Our Surreal God; Genesis 12:1-9

 

Rev. George Miller

Sept 25, 2022

Genesis 12:1-9

 

It has been a surreal week.

 

Testing positive for COVID 30 months into the pandemic was not part of the plan.  Having 7 other people test positive wasn’t supposed to happen.

 

Closing our doors last week and not having worship at all was definitely not part of the plan.  And yet that’s what happened, and yet here we are.

 

It feels surreal.  Calling in sick for the first Sunday in 17 years of ministry is surreal.  Composing this message while still in a COVID fog is surreal.

 

Yet, in many ways, it seems appropriate, for it can be said we worship a surreal God. 

 

Our God is so surreal they say that God created light and life through the abstractness of breath and words.

 

So surreal that first are last and last are first.  So surreal that little becomes much and mustard seeds can contain all of the heavens.

 

To witness the surreal, all we have to do is step into this story of our great great ancestors, Abram and Sarai.

 

Abram and Sarai are what you’d call a mature couple.  They’ve been married for years.  They have settled into their forever home where cattle graze and rain falls.

 

If there is one issue is that they never had a child.  They have nephews and an extend family that surrounds them, but no son or daughter to call their own.

 

Culturally speaking they are almost invisible people.  Legacy speaking, their family tree is as good as dead. 

 

Then the most surreal, unexpected thing happens- God speaks to Abram and says “Lech lekha,” which means “Get up and Go!” in Hebrew.

 

Like COVID, this call from God literally comes out of nowhere.  There’s no forewarning, there is no indication it is about to happen.

 

Abram and Sarai are getting ready to enjoy a round of golf or Early Bird at the Caddy Shack and God says “Lech lekha”- Get Up and Go!

 

How surreal.  How odd.

 

I wonder if Abram thought he was hearing things.  Did her wonder if he was experiencing some form of brain fog?  Maybe some of the Sahara dust had lodged in his ears.

 

“Get up and Go!” is the command this surreal God gives to this man.

 

To make it even more surreal, God says “I will show you land.  I will make you a great nation.  I will bless you.  I will make everyone know your name, and because of you all the families of the world will be blessed.”

 

If I heard those things last week I would have assumed it was all the Robatussin and ramen soup talking.

 

And yet, Abram listens to that voice.  Abram listen s to God.  Abram uproots his wife, uproots, his household, uproots his nephew and away they go.

 

To make things even more surreal, God appears to Abram and says “To your children, I will give them this land.” 

 

From there, Abram journeys on in stages, surreal stages, not knowing exactly what is going to happen next.

 

Surreal stages.

 

That’s what this week has felt like.  Unexpected.  Out of nowhere.  Nonlinear. 

 

Surreal is this story of Abram. 

 

Surreal is this whole COVID experience, from back in November 2019 when we first heard about it to today.

 

It has been an odd path, with twists and turns, and thinking you know but discovering you don’t know.

 

This whole COVID thing has also been a study in patience.  The not knowing.  The uncomfortableness waiting.  Acting.  Resting.  Moving ahead.  Stopping.  Brain fog.  Stages.  Steps.

 

Today’s narrative is a story about the unexpectedness of life.  Of how we never know. 

 

And isn’t that how we have been living?  Not fully knowing.  Hoping. 

 

Like Abram and Sarai we have been journeying in stages through this whole COVID inflation Monkey Pox January 6 time of tribulation not really sure where we are going.

 

It's surreal.  It’s been odd.  But here we are.  The question is- what do we do, how do we respond?

 

Do we give in, do we give up?  Do we pretend that its not real? 

 

Do we turn on one another or do we turn to one another. 

 

Do we say “How are you?”  “How are you doing?”  Do we admit when it is too surreal?  Do we acknowledge the fog and mystery and the unknown?

 

Today’s message is not one that is to give you an answer or tell you what to do.

 

Today’s message is more an acknowledgement that we have been through a lot this past week, and there is perhaps more to be faced. 

 

Today’s message is more like a hand, a hand to say “I know just as little as you do, and I’m not sure where I am going.  But I know that with God I am not going alone, and perhaps we can face this surrealness together.”

 

The stages we face next are unsure and bound to be non-linear.  How can we face them together; how do we face them with God?                   Amen.

Statement to School Board re: Sex Ed & LGBTQ; Sept 6, 2022

 

My name is Rev. George Miller. I’ve had the honor to serve in Sebring for 12 years. 

 

It’s wonderful to watch the School Board do the work you do, for the sake of our kids.  But I’m concerned about the discussions regarding comprehensive health ed.

 

Few of the decisions seem to be based on fact and research. 

 

Research shows how life-saving sex education is.  Data shows that sex ed reduces teen pregnancy, STI’s, cuts down on depression and suicide attempts.

 

Research from places like Darkness 2 Light show that teens who take sex ed are less likely to be sexually abused and trafficked.

 

Data shows that abstinence-only lessons do NOT keep our kids safe, STD or pregnancy free.

 

Orientation is discussed as if being lesbian or gay is only about sex.  Orientation is about identity.  Who you love, how you see yourself, when you feel the most YOU.

 

To use personal religious views to say that people of the LGBTQ community are evil is wrong.  This puts false words into Jesus’ mouth, going against his teachings of compassion.

 

It’s scary to know that safe havens are not allowed and that children who come to you in confidence can be outed to their parents.

 

Telling a parent that their child has come out as LGBTQ can pose great danger.  40% of our homeless youth identify as LGBTQ and were kicked out by family.  Up 40% of homeless teens are sex trafficked. 

 

What we’ve heard by public speakers are personal takes of their faith, laced with misunderstood interpretations of scripture, often using mistranslated texts. 

 

Folk say “We want to teach a biblical approach to sex,” yet the Bible features polygamy, concubines, marrying your kin.

 

I am concerned about the meanness we have witnessed in this room done by the people identifying as Christians. 

 

LGBTQ youth are discussed at these meetings as inhuman and non-citizens.

 

It's as if the bullies from jr. high have grown up to be bullies at the board meetings.  We know that often those who are bullies are themselves having issues at home.

 

There is a saying that “A hit dog hollers.”  There seem to be folk here today who are overly obsessed with the LGBTQ presence.

 

Perhaps they are worried that someone they care about is gay; perhaps they’re worried that they are gay, so they’re doing all they can to demonize others so they don’t have to look at themselves.

 

If that is you today, please stop.  You are hurting innocent youth; ultimately you are hurting yourself.  If this is you, know that you are worthy of love and there are people who will stand by and support you. 

 

Let us stop this assault on our LGBTQ youth who are simply trying to be their true selves.

 

What If The Book of Tobit was Called Anna?; Tobit 11:1-6

 

Rev. George Miller

Sept 4, 2022

Tobit 11:1-6

 

Today is the last sermon on Tobit, and to be honest none of the messages were what I anticipated.

 

This is a GREAT thing, meaning that instead of TOBIT being used by me to pass an ideology, it was me who was made by TOBIT to look beyond my ego.

 

TOBIT begins as the tale of a man who is kidnapped, tries his best to honor his mother’s faith, and loses his sight.

 

HOW DIFFERENT this book would be if it had a different name.

 

Imagine if this was called SARAH, told from the point of view of Tobit’s relative who is tormented by a demon?

 

She is married 7 times, sees all 7 men die, is mocked by her staff, and wed for an 8^th time to her cousin.  What would Sarah have to say about her life, her family, her faith, her God?

 

Imagine if the book was called EDNA, and it was about Sarah’s mom?

 

It could be about a mother watching her only child have to constantly get her hopes up only to be shattered.

 

Or if the book was called ANNA, after Tobit’s wife?  What if we heard about her experiences, as a woman kidnaped and taken to Nineveh?  What if we heard about the horrors she faced?

 

What if we saw Tobit through her eyes, how he put everything before her? 

 

Tobit once had so much money he leant someone $200,000.  Imagine the life Anna lived; imagine what it was like when they became broke, and she had to take in laundry to pay the bills.

 

I would’ve liked to read ANNA because in many ways she’s the most realized character in this book.  When we first met Anna, she’s cooking big meals for Tobit, not fully appreciated.

 

We see how she comes to family’s rescue, get a job, excels at it, gets a bonus, and puts Tobit in his place when he tries to humiliate her.

 

Then we discover how strong a love she has for her only son, Tobias.  When Tobit sends her son away to collect the $200,000, she breaks into sobs.

 

“Why do you send my child away?  He is not a plaything to be used.  Don’t let money get in the way of our child’s life.  He’s a gift from God and he is enough.”

 

Anna weeps and weeps.  Her heart is torn.  She doesn’t care about the cash.  This is her son.  Her baby.

 

Anna is living in a dangerous place during a dangerous time, and Tobit has sent her son into danger all for an IOU.

 

This would be like a parent in Cuba or Haiti sending their only son to Miami to collect a debt.  This is like the Civil War and a son of Virginia is trying to get to New York and back unnoticed.

 

Although Anna’s son is safe as he travels along the way, there is no way for Anna to know this.  There’s no cell phone, no telegram, no post office.

 

Tobias should only be gone for 6 days, 7 at most.  But one week goes by, two weeks go by, three weeks.

 

Nothing.  Anna hears nothing about her son. 

 

She says to Tobit “My child has perished and is no longer among the living.”  She weeps, she moans.  “My child, the light of my eyes.  Damn you for taking my child.”

 

Tobit can’t handle her grief.  He tries to smooth over it.  “Be quiet,” he says.  “Stop worrying.  It’s probably nothing.”

 

Anna yells back “Be quiet yourself!  Stop lying to me- my child is dead.”

 

Every day, Anna would run out to watch the road; when the sun sets she’d go back in, crying all night, not sleeping.

 

That’s where today’s reading comes in- another day has come, another long morning of Anna waiting for her son to return.  She is staring at the road, the path her child had taken weeks ago.

 

She’s on about day 14, 21, 28 of no sleep.  Still, she waits; still she watches.

 

…and there, just there, in the horizon, she sees his shape.  It is unmistakable.  As a Mother, she knows, she know.  She shouts to her husband “Look, your son is coming!”

 

Then…she runs.  She runs and she runs, and she does not stop running until she sees the light of her eyes.  She throws her arms around him.  “Now that I see you, my child, I can die.”

 

She weeps.  As if 12, 21, 28 days of weeping isn’t enough, she weeps tears of joy, the tears only a mother can shed for a child she thought was dead.

 

Tobit stumbling through the courtyard door and the family is reunited.

 

We don’t hear any more words from Anna.  We know she lived her life as a contented mother and grandmother, and she outlives Tobit.

 

How intriguing it would have been if today’s book was called ANNA and all that occurred, we got to see from her lens.  How unique the story would be.

 

Unique, and yet not unfamiliar.

 

Anyone notice how much today’s story sounds like another story in the Bible?

 

We heard of a mother watching for a son she fears is dead.  He appears on the horizon; she joyfully runs to him.

 

About 300 years later, Jesus tells a similar story in Luke 15.  Except this time it’s about a Dad who is watching for his son, a Dad who runs out to him.

 

According to Jesus, the Dad says, “Let us celebrate, for my son was dead and is alive again, lost and is found!”

 

How interesting that 2 such stories can exist, different and yet so similar.  Both featuring a missing child, a waiting parent, both ending with a joyful reunion.

 

Makes one wonder- did Jesus borrow from Tobit?  If so, what would have happened if he kept the parent as a mother?

 

We ask because although there are images in scripture that refer to the feminine aspect of God, and there are parts of the Bible that feature feminine imagery, there is not enough, and one has to really search for it, and not many male preachers preach about it.

 

So often people refer to God as He, see God as a He, refer to God as Father, but how would it have been if this time, in Luke 15, Jesus had taken a clue from TOBIT and made the story about a mother who waits?

 

How different would our theology, our lives, our world be?

 

How different would our faith and our vision of God be if Jesus gave us a story in which we see God as the Heavenly

-Mother Who Waits?

-the Mother Who Runs?

-the Mother Who Weeps?

-the Mother Who Fights for her Kid?

-the Mother Who Never Gives Up?

 

How cool it would’ve been if Jesus made the Dad in his story a Mom, because then we’d have one more image of the Lord.

 

And the more images of God, the more we fully experience and understand who God is.  And the more diverse an image we have of God, the more we see God in the diversity around us.

 

I am thankful for this journey we took with Tobit.  It was unexpected.  It was short.  It was rich.

 

And I hope it has empowered us to rethink how we see God, how we see scripture, and how we see ourselves. 

 

Amen and amen.