In
simpler times I have heard the parables of the lost coin and the lost
sheep in simpler ways.  One can take the perspective of the 99 sheep
or the 9 coins and be rather irked at the ways the 1 is celebrated.
One can take the perspective of the seeker, and join in the joy of
finding the one.  One can take the perspective of the outside
observer and wonder if leaving 99 sheep unattended is really the best
way to move towards having 100 sheep, or if throwing a party worth
more than the found coin is the best use of money.

Of
course, there is the most obvious option of taking the perspective of
the lost sheep and being grateful for the shepherd who comes looking
and rescues one from peril (or perhaps pulls you out of a great
tasting meadow, who knows?)  Identifying with the sheep is a little
easier than the coin, but nevertheless, the awareness that when we’re
lost we need help is an easy one to turn to.

These
times, beloveds, are not simple times.

In
this time when I read the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin I
think to myself, “are we lost or found?” and I find that the
answer is “I don’t know.”  Or, more honestly, the answer is “Yes,
we are lost.  Yes, we are found.  Yes.”  

I
remember preaching in 2016 about the articles I was seeing about how
the 2016 election cycle was doing heavy damage to  our country’s
mental health, and therapists were urging people to engage in breaks
from the news, in meditation, in breathing exercises.  They were
worried about the stress destabilizing us individually and
collectively.  I remember seeing what they were talking about, in
myself and in this church.  Tempers were shorter, nuance got lost,
there was more right/wrong and  us/them thinking.  Schenectady Clergy
Against Hate grew out of that the time, because of the radical
increase in hate crimes.

Here
is the bad news.  At this point I think of 2016 as a simpler time.

Sure,
there were oodles of stress.  Sure I saw myself, others, and the
church community get worse at basic functioning.  Sure, The United
Methodist Church was a dumpster fire.  Sure, polarization was at all
time highs.  But, that level of communal chronic stress was at that
point relatively new.  (We didn’t know it then.)

For
me, the Trump presidency was a daily kick in the gut, or more
specifically in every value I hold dear.  And, because I’m not
actually interested in dismissing people because they think
differently from me, I’m aware that for those whose values were
upheld by the Trump presidency, the squeals of horror and outrage
about everything he did ALSO shook them to the core.  And, let us
never forget, that foreign adversaries have taken advantage of
differences between us to further polarization, because it benefits
THEM for us to have more HATE in our society.  

So,
the stress of the election didn’t settle down.  Things kept getting
worse.  Then there was the 2019 General Conference of The United
Methodist Church when our denomination doubled down on homophobia and
it became clear that our church at large is not centered in the love
of God.  That was a blow, at least to me.

Then
the COVID pandemic began, and we’re sure sick of talking about it,
not to mention living it, I know.  But it is relevant here.  The
pandemic shook every single part of our society and our lives.  And
nothing is the same.  

And
quite often we HATE that.  Fine, quite often I hate that.  It is
disconcerting.  It is depressing.  It is overwhelming.  And then
there are the STILL present challenges of determining where the right
balances are between risks of infecting others with a serious illness
and risks of disconnection and loneliness (which itself can also be
deadly), and the simple deciding is exhausting.

The
stress level has been rising since 2016, sometimes just a slow steady
beat upwards, sometimes in leaps.  There are PHYSIOLOGICAL facts
about stress.  It makes us less creative.  It makes us less
compassionate.  It pushes us into black and white thinking.  It leads
us into in-group thinking, and making enemies of others.  It makes us
selfish.

None
of which look anything like following Jesus.  Right?

That’s
a little squirmy for me.  That the impacts of stress impede the
capacity to follow Jesus.    Because I don’t really get to control
the world and the stresses it throws at me, nor at us.  All
of which gets me around to why I think the answer is “yes, we’re
lost.”  

But
perhaps you’d like to hear why I think the answer is ALSO, “yes,
we’re found?”

The
starting and ending point of “we’re found’ are quite simple: I do
not believe it is possible to wander away from God.  Or, at least, it
is not possible to wander beyond the reaches of God’s love.  And, as
God is everywhere, anywhere we are is with God, and God knows where
we are, so we are found.  (By God.)

But,
in case that isn’t actually enough for you (although, it is rather a
lot), I’d like to point out what you are doing RIGHT NOW.  You are
listening to a sermon.  Now, I don’t know all of your personal
reasons for why you do that, but I know some things.  I know you have
lots of other things you could be doing, and when you do this you are
making a choice.  There seems to be strong evidence that you would
listen to a sermon because you are interested in what makes a good
life and/or in how to live a Godly life and/or in considering how to
get from the world as it is to the world as God would have it be.  It
could be you are looking for reasons for hope, or looking for
analysis of what’s going on, or to make meaning of the world, or to
make meaning of life, or maybe you are mostly doing this because
other people you like also do this and you want to connect with them.

Those,
dear ones, are really beautiful reasons to do a thing.

I
remain shocked that this thing we know as church exists.  Hear me
out!  So, a bunch of people connect with each other and are connected
by their shared commitment to God and living as followers of Jesus.
So they create spaces to work together and worship together.  They
give significant gifts of time to caring for the needs of the church
and the community, to learning together and playing together and
doing important things together.  

Then,
and this is the one that keeps on shocking me, they give MONEY to the
church.  Enough to PAY STAFF even (AND take care of the building,
another miracle).  Staff to help take care of the resources (sexton,
building), staff to take care of the community (breakfast cook),
staff to take care of the communication and connections
(administrative assistant), and even staff to take the time to listen
to the world and the Bible and the people and try to help make sense
of things (pastor.)

I
am amazed that you all do this.  It is INSANE.

You
realize how much time, energy, money, and frustration you’ve given to
this place right? When people say “church family” they may in
fact be reflecting that some of the demands family puts on our lives
is similar to the demands church puts on their lives.

But
this is also GOOD NEWS.  Because in the midst of this world, people
are giving of themselves in hope that what we do together is part of
building better lives and a better world.  Lives are changed here, by
friendship, by theology, by study, by singing, by hope.  We are more
together than we could ever be apart.

And
even now, even when everything is different, even when showing up is
in multiple mediums and often feels SO strange compared to what we
knew in the past – even now, you all keep on caring enough to
listen, to try, to work towards good.  And that’s about as “found”
as I can imagine existing.  I am, quite honestly, profoundly moved
that you exist and keep on keeping on.

There
is a final piece to this though.  It isn’t just that we are lost and
we are found, as two separate pieces.  It is also that we are lost
and found, both at the same time, and that has its own truth.  This
week I got an email from a clergy coach who talked about this, and
while I want to share everything Rev. Lauren Stephens-Reed said, I’m
condensing to this:

leading
innovation is about getting people to co-create the future with you.
This
kind of approach is warranted when your purpose is clear but the
future is not. Is there any better descriptor of – any greater need
in – this time in the Church, in the world?

I
do believe our purpose is clear.  We are co-creating the kindom of
God with God.  We work together to promote the idea that the kindom
and its values are important, to help each other learn in order to
build the kindom, and to help each other live its values.  We don’t
know everything, but we do know that some of the prime values of the
kindom are love, justice, compassion, and inclusion, so we work on
those.  We are going it TOGETHER because we believe we are more
together than apart.

So,
we don’t know how to get to the future.

That’s
OK.

God
does, and God will lead us, TOGETHER.

We
are lost dear ones,  and we are found, dear ones.  And it is hard but
it is OK.  Thanks be to God.  Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
http://fumcschenectady.org/
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

September 11, 2022