the film the Von Trapp’s at a convent, about to escape.  The enemy goes to start his car to pursue them, but it won’t start.

 

A nun dressed in full habit, slyly shows her sister the carburetor, and gleefully gives a shrug of “Oh well.”

 

The idea that a nun would take a carburetor from a car seemed so delightfully naughty…and yet so right.

 

Because of her sneaky act, she assisted in saving the family.

 

So….years later in college, while taking philosophy classes that discussed truth, lies, greater good etc., this was the image that always lingered.

 

When is telling a lie a good thing?  When is deceit the noble thing to do?

 

For me, there is no doubt, that the carburetor snatching sister did the right thing and God would approve.

 

That’s my opinion; you are free to have yours.

 

What we discussing today is the character of the Trickster.

 

We have talked about this before- the Trickster is a common character in many stories that are told by people who are, at the moment, powerless.

 

The Trickster is the one who finds a way to fool their enemy or use sneaky tactics to get what’s been withheld.

 

Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner are tricksters as they outwit Elmer Fudd and Wiley Coyote.

 

Lucy and Ethel are tricksters as they find ways to circumvent the controlling hand of Ricky.

 

The Fast and Furious franchise is all about tricksters using cars and modern technology to thwart their opponent.

 

You will find the Trickster in stories that feature black, brown, poor, enslaved and female characters.

 

The Bible is full of Trickster moments.

 

Jacob who convinces his father-in-law to give him all the imperfect sheep, knowing that overtime he will get the bigger flock.

 

Rachel, who hides her abusive father’s family idols by sitting on them and saying “But Dad, I simply can’t stand up because it’s my time of the month.”

 

Shiphrah and Puah who disobey the pharaohs command to kill the babies, and have the audacity to stand before him saying “But your highness, these Hebrew women are so hearty that they give birth before we can get there!”

 

Jesus had his own trickster moments.  He uses parables as a reply, answers questions with other questions.  His way of saying “If you say so,” when standing before the court.

 

The Trickster is a beloved trope in the Bible, further challenging our faith, understanding of God, and when is it right to blur the lines of reality.

 

The Commandments say that we are not to bear false witness against our neighbor…but is it ok to bear false witness if it means saving a neighbor?

 

Here is where our study of Judith continues.  We have this sensual, powerful woman who knows how to use her assets to play into the weaknesses of ego-driven men…

 

…and she appears to do so with God’s guidance and consent.

 

But first- a recap.  The people of Judea are back from exile and have resumed in-person worship. 

 

The Big Bad King Nebuchadnezzar is having a hissy fit, killing all the nations who would not play with him.

 

His general, Holofernes has 132,000 soldiers surrounding Judea.

 

The people of Judea have prayed and prepared, and are ready to fight, but their water supply has been cut off, and if it doesn’t rain in 5 days, they will either have to surrender or die of thirst.

 

Judith, a widow with beauty, wit, and charm, harnesses her knowledge and faith of God, goes to the men to tell them she is about to get things done.

 

The guys say “That’s nice, little lady. Now go home and pray for rain.”

 

But Judith, with a bravery based on God, refuses to be put in the corner.

 

She goes to her estate, lays on the ground, puts ashes on her head and cries out to God.

 

She recounts how God fought with her ancestor Simeon who avenged his sister’s rape. 

 

She asks God for strength to do what she has planned- to use the cunning words of her lips to destroy the General.  Judith says-

 

“For your strength does not depend on numbers, nor your might on the powerful.  You are God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope.”

 

“Please, please, please, God of our ancestors, Lord of heaven and earth, King of Creation, hear my prayer.”

 

Listen to those words!  Her strength!  Hear her willingness to do whatever it takes to keep God’s people safe!

 

Listen to how she asks God to allow her deceit to defeat the enemy.

 

Hear the audacity of a woman who knows the stories of her people- of Jacob, Rachel, of Shiphrah and Puah.

 

Hear how her clever use of words continues the theme of “Who is God?”  When you are in the wilderness, who is the beloved you lean upon?

 

There is no doubt that YAHWEH is her Lord, her King, her savior.

 

Observe how prayer is used to create possibilities.  Judith is a woman of action and planning, a person who turns to prayer as the foundation of who she is and how she interacts with God.

 

Laying down, ashes, sackcloth, crying, recalling, requesting, praising.  And when she is done…

 

…Judith stands up, washes her body, anoints her skin, does herself up, affixes a tiara upon her head.

 

She gathers the tools she will use to destroy the enemy-

 

A skin of wine, a flask of oil, a bag of grain, fine bread, dried fig cakes, and her best China.

 

Looking like the most beautiful person on the face of the earth, Judith and her maid strut to the edge of the city.  She commands the men “Order the gates to be opened to me so that I may do what none of ya’ll have been able to do.”

 

The men watch as Judith and her maid go down the mountain, pass through the valley, and disappear from sight….

 

Oh, weee!  Have we got a story here!

 

5 days away from defeat, an entire city dying of thirst, an army of 132,000 soldiers and one very amorous general surrounding them, Judith and her maid enter into the wilderness with only

 

Her wit

Her God

Her supplies

Her beauty.

 

How can a fig possibly win against a sword?

 

How can a tiara possibly overcome a tyrant?

 

How can wit prove victorious in a war?

 

How can an invisible God who cares about the weak and lowly win against a king with 132,000 soldiers at his command?

 

And what do we think of Judith praying to God, asking God to bless the deceit of her lips?

 

How do we feel knowing that a righteous, religiously upright woman has asked God to help her lie?

 

What do we do with this information that God may be Ok with a woman using beauty, charm, sex, and wine to save her people?

 

Is there any wonder that this book was not included in the Bible?  Could you imagine how different things might have been if it was?

 

Judith, like the nun in “The Sound Of Music” is going to do what is needed to preserve life and to stop injustice.

 

Judith, like Shiphrah and Puah, like Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner, is going to mock the very one who wanted to hurt her and her people.

 

Judith, like Lucy and Ethel, is about to put on a show that no one ever expected to see.

 

Judith, like Jesus, is going to become a savior for her people.  And how she does it will surprise us.

 

Here ends today’s message.  But may our thoughts continue to ask-

 

-What’s the difference between fact and truth?

-        Who is God?

-        Why do we pray?

 

And now, in addition, we also ask

-        What would we do to save the lives of others, and would God approve?

 

Though we are left with more questions than answers, let us say “Amen.”