For Anyone Who's Felt Displaced; Tobit 8:1-15

 

Rev. George Miller

August 28, 2022

Tobit 8:1-15

 

Before our last big hurricane, Rev. Manierre shared some great advice-

stick to your daily rituals as much as you can.

 

As an ordained minister who works for the Red Cross, Rev. Manierre is a treasure trove of information on how to respond to and live through trauma.

 

Her advice made sure that when the hurricane hit and electricity was off for 4 days, I found a way to cope.

 

Still started each morning with the paper and coffee, even if it was cold.  Still spent Wednesday writing the sermon even as I was sweating.

 

Still fed the cats a can of tuna when the sermon was done and I took a nap.

 

Not only did it bring calm to me, but to the cats who were used to the routine; sticking to is said to them ‘You’re safe.’

 

Rev. Manierre’s advice about routine has been shared with so many others.

 

For those who have received an unwelcome diagnosis or watching a loved one suffer, for those who come down to assist a family member, or anyone living in “in-between time.”

 

Waiting is one of the worst experiences; ritual is one way to really cope with that anxiety.

 

My life since July has been 8 weeks of waiting.  Waiting for a check that was 3 weeks late.  2 weeks of jury duty where each day I had to wait until 5:30 pm to find out if I needed to show up.

 

2 days of sleep study.  Submitting a grant for next year’s sabbatical and waiting to hear back.

 

Then the biggest waiting- having my home tented for termites.  What worried me was thinking  “How do I grab 2 fast cats, get them in a crate and then 3 days later do it again?”

 

Fortunately, I was staying at the Air BB next to my home, so I only had to travel a few feet, but the truth is…

 

...anytime you have to bag up your stuff, pack up your pets, gather your valuables and leave, you are displaced.

 

20 feet, 2 miles, 2 states, makes no matter- your home is your home, and when you’re not there…

 

…when you CAN’T be there, it is hard, it is heartbreaking, and it hurts.

 

So after a day of being down, I did exactly what Rev. Manierre taught- stuck to rituals:

-paper and coffee in the morning

-gym on Tuesday

-sermon on Wednesday.

 

By the 2^nd day the cats were no longer hiding under the bed.  By sermon time, they were soundly asleep, with images of canned tuna in their head. 

 

Not home…but at least some peace.

 

This is an underlying theme of TOBIT- how to be home when you are no longer in Kansas, and how to live as if you are in the Promised Land even if you know you’ll never see it again.

 

Last week we had a fun time with Tobit and his Archie Bunker ways. 

 

We watched as Anna turned traditional conventions on its head, unapologetic for being great at what she does.

 

We celebrated women who broke from political oppression and used technicolor to challenge injustice.

 

Today’s message focuses on the somber reality of where this fairy-tale story takes place.

 

Once upon a time, Tobit and his people were kidnapped and taken far away.  The Northern part of Israel had split from the rest of the nation and was oh so vulnerable.  Assyria swooped in, killing, plundering, taking folk away from the land God had promised them.

 

Tobit portrays himself as someone sooo righteous.  He prayed the right way, tithed the right amount, paid the right wages, ate the right foods, observed the right religious holidays.

 

Right, right, right.  It can sound so sickening and self-congratulatory.

 

But then we step back and think-maybe doing the right things the right way was the only way Tobit knew how to survive. 

 

Maybe doing the right things the right way was the only way Tobit knew how to keep his memories alive.

 

Everything Tobit knew about God, everything he knew about being a faithful Jew was taught to him by his mother Deborah.  But Deborah died when he was still a child, so she’s barely a memory.

 

Everything Tobit  knew about praising God involved going to the Temple during high holy days with offerings.

 

He boasts of all the giving he gave, all the people he helped: all the orphans and widows and hungry.

 

When they are attacked and taken away, Tobit has no family home, he is unable to honor the family tradition of going to the Temple.

 

Tobit also knows he will never, ever, go back HOME again.

 

Maybe that’s why he’s so hyper-righteous.  Maybe that’s why he did sooo much and boasted about it.

 

Maybe he was coping with the trauma he endured and was coping with all he had forever lost, so he compensated by doing more, more, more than maybe he would have otherwise.

 

Maybe it was RITUAL which kept Tobit focused enough to wake up each day.

 

Since he had been kidnapped, he could not make the ritual trips to the Temple to perform in the ritual of alms giving.

 

BUT HE COULD still give, he could still worship, he could still give to God the gifts of justice and kindness with his actions, even if he wasn’t very humble.

 

Ritual may be what kept Tobit going.

 

Ritual is part of today’s story.  Anna and Tobit’s son Tobias has gone on a journey to collect some money.  On the way he meets his 2^nd cousins, and he marries their daughter, Sarah.

 

But here’s the issue- Sarah’s been wed 7 times before; all 7 wedding nights a demon has killed her groom.

 

What to do, what to do?

 

Well the common thing of course- Tobias sets fire to the insides of a fish he caught and the demon runs away!

 

And before they can even kiss, Tobias has Sarah kneel on the floor.  They pray to God for safety and mercy.  He blesses the God of their ancestors, he recalls the creation of Eve and Adam.

He asks for safety and mercy, he says he is about to make love not out of lust but with sincerity.

 

Sarah and Tobias say “Amen, Amen,” and they go…to… ‘sleep’.

 

Later, Sarah’s father peeks into their room.  When he sees them both snoring in bliss, he calls his wife, he calls his servants and they make plans for a wedding celebration.

 

Not just a regular celebration, but a 14 day event full of wine drinking, bread eating, barbeque goodness with enough food to make Fe look stingy.

 

Everyone from town is invited and for 2 weeks there is music, merriment, with no limit to the money spent.

 

It’s all joy, joy, joy…but remember who the people are, where they are, and what they have went through.

 

Sarah’s parents, and most likely their friends and neighbors were also kidnapped and far from home.

 

This wedding feast is most likely made up of stolen people and their children.

 

So this wedding is more than just a wedding.  It is a ‘ritual’.  A ritual that allowed Sarah and her people to remember who they really are and where they are from.

 

This wedding was a way to break the gloominess, sadness, and trauma of what it meant to not be HOME.

 

This wedding would’ve featured the traditional sacred words, sacred songs, traditional symbolizes that were used before long before being taken away.

 

We read about this wedding and can respond to it as we might to coffee in the morning or church on Sunday.

 

This marriage ceremony is not just about 2 people being wed, but a whole community coming together to recall who they are, where they are from, and that God is still present.

 

This is 1 way to look at what’s happening;  the wedding, the wedding night prayer, Tobit’s acts of charity-

 

They are ways in which the characters remind themselves and each other that God is still present.  They are ways they remind themselves that hope is not lost.

 

Tobit can come across as self-righteous, but his reason for giving is to remind himself that God is not dead.

 

Tobias and Sarah may pray so they can properly enjoy their wedding night, but they’re also reminding themselves that the God of their ancestors is still here.

 

Sarah’s family may spare no expense, stuffing everyone’s face with food, but they are also making a public confessional that God is still alive.

 

For people who have lost a lot, who have endured trauma, for anyone who has ever felt homeless and helpless, this announcement that God is still here, and God is still acting is HUGE.

 

Therefore any ritual, any daily task that one can do to convey this, embrace this, share this, is so, so important.

 

Friends and people of Emmanuel UCC- what are the rituals you do?  What are the things you do on a daily or weekly basis that give you comfort?

 

Know what they are- because they are also the very things that give you life.

 

When there is comfort, when there is life, there is most certainly God.

 

We thank God

for the rituals that shape us,

the rituals that mold our day,

the rituals that mark the

passage of time,

because sometimes

those are the very rituals

that save our lives

and soothe our soul.

 

Thank God for our rituals, because within our rituals we can find God.

Amen and amen.

Celebrating Women's Equality Day; Tobit 1:1-8

 

Rev. George Miller

August 21, 2022

Tobit 1:1-8

 

Time is an interesting concept- things that seem like yesterday occurred a lot further back than we realize.

 

For example, 51 years ago “All In the Family” debuted while Ike & Tina Turner sang about “Proud Mary.”

 

Then, there are historical events that are closer than they seem.

 

Edith and Archie Bunker appeared on TV just 51 years after women won the right to vote.

 

We are just as far from “Proud Mary” as “Proud Mary” was from women winning the right to vote.

 

102 years; sounds long ago.  It’s not.  Jack Spenser is 99.  Today, there are 92,000 people over 100.  Chances are we all knew a woman who was born at a time before they could legally vote.

 

Think of just how young our nation is.  1776 was just 246 years ago.  In terms of nations, we’re just babies barely out of diapers.  No wonder we can be so messy at times- we’re still learning.

 

The book I just read, “Founding Mothers,” was a great way to hear how that learning process took place.   

 

It features the words of women who lived during our nation’s birth, all of them trying to make sense out of nonsense, surviving, doing all they can to maneuver in a world that didn’t want to grant them equality.

 

One way the women maneuvered was in the marketplace.  Tired of severe taxation, the women expressed their power through their purchases.

 

Way before men tossed tea into the sea, women used their pocketbook to shun British goods.

 

They refused to buy ribbons and fabric.  Had Boston merchants sign an oath to not import British goods. 

 

They stopped wearing fancy foreign gowns to public events.  Churches held “spinning clubs” in which the women would discuss politics, while creating skeins of wool to be woven into clothe.

 

They sipped “Liberty Tea”- their own concoction of herbs and flowers.

 

Their protests became visible in unique ways.  In 1775 there was a funeral in Charleston.  Since all proper mourning clothes came from oversees, the women made do with what they had.

 

Instead of wearing black, as expected, all the city’s women showed up in brightly colored technicolor dresses.

 

This was considered the 1^st visible act of public defiance against the British.

 

Abagail Adams wrote to her husband John, telling of a merchant who was hoarding all the coffee.  About 100 women assembled, marched down to the warehouse, demanded his keys.

 

He refused until one of the women grabbed him by the neck, tossed him in a cart, tipped him over.  They got the keys, opened the warehouse, hoisted every sack of coffee into their carts, drove off, as the menfolk just watched.

 

Abagail and the women learned how to make cornstalks into molasses, which they then used to make rum, making the soldiers very happy.

 

Women fought on the front line, acted as spies, started industries, raised money for the troops, ran plantations, yet their men still thought theydidn’t know enough, were educated enough, to vote or have a role in politics. 

 

Seems like the world has always been messy, and that no matter how much women do, endure, or have gone through, there are always Archie Bunkers to get in the way of Edith.

 

Case in point is Tobit, today’s scripture,

a story full of messy situations, messy folk, and women who try their best to overcome great odds.

 

Like Judith, which we studied last year, Tobit is one of the Books of the Apocrypha.  It is part of the Catholic Bible, but not part of Hebrew Cannon or the Protestant Bible.

 

Tobit is a newer writing, composed about 200 years before Jesus, which is one reason it wasn’t included in the Hebrew Cannon. 

 

Another reason is that Tobit was always seen as fiction, a faith-based novella featuring a giant fish, a faithful dog, deadly demon, lying angel, and pooping pigeons.  Talk about messy.

 

Tobit offers a glimpse into a difficult, deadly time for God’s people, featuring numerous scenes of people praying and discussions about ethical living.  

 

Tobit features Sarah, the daughter of Raguel.  She’s been married 7 times, and all 7 times her husbands died on their wedding night due to a demon.  She takes her anger out on her servants, who in turn make fun of her.

 

They ridicule her for being a husband killer, literally telling her to drop dead.  She thinks of suicide but changes her mind after prayering to God.

 

There’s her mother, Edna, who wisely questions visitors, keeps track of the extended family, bakes like no one’s business while also offering words of courage and comfort to her daughter.

 

There is Tobia, the son of their cousins Anna and Tobit. 

 

Anna is a hardworking woman, who gets a job when the family encounters challenging times.  She takes in laundry, doing such a good job, she gets a bonus.

 

There’s Tobit- a faithful Jew who was kidnapped as a child and taken to Nineveh.  There he deals with the hardships of being a stranger in a strange land, but through faith, luck, and a mind for business, he amasses a large wealth of money.

 

Tobit is presented as the perfect, purest person who ever lived.  He tithes, he gives to the needy, he keeps kosher, he buries the dead, he prays.

 

But as discovered on Tuesday, how you see Tobit can depend on who you are and how far you’re willing to let your imagination go.

 

Tobit could be played as Andy Griffith, or like the dads from “Modern Family.”  Or he could be a real Archie Bunker.

 

Tobit is just a tad chauvinistic.  He attributes all he knows about faithful living and God his Mom, Deborah, but since his Dad is dead, he calls himself an orphan, as if Mom didn’t matter.

 

His wife Anna creates huge feasts for him, but he has no problem leaving the table to tend to some need.

 

Then there’s the issue of Anna getting a job to support the family.  See, due to some unfortunate pigeon poop in his eyes, Tobit has gone blind and broke.

 

So Anna does what needs to be done- she gets a job.  She excels at it.  Not only does she bring home the bacon, she brings home a goat that she got as a bonus.

 

This sets Tobit off.  He assumes she stole it.  He refuses to believe her.  He demands she return it.  He is enraged, flushed with chauvinistic anger.

 

Do you know what Anna, the wife, says to her bratty husband?  “Where are all your self-righteous acts of charity now?  Where are all the people you just had to help. Ha!  You’ve just shown your true self now!”

 

And this, this thing sets Tobit off into a series of tears, moaning and groaning.  Tobit prays to God because his life has become so miserable. 

 

Yes, he endured being kidnapped, losing his eyesight, but having his wife support the family, be dang good at it, and not apologize about it- that is too much for poor, poor Tobit to bare.

 

“Oh God,” he cries, “release me from the face of the earth, for it is better to die than to live.”

 

Oh, boo-hoo, Archi Bunker.  Your wife got a job and a bonus, get over it!

 

…So here is where we stop today’s reading.  What’s been fascinating to me is that I had no idea how Tobit could tie into Women’s Equality.

 

Then Bible Study came along, and Diane, and Lisa, two bold women, put a whole different spin on Tobit than I imagined.

 

That’s the beauty of studying scripture together- hearing other voices from other lived experiences “see” what’s in the text and watching their response.

 

Just like studying history, how nations came to be, you think it’s all about the men, but you discover that there are women there as well, doing just as much, and they’ve always been there.

 

-Adam was a no body until Eve.

-Abraham needed Sarah.

-Moses could not survive without his mother, sister, or Pharoah’s daughter.

 

Tobit would’ve been destitute without his mom, Deborah and his wife, Anna.

 

America would’ve been lost without wives like Abigial, daughters like Eliza Lucas, not to mention all the enslaved women who have gone unnamed.

 

All the women who refused to buy tea.

 

All the women who talked politics and spun wool to make their own clothes.

 

All the women who hoisted sacks of coffee out of warehouses and wore brightly colored clothes of defiance.

 

All the suffragettes in their purple, white and yellow who

-wrote letters, used song

-marched, faced arrest,

-starved themselves

-Did everything and anything they could to secure the right to vote.

 

Though history has always been messy, and filled with far too many Archies,

 

we are thankful for every woman who has done whatever was needed

 

to keep the dream alive,

to fight for freedom, and

to place their faith,

and their actions,

in a better tomorrow.

 

In God’s name we say “Amen.”