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  • May 26, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Starting With Care” based on Genesis 2:1-3 and Matthew 6:26-34

We’re going to start with the bad news: you can’t control anything.

Or, at least you can’t control anything important.

You can’t control how long you’ll live, what the quality of that living will be, what illnesses or injuries you will endure, how long your loved ones will live, if or when traumatic events will occur, nor how they’ll be responded to.

I was recently a part of a conversation about suffering led by a medical professional who – rather appropriately I thought – was worried about the fact that patients sometimes assume their suffering is God’s punishment. I agreed with him that this is just not TRUE, and it is awful to think that you are both in pain and that you deserve it. But, I am also aware that if pain and suffering aren’t a punishment from God, another option is that life is a crapshoot and there isn’t any meaning to be found in it – and for a whole lot of people that’s MORE uncomfortable than thinking God wills it. Because if God’s punishing them, or teaching them a lesson, then the suffering AT LEAST means something and maybe even has redemptive value. But if it was just a random thing, and it could have happened to anyone and just happened to happen to them – well, for a lot of people that’s WORSE.

Because then it is entirely out of their control. If God is punishing them, then IF ONLY they’d acted differently, then they could have prevented this from happening.

Right? It is an awful theology, but the human desire to pretend we have control is really quite powerful.

And, let’s be honest, we can’t control things but we can …. impact probabilities, right? Cancer is MORE likely if you smoke, if you don’t exercise, if you don’t eat well. Even better, you aren’t likely to get hurt falling off a rock wall if you don’t attempt to climb a rock wall. Right?

That said, once I broke a toe because a container of chili fell out of my freezer and landed on it. No rockwalls involved. Another time I sprained an ankle horribly – at the ski mountain – on the INDOOR stairs when I was grabbing lunch. Probabilities aren’t guarantees.

I find some comfort in the Matthew passage that tells us that worrying and trying to control the uncontrollable is in human nature. This one isn’t a modern day problem and we don’t have to blame the 24 hour news cycle, smartphones, or social media. This is a human problem. We are aware enough of the uncertainties of life to worry about what may happen.

Jesus seems to recommend not worrying about the little things – about eating and drinking and finding clothes. Which, funnily enough, were exactly things that most of his audience was worried about most of the time because he was speaking to people who often didn’t enough enough food, or drink, or a change of clothes.

In the face of their daily struggle for survival, Jesus says,

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

And I get his point. Life is vivacious, nature takes care of itself, hoarding is unnecessary, and truly no one is as beautiful as a flower. But also, I don’t get his point. Because it sounds a whole lot like saying, “Sure, there is a system of oppression out there that took away your family’s land and livelihood, and now you are hoping every day to get hired back to work the land so that you can afford to eat tonight, and sure you are likely to die soon of malnutrition, but don’t worry about it, God will take care of you.” And, while I TRULY believe that God does want to take care of everyone… well, deaths from malnutrition HAPPEN so it seems like that “promise” isn’t one that often works out.

Compassionate people don’t say to starving people, “don’t worry about food.”

So, what the heck is Jesus doing?

I think I did a bad job in picking this passage, particularly that I didn’t look at the verses PRECEEDING these ones. Namely, “No one can serve two masters for a slave will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” These lines are a big deal in the Bible. For a world in which people thought being wealthy was a sign of God’s favor, it really turns the tables. This passage encourages the poor while challenging the wealthy. And it is placed before the bit about the lilies of the field.

And I wonder if Jesus is at this point talking to wealthy people. The ones who DO have enough to eat, but are worried about it anyway. The ones who do have clothes, but fret that they’re not enough.

And I wonder, too, if Jesus is doing one of those really deep teaching things where he is saying to the poor – if you work together you’ll have enough, but when you have enough don’t worry about getting more like the rich people do. Trust in each other and God, don’t horde.

Furthermore, I think maybe Jesus wants those who are oppressed to look up long enough to see they system that is oppressing them, and that it isn’t God’s will. God made a world of abundance, PEOPLE are keeping each other from accessing it. Part of the problem of trying to survive is that you can be so pre-occupied with it that you don’t notice you shouldn’t have to fight that hard.

God made enough. It was true then, and it is true now, just as it is true that people died of not having enough then and people die of not having enough now. God made enough, people have distribution problems. And I think it’s OK to worry about the distribution problems.

I really appreciated this week’s essay from We Cry Justice. I’d like to read a little more of it to you:

God creates human partnerships. In short, God created a system whereby all material and emotional life is tended to. So if we are to be fruitful and multiply – if we are to add to creation – the systems we create must extend the provision of care.

…

Within us lies the potential to create and re-create a system that revolves around and produces care, a system where needs are met. We will need each other to do so. We will need to be in partnership, working together to be fruitful and multiply.1

We can’t CONTROL anything, although we can do a lot of damage trying. We can, however, be in partnership with each other and God and seek to “extend the provision of care.” We can choose to notice that care is inherent in creation, and that God’s care hasn’t changed. We can remind ourselves that there is ENOUGH, and that’s good. We can remember the lilies of the field – when they’re useful – that creation is beautiful and awe-inspiring.

(Image of mutual care: Ellis Nurses with supporters picketing for better care for their patients, and for each other. Photo by Sara Baron)

We can remember that things aren’t now as they should be, but they CAN get better, that God is working with us to make them better, that we’re working together, that many people are in this together. That we want a world where no one has to worry about what they will eat or drink or wear, because the resources of the world are abundant there is enough for everyone – and in the kindom of God the resources are shared with the abundance of God.

It is a dream worth holding onto, and remembering, and seeking. We can start with care. And every little bit helps. We can’t control it, but we can shape it. Thanks be to God. Amen

1Solita Alexander Riley “In the Beginning, There Was Care” in We Cry Justice (Minneapolis, 2021), p. 145.

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

May 26, 2024

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  • May 12, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Hate Evil and Love Good” based on Amos 5:11-15 and Mark 11:15-19

Do you ever wish there weren’t quite so many tables that need to be turned over? I mean, Jesus was totally justified in his action. And it was brilliant, and I love it. In his non-violent direct action he managed to convey that the Temple had been co-opted by the Empire and was serving the Empire and not God. He reclaimed for the people the faith of their ancestors and put them on notice that the Temple was not representing that faith. Which likely they knew, but maybe some of them mostly ignored because it was too hard to admit that the Temple of Solomon was being used as a vehicle of oppression rather than freedom. Like Jesus’ parables, his actions bring into the light a lot of things that people would rather not see.

(Jesus Mafa image)

And, like Jesus’ parables, his actions freaked out the people in power. Mark seems on target in naming that this action was a part of the decision to kill him but Christianity has a terrible historical relationship with Judaism, and I want to be sure we name that the chief priests who are said to be conspiring to kill him were appointees of ROME and that was one of the concerns Jesus was raising. While nominally Jewish, they were a tool of oppression, rather than being guardians of God’s freedom.

I think this is one of the challenges of faith traditions. There is POWER in communities of faith, and there is power in faith leadership. We are working together to make meaning of the world around us, to listen for the voice of God, and we make assessment of what God likes and dislikes about the world around us. Which is our work. The meaning making work. But that means that whoever wants to oppress others really wants us on their side to claim they are doing right and not wrong, and heavens faith leaders quite often follow those leads and end up blessing and justifying all kinds of horrible things.

We have power, so people want to abuse it, and far too often they succeed. And Jesus, God love him, and others of God’s prophets call it out.

And there is a lot of calling how to do – both in the church and in the world. And I, for one, would be happier if there were less need. I read an opinion piece in the New York Times this week entitled “The Happiness Gap Between Left and Right Isn’t Closing” by Thomas Edsall. Apparently people have been studying this for 50 years and the left is simply less happy than the right. He wrote:

Those on the right are less likely to be angered or upset by social and economic inequities, believing that the system rewards those who work hard, that hierarchies are part of the natural order of things and that market outcomes are fundamentally fair.

Those on the left stand in opposition to each of these assessments of the social order, prompting frustration and discontent with the world around them.”1

Well, that’s a fair assessment, huh? Makes me wonder how Jesus felt about doing this Temple Protest. Was he angry? Sad? Simply resigned that it was necessary? All of it at once? Clearly he would have preferred his faith tradition NOT be co-opted for oppression, but I do wonder how he made sense of it.

According to the article,Timothy A. Judge, the chairman of the department of management and human resources at Notre Dame, has also written on happiness and the left and the right. There is an idea that taking on hierarchy, patriarchy, racism, and institutions is depressing because it is HARD, it is harder than believing you have a lot of control in the world. Judge says:

“I do share the perspective that a focus on status, hierarchies and institutions that reinforce privilege contributes to an external locus of control. And the reason is fairly straightforward. We can only change these things through collective and, often, policy initiatives — which tend to be complex, slow, often conflictual and outside our individual control.

On the other hand, if I view “life’s chances” (Virginia Woolf’s term) to be mostly dependent on my own agency, this reflects an internal focus, which will often depend on enacting initiatives largely within my control.”

As I read the article, I noticed that things were getting pretty interesting for me internally. First of all, I didn’t know progressives were less happy than our counterparts and I wanted it to be untrue. But, I couldn’t argue with the fact that it would be nicer to think that things are generally working than it is to notice that a whole lot of things are not working. That’s just TRUE. But by this point I was thinking about the reality of social change. It is unpleasant to deal with the brokenness of the world, but if we don’t deal with it, we just let it continue! And, yes, change is complex, slow, conflictual, and often what we can offer is only a tiny piece of what is needed. AND, … that’s just how it is!!!

Sure, it is nicer to only deal with things that we can control, but that would leave us complicit with injustice.

Furthermore, as I was reading, I found myself reliving so many conversations we’ve had around here. This stuff is really, really true. The author also quotes Nick Haslam, a professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, who:

“cites studies showing that strong ‘correlates of holding expansive concepts of harm were compassion-related trait values, left-liberal political attitudes and forms of morality associated with both.’ Holding expansive concepts of harm was also ‘associated with affective and cognitive empathy orientation and most strongly of all with endorsement of harm- and fairness-based morality.’ Many of these characteristics are associated with the political left.”2

And, another light bulb went off. We who are called to be compassionate and empathetic, and we who come to the world with some natural compassion and empathy and are able to maintain it despite the costs – it isn’t actually easy to face the world AND feel it.

When I say I wish there were fewer tables to be overturned, I mean I wish there was more justice and less need to work for it.

But, I’m so very grateful we have the example of Jesus overturning tables, and regularly messing with the status quo, and all the rest of the Bible doing the same, to keep us on our toes. I don’t want to be a faith leader who greats meaning for oppressors. I don’t think we want to be a faith community at peace with injustice. I don’t want to NEED to turn tables, I don’t think Jesus did either. But we do what needs to be done.

Interestingly, the article ended with another quote from Timothy Judge:

I know this is perhaps naïve. But if we give in to cynicism (that consensus can’t be found), that’s self-reinforcing, isn’t it? I think about the progress on how society now views sexual orientation and the success stories. The change was too slow, painful for many, but was there any other way?

Well, it turns out that’s pretty on point for us, huh? We’re now 28 years into being a Reconciling Congregation, a decision that was made carefully over 2 more years, and we are newly a part of denomination that doesn’t actively harm queer and trans people. Many of us have turned tables to create this change. Many have made meaning to help it be clear that God’s love isn’t small and judgmental but rather is enormous and life-giving. We have used our voices to bring change.

And, dear ones, I want to point out that from 1972 to 2019 things kept on getting worse and worse. At General Conference in 2016, Love Your Neighbor Coalition Volunteers were prepared to shut down General Conference AGAIN to prevent further harm. That threat, we believe, was part of the motivation to create the 2019 General Conference. And I promise you this – all the tables that were turned along the way were turned ON PURPOSE to bring the change. People know the win wasn’t going to come through legislation, nor the judicatory, and the only answer was to raise the temperature in the room.

And in 2019 the worst possible outcome came. The church doubled down on its homophobia, and in fact defined Christianity as a commitment to homophobia. It was unfathomably awful. We, here discussed if we would stay or go. We didn’t want to be a part of it anymore, but we didn’t want to give up either.

Today, it is clear that the organizing we did after 2019 and the disaffiliation process created by 2019 (which was intended to kick US out) created a new day. But until the votes started coming in for the “2020 General Conference” – the one that ended last week, don’t let the dates confuse you – until the votes started coming in we couldn’t believe it because we’d been hurt too many times.

For the rest of my life when someone says turning over tables doesn’t matter, I’ll know better because I’ve seen it work. For the rest of my life when things are very dark, when things look like death, I’ll remember that 2019 was the death of my hope in The United Methodist Church, AND that 2024 was its resurrection.

I wish there were fewer tables to turn, but it turns out there is ONE LESS table to turn. Thanks be to God. And it turns out it got turned because people stayed with empathy and compassion, because people worked together, because they stayed to do the hard work even when it seemed hopeless, because they didn’t give up. (Note, however, that some people had to take breaks, and some people had to leave, but COLLECTIVELY we kept going. Justice work includes taking breaks.)

Amos nails it:

Seek good and not evil, so that you may live,

and so that YWHW God Omnipotent

may truly be with you as you have been claiming.
Hate what is evil and love what is good

maintain justice at the city games. (5:14-15a, Inclusive Bible)

Dear ones, we are called to seek good and not evil, to hate what is evil and love what is good. And it is HARD to stay in this work and see what is wrong and feel how much harm is done, and have hope. But, hope is worth having, because as we’ve been saying all along, “Love wins in the end, and if Love hasn’t won, it isn’t over yet.” And at least on one thing, Love has won, and that reminds me that I can trust that God who is Love will ALWAYS win. Amen

1https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/opinion/conservatives-liberals-depression-anxiety.html

2Ibid

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  • May 5, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Hallelujah, It Is Finished!” based in theory on John 21:1-14 as a story of resurrection

Dear ones, it is official. The era of institutional discrimination against queer and trans people in the United Methodist church has ended.

The phrase that said that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” is gone, and our new statement on Human sexuality reads:

We affirm human sexuality as a sacred gift and acknowledge that sexual intimacy contributes to fostering the emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of individuals and to nurturing healthy sexual relationships that are grounded in love, care and respect.

Human sexuality is a healthy and natural part of life that is expressed in wonderfully diverse ways from birth to death. It is shaped by a combination of nature and nurture: heredity and genetic factors on the one hand and childhood development and environment on the other. We further honor the diversity of choices and vocations in relation to sexuality such as celibacy, marriage and singleness.

We support the rights of all people to exercise personal consent in sexual

relationships, to make decisions about their own bodies and be supported in those decisions, to receive comprehensive sexual education, to be free from sexual exploitation and violence, and to have access to adequate sexual health care.

The “funding ban” is gone – church support at levels can be extended to organizations doing ministry with LGBTQIA+ folx.

We don’t call anyone “self-proclaimed practicing homosexuals” anymore (PHEW), and now we affirm that queer clergy can be ordained and appointed in The United Methodist Church AND that if they can’t be safely appointed at home they can be appointed across conference lines.

We now allow clergy to preside over and UM churches to host same-gender weddings.

There are no longer chargeable offenses for ones’ sexual orientation or for doing same-gender weddings.

AND we’ve created a process to RESTORE CREDENTIALS of those who lost them because of their sexuality, gender identity, or presiding over a wedding. (It remains to be seen if anyone will use this.)

AND we’ve put in place a regionalization plan that allows for areas around the world to do ministry in ways that work for them, THANK GOD, and also means we can move from these NEUTRAL stances to POSTITIVE statements in the near future.

Friends, that first one, the “incompatibility clause” was added in 1972 and we’ve been fighting to remove it every since. 52 years.

The era of harm to God’s beloved queer and trans people through The United Methodist Church is OVER.

HALLELUJAH.

I have a memory of being in junior high Sunday school and learning that The United Methodist Church was bigoted against queer people and being simply horrified that they didn’t know better yet. I thought back then that it was just a matter of time for the church to catch up.

I remember going to General Conference in 2004 and learning how intentional and organized the homophobic movement was. It blew me away. It wasn’t simply that the church forgot to notice they had this justice issue to fix. It was that people were working hard, with great intentionality, to do harm to God’s beloveds.

I have done my part, to change the church. So have you. So have tens or hundreds of thousands of people. Maybe more. I can’t quite process how many people have worked so hard to bring this day. The laborers have been many, and until this past two weeks the fruits have been few. But here we are.

THIS is the First Sunday of a fully inclusive United Methodist Church.

And, I thought it would feel better.

It is like I forgot about how pain works. I forgot that when the active harm stops coming, that’s when you finally get to really feel it all. That’s when the grief hits. That’s when the anger is finally able to be let out.

Until this week the harms kept coming, and all we could do was survive.

And now we have to heal.

Darn it.

IT IS FINISHED, HALLELUJAH.

And.

And we lost beloveds to suicide. And we lost those called to other churches or professions. And we lost the full authenticity of those called and serving. And we lost members who were told they were incompatible, or they couldn’t get married, or they couldn’t have their kid baptized. And we lost those who just couldn’t stay anymore. And those who have been WAITING have lost so many years.

52 years.

AND, sorry, I know I’m Debbie Downer, but we know we closed the Central Jurisdictions in 1968 to create a beautifully diverse fully shared body of Christ and racism is still alive and well anyway. And we also know that women have had full ordination rights since 1954 but don’t have pay equity or any other kind of equity. So removing formal discrimination doesn’t solve the whole problem.

You already knew that too.

Ever since the rules changed to allow all of our siblings their ordination rights, I’ve been humming Mark Miller’s song “The Journey Isn’t Over.” God’s call in my life to bring justice in the church and the world for God’s beloveds who are trans and queer hasn’t changed. I’m so grateful, so very, very grateful not to be ashamed of my denomination more. But the journey isn’t over:

From Seneca Falls,

from Selma to Stonewall

we’ve come a long way,

we’ve come a long way.

From Seneca Falls,

from Selma to Stonewall

we’ve come a long way,

but the journey isn’t over.

Friends, THIS journey will be over when God’s beloveds who are trans and queer, God’s beloveds who are women and non-binary people, God’s beloveds who are BIPOC, God’s beloveds with disabilities, AND ALL of God’s beloveds are able to live in fullness and abundance in the kindom of God.

From now until then, we’re called to make it so.

Hallelujah, THIS STAGE is finished, AND the journey isn’t over. Amen

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  • April 28, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Mixed Multitude” Exodus 12:33-42 and Acts 2:5-11, 41-42

I love our “We Cry Justice” reading today (#25 by Daniel Jones) and the hot take on “mixed multitudes.” I loved the MLK quote it started with too, including, Pharaoh ‘”kept the slaves fighting among themselves.” This “trick” of having most of the resources in a society “float” to the top while leaving the multitudes fighting for the crumbs is well known, and unfortunately still well used. Take a look at governmental budgets and then the people advocating for various just causes – who accidentally end up fighting each other to prove the imperative nature of their own concern AT THE cost of the others. (Fixable, it turns out, by fixing the regressive tax code so it doesn’t magnify inequality.)

Mr. Jones points out that Ancient Egypt was “an empire based on violence and injustice that sacrificed lives to the accumulation of wealth and its paranoia, viewed the murder of children as a fair price for keeping control.”1 I can’t decide if I should respond “OUCH” or “PREACH” to that one. He goes on to say that the mixed multitude – the Israelites and those who suffered along with them in the empire – built a new society based on God’s laws. “This higher law proclaims the accumulation of individual wealth to be immoral and demands freedom for enslaved people, forgiveness of debts, care for the environment, and the responsibility of everyone to their neighbors.” And THAT’s why we call it the Promised Land.

The holiness of this mixed multitude, seeking shared goodness for each other instead of competing with each other and creating community out of shared need is found in Acts 2 as well. We normally only focus on Acts 2 on Pentecost, but it is another example that when God’s Spirit is at work, people are bonded together across boundaries that might otherwise seem too impossible to cross.

God seems particularly committed to mixed multitudes.

Now this is funny thing to say right now I think. This week I’ve watched the incredible power of God’s spirit move in the intractable-until-now United Methodist Church and all of a sudden there is hope abundant! And, truthfully, that hope abundant comes BECAUSE of disaffiliation, it comes because we split. It comes because we BROKE bonds.

Part of me – ok, a really large part of me – wants to simply say that those who left identified with the oppressor and oppressed God’s beloveds and we are better off without them. But God has said to love our enemies, and I’m pretty sure being that petty isn’t appropriate for a preacher… while preaching at least 😉

We who value the wide diversity of God’s creation may find it easy to hear about the mixed multitudes and the amazing ways God’s work to overturn oppression pulls people together. But I also know that we who value the wide diversity of God’s creation sometimes find it really hard to deal with those who… don’t.

Right?

It’s OK, I know I’m right.

It turns out to be easier to be in a mixed multitude where people agree mixed multitudes are awesome than it is to be in a mixed multitude where there is a diversity of opinions about the value of diversity.

Or, maybe there is a bigger truth here. God’s amazing work to overcome oppression and pull people together is REAL. But it is hard to live in community – there are ALWAYS differences. I think often of the story a little later in Acts when the incredibly diverse Body of Christ in its infancy already had issues with food distribution being fairly managed. Humans come into community with differences. There is no community without conflict. There is no community without bias. There is no community in prefect agreement – except maybe those who all defer to a strong-man leader.

The truth is that God binds us together. And, I think sometimes we get to the point when the best choice is to let some bonds go. Because not everything is now as it should be. We know this about marriage itself – there are times when two people have hurt each other enough that the best, most loving way forward, is apart. This week showed very clearly that all the dreams I’ve ever heard God dreaming for The United Methodist Church are possible – now that we’re broken. And, to be fair, I hear from those in the Global Methodist Church that they think all the dreams they ever heard God dreaming are now possible there. The issue has ALWAYS been that we hear God differently.

So I’ve been thinking about what the moral, Christ-like response is to those with whom we have fundamental-values-level-differences. And I hear the echos of Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” and I think that’s the actual start of it. I hear it in Martin Luther King teaching about the goal of his work being to bring everyone together, not to bring down the oppressor. Let’s hear him:

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. “love your enemies.”2

So, dear ones, I’m going to keep on loving the Global Methodist Church, because I deeply believe God asks me to. Further, I believe there are people in that church who need it, and others who will need it. And, apparently, we are supposed to love Christian Nationalists too – even when they misrepresent our tradition. (Pulling no punches today.)

I guess no one every said being a follower of Jesus was easy, huh? But, friends, it is the season of Easter and we are told over and over again that God is Love and Love wins and NOTHING, not even death, can stop God’s power of love. So, dear mixed multitude, let’s keep on loving on EVERYONE even when they don’t seem to know how broad God’s love is yet. Let’s be accused of being naive with our love. Let’s be radical, and a little too broad with it. Let’s be like God. Amen

1We Cry Justice #25, page 110.

2https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/loving-your-enemies-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church

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  • April 22, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“God is Good!” by Sylvester Doyer based on Psalm 150.

Introduction: This month of April in 2024 marks the 40 year anniversary of Sylvester’s diagnosis with HIV. In 1984 the diagnosis was seen as a death sentence, and indeed almost everyone diagnosed then died. Somehow, and we don’t know, Sylvester didn’t. In 2007/8 he came very close, and was lying in a hospital bed with 1 T-cell left expecting the end had come. But, somehow, and we don’t know how, it didn’t. He celebrates the love of his long time partner and now husband Denis who was the embodiment of God’s grace pulling him through.

This sharing is in three pieces. First words written decades ago by now Bishop Karen Oliveto for World AIDS day; second a prayer combing the sermon with the baptism we’d shared in just before the sermon; and third the sermon itself. For those in need of a reminder that there can be hope when it seems like hope has fled, may these words of gratitude penetrate your very being. – Pastor Sara Baron

*Call to Worship1“World AIDS Day Liturgies” Karen Oliveto

One:   How have you come to this time and place?

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   How has your heart weathered the many losses of ffriends and l overs?

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   How has your mind grappled with the constant specter of death?

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   How has your soul maintained wholeness?

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s not because of government support;

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s not because of the research and medical communities;

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s not because of the health insurance companies;

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s because of the grace of God.

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s because of the presence of Christ.

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   It’s because of the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit.

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   We’ve come this far because the love of God is made visible through the care of lovers, friends, family, and caregivers.

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   We’ve come this far because nothing, nothing at all can separate us from this love.

Many: We’ve come this far by faith!

One:   We’ve come this far by faith, and we will go even farther, knowing that in every step we take,

Many: God hasn’t failed us yet!

One:   In every burden we carry,

Many: God hasn’t failed us yet!

One:   In every setback we face,

Many: God hasn’t failed us yet!

One:   Our God is a constant presence on which we can lean.

Many: God hasn’t failed us yet!

One:   We can trust in God’s presence.

Many: God hasn’t failed us yet!

One:   Alleluia! Amen!

Many: Amen and amen!

Prayer Before Sermon

We come before you Creator of all, thanking you for allowing us to see another day. Thank you for allowing us to plant our feet on solid ground and start on our way. We thank you and acknowledge that you didn’t have to allow us to wake this morning, but you did, and we thank you. In the mist of all that is happening in the world today we cry out Father I stretch my hand to thee and you hear us. As a reminder that you are ever near and ever listening to us Lord you are constantly giving us signs of your loving presence. This morning, we thank you for putting in our midst such a sign in the little one Koa, who we welcome into your family this morning through his baptism. We pray for his parents that they maybe a source of strength and guidance for Koa so that as he grows, he may know nothing but caring and love from them and everyone around him. Amen

Sermon

We all have a tendency when times get rough to seek comfort from
anywhere and anyone around us. If you are spiritual, we usually turn to the man upstairs.

And I was no different when in those early days I didn’t know if I would be around to see the next day. That’s when I remember growing up with a Catholic and Southern Baptist background, I found myself seeking and drawing comfort more from my Southern Baptist
background.

I recall going to church with my dad who was Southern Baptist and
there was a group of women called the Mother Board who usually would stand and sing one of those old gospel songs that they called Dr. Watts song. There was this one elderly mother who would lead the
song but before she would start, she witness, testify to and about the
goodness and greatness of God.

I am here this morning to join mine witnessing and testimony to hers and to shout as she shouts God is good. Back then the words she was saying didn’t make much sense till later. When in those darkest hours your soul cries out seeking comfort, I remember just lying there sometimes and listening to my soul cry out in the words of that
old gospel song, “Father, I stretch my hand to thee. No other help I know. If Thou withdraw Thyself from me Ah, where shall I go.” Looking back as my soul cried out, “Father, I stretch my
hand to Thee ….”, even in those darkest moments he was listening
because sitting next to my hospital bed was Denis, he put him there saying don’t give up, never, never, never give up.

My soul would cry all the louder, “Father I stretch my hand to Thee….”
There in the room working through the medical team and everything else would be that voice, “don’t give up.” The louder I’d cry, “Father I stretch my hand to Thee…..”, the louder that voice would become.

I’m here to tell you, he showed himself to me in those around me but
especially Denis who would get up in the morning walk the dogs; go to work all day; come home walk the dogs and then come up to the hospital and be that voice that whispered “don’t give up; never, never,
never give up.” They would let him sit sometimes way pass visiting
hour.

My soul would cry out even more but it changed the song and cried out “I Love The Lord He Heard my cries, And pitied every groan; Long as I live, when troubles rise, I’ll hasten to His throne” the song goes
on to say “My God has saved my soul from death and dried my
falling tears; Now to his praise I’ll spend my breath and my remaining years.” My heart this morning is full of joy, full of gratitude and thanksgiving. Last month my doctor reminded me that I’ve been
living with HIV/AIDS now for 40 years this month.

There were those days when I wasn’t sure I was going to be here, but my soul cried out “Father I Stretch my hand to Thee”, and he heard my cry. I’m here this morning to tell you He didn’t have to wake me up this morning, but He did. He didn’t have to plant my feet on solid
ground, but He did. He heard my cry and let me see another day and I am here to thank Him. My soul this morning cries out even louder “I love the Lord; He heard my cry and pitied every groan.” So,
I’m here this morning to join my story, my testimony to that elderly mother and to let you know even in those darkest of times the soul cries out and it’s heard.

There is a song that sums up how I feel today and every day.

Now my soul cries out How I got Over.
How I got over
Well, how I got over
Well, my soul look back and wonder
Don’t know how I got over (How I got over)
How I got over
I’m gon’ thank him for how he brought me
Well, I’m gon’ thank him for how he taught me

Oh, thank him for how he kept me
I’m gon’ thank him ‘cause he never left me
I’m gonna thank him for heart felt religion
I’m gonna thank him for a vision
I’m gonna sing hallelujah
Oh, shout all my trouble over
I’m gon’ thank him (Thank him for)
All he’s done for me
Thank him for all he’s done (He’s done)
For me

Amen

1Karen Oliveto “World AIDS Day Liturgies” in Shaping Sanctuary edited by Kelly Turney, 2000, page 140-1.

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 
http://fumcschenectady.org/ 
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

Sylvester (left) and Denis (right) on their wedding day in 2013.

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  • April 14, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“The Tower” based on Psalm 148 and John 20:1-28

You know that saying about how people need to hear things seven times before it sinks in? This is a sermon that I’ve preached before – kinda. I’ve preached the main idea of it, but it is a BIG HUGE IDEA, and it turns out that one time through it didn’t manage to get it to sink in – not even for the nerdiest among you. Truthfully, I’m still working on letting it sink in for ME. So, I’m going to go over the idea of “Mary the Tower” again. It fits: our scripture, the We Cry Justice Reading today, our values as a church, the needs we have to see hope in the world, and the need for changes within the church at large.

Recent scholarship reveals that there is an textual error in John 11 and 12. John 11 is the story of the rising of Lazarus, which we have known in in our Bibles as the story of the sisters Mary and Martha and their grief over their brother Lazarus. The scholarship shows that there is not, in fact, a Martha. Someone changed the text.1

The relevant parts are now known to read:

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and HIS sister MARY. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved MARY and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

… then Jesus debates with his disciples and finally shows up…

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to MARY console HER about HER brother. When MARY heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. MARY said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ MARY said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

… Jesus raises Lazarus, and the plot to kill Jesus strengthens…

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. MARY served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

Great, now you’ve heard the story as it is believed to have been written. All Mary. One sister of Lazarus, who is the one who claims Jesus as Messiah. She is the first one to say so in John. And then she prepares him for his burial.

Now, it is NOT clear for sure if Mary of John 11 and 12 is Mary Magdalene of John 20, but it has long been assumed to be, especially now that scholarship has figured out something about the name Mary Magdalene. Namely, it isn’t that Mary is from Magdala, because such a place doesn’t exist. Instead, Magdalene is a title. Magdala means “tower” in Araemic. So, kinda like Peter becomes “the rock” after he says Jesus is the Messiah in the other gospels, Mary gets a title change after she says he is the Messiah in John. She becomes Mary the Tower. Mary Magdalene. Mary the Tower.

So then, Mary the TOWER is back again in John 20. Now you may remember that the Gospel of John is associated with the disciple John, who is throughout the book of John called “the beloved disciple.” And in John there is some tension between John and Peter that sounds a whole lot like later communities of faith arguing over who was better. This culminates in the Easter morning footrace between them, the one John wins but shows that Peter is braver? Yes, that ridiculous footrace.

But, the funny thing is, that given the rest of this information it seems like John and Peter were racing for second. Mary already say that Jesus was the Messiah. She saw him as he was. Mary already saw the stone had been removed. She saw. And the first appearance of the post-resurrection Christ was to Mary. She saw. She who came to know his resurrection because she heard her name on his lips. She who then was the first to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” She saw.

ONE person. The one who saw him raise Lazarus and saw him raised. The witness to the power of God over even death itself.

And, friends, a WOMAN.

We are not simply the recipients of tradition built on the power of men, even if this information has been obscured since 200 CE. Peter and Mary. Mary and Peter. The tower and the rock.

The stories of women, which are the stories of Easter, are certainly worth hearing. They are the stories we struggle to make sense of because there is too much hope and goodness in them. We’re tempted to turn away.

But, Mary the Tower keeps us both grounded and able to see beyond the walls that hold us in. The church founded by Jesus is a radical one where the least, the last, and the lost – the orphans, the widows, and the children have always been center stage. We know because it was the women who are rarely believed – the women who are often DENIGRATED AND DISMISSED (Mary Magdalene prostitution rumors anyone?) who are the ones to tell us the key stories.

Mary the Tower sent us, and she said there is hope, there is life, there is a God who cares. We, too, can see. Thanks be to God. Amen

1The story of how this was found is AMAZING, came to my attention via Diana Bulter Bass’s Wilde Goose Festival Sermon which can be downloaded by clicking here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://dianabutlerbass.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Mary-the-Tower.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjGjMXKv7qFAxU6EFkFHcQdDb8QFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2qAIrS7kX87OxdrYJ1EDJB or watched here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/all-the-marys&ved=2ahUKEwjGjMXKv7qFAxU6EFkFHcQdDb8QFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw24F4hwzT5F53i7I96ru9gi

April 14, 2024

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

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  • March 31, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Resurrecting Joy” based on Isaiah 41:4b-10 and Luke 24:1-11

I have a question I’d like you to contemplate: Which do you like more – daffodils or tulips?

OK, assuming you are now ready – daffodil fans can you raise hands and cheer? Tulips fans?

Believe it or not, I’m going to take this a step further. (I know, I know, not the Easter sermon you were expecting.) Tulip fans – can you shout out things you love about them? Daffodil fans?

Thank you.

Amen

😉

Just kidding. This Lent we’ve done a Bible Study on the Resurrection Narratives. We read the stories of Easter from each of the Gospels, and asked a few questions about each one:

  • What does resurrection seem to mean here?
  • Why describe it this way?
  • How does it feel?
  • How does this connect today?

As we read and discussed, we started to notice something about the empty tomb stories: they feel incomplete. The empty tomb isn’t the POINT, instead it feels like the introduction to the point. The tomb is empty… ok. That could mean a lot of things, including grave robbers. But each of the gospels ends the story of the empty tomb with something to nudge us towards its meaning. Luke ends with the rest of the disciples believing the empty tomb to be an “idle tale” but Peter going to see for himself and being amazed. In Luke in particular, the empty tomb is the start of sharing stories of the post-resurrection Jesus experiences. Those experiences are the ways the followers of Jesus end up claiming that he is alive, and the work of God in him isn’t completed yet. It isn’t, actually, the women sharing the story (though maybe it should be) or the dazzling clothes of the angels (black? white?). It isn’t the early dawn on the first day of the week or the prepared spices. It isn’t even the angels saying “he is not here.”

The empty tomb points to the continued life of Jesus, but it is in fact JUST an empty tomb. The early followers of Jesus were transformed in those early days by whatever experiences they had that led them to call it resurrection, and eventually they came to understand THEMSELVES to be the shared Body of Christ, and understanding that has been passed down the ages, right to this moment, when we are together the Body of Christ alive and doing ministry in the world. The empty tomb points to LIFE.

I’m going to take this even a step further. When we say “Christ is alive” I believe that it implies “and calls us to life abundant.” Life itself, just life, isn’t the point. Especially today when medical science allows life to continue far after abundant life has ended, it is easy to see that this isn’t just about being alive, but about being ALIVE – about life abundant.

Christ is alive and calls us to abundant life.

Christ is alive and calls us to full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE.

But, it is possible that for some of us, that sounds… I don’t know, really hard?

Am I off? I don’t think I’m off. Our lives are fulled with innumerable stressors, real ones. We’ve learned that about half of our society doesn’t have enough money to “make it,” and another big chunk of society lives in fear of falling under that line. So monetary stress is real, regular, and abundant. Job stress. Health concerns. Traumatic experiences of the past. Worries about our loved ones. And then, heavens, all the things in the news. ALLLLLLLL THE THINGS. There is this constant stream of information about things we should worry about, or fix, or grief, or understand, or… care about.

And the stressors and the worries and the news add up, day after day, after day, after day and maybe full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE feels kinda unlikely? I read an article1 recently that discussed the ways life has improved over the past four years, and that somehow people don’t seem to have NOTICED. The authors, psychiatrists, suggested that the malaise of the American public today is due to unprocessed pandemic grief, “But the country has not come together to sufficiently acknowledge the tragedy it endured. As clinical psychiatrists, we see the effects of such emotional turmoil every day, and we know that when it’s not properly processed, it can result in a general sense of unhappiness and anger—exactly the negative emotional state that might lead a nation to misperceive its fortunes.” I know we all want to be over it, but between continued illnesses and deaths and long COVID, we aren’t. And, further, we haven’t processed it. So, there are good reasons aplenty that we aren’t all feeling like we’re all in on that full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE that we’re called to.

And yet, beloveds of God, we are called to full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE. Even now. So, how do we do it? I came across an idea that I believe MATTERS in reading I thought I was doing for the sake of becoming a better premarital counselor. I was sitting there reading Emily Nagoski’s book “Come Together: The Science (and Art) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections” (highly recommend) and in the final chapter her teaching about sexuality and sensuality became even more spiritual. At one point she says, “Our only certainty is that one day, we won’t get any more days.”2 Which is pretty much the whole point of Ash Wednesday and part of what we’re meant to hold as we travel through Lent AND Holy Week.

She explains in her book the phenomenon of “savoring” which she defines as people’s “capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance positive feelings in their lives.”3 She says that there is a Savoring Checklist, and it includes: sharing joy with others – talking about what is happening and why it is good; reminding ourselves that time is passing as a way to cherish a moment before it passes away, which could sound like saying to yourself, ‘”Time is short and I choose to do this with my time.”; expressing the joy in our bodies – laughing, and jumping, clapping and whooping; and finally slowing down to pay attention to the experience of joy or pleasure itself – in many of the ways we’ve been taught through mindfulness.4 She goes on to say that every time we chose pleasure and joy we enable ourselves to pick it again in the future and remember the pleasure and joy of the past. Then she says, “when we savor pleasure and thus highlight it in our memory, we can remember our lives as more worth living. We look back on our day, our year, even our entire lifetime, and we see less of the struggle and more of the countless moments of pleasure.”5 The memories “glitter across our memory, brighter and more numerous, when we take time to savor them.”6

OK, so the gist: to live life abundantly there is a trick: take the wonderful moments and savor them – share the joy by talking with others, notice the wonder while it happens, and let your body be full of joy. When you do that – when you savor this wonderful life that God gave you, it will bring your attention to the good, the wonderful, the pleasurable, the joy-filled parts of life, both now and over all.

It will, it turns out, move us to full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE. Just, enjoy the good stuff!! Savor it, let yourself be delighted when you are. And of course, this can be some of the big stuff of life. Every year I savor singing Easter hymns with brass accompaniment, and when I think back to my wedding I remember a moment in the midst of the worship service when I wished it could last forever because it was such a delight. But pleasure and joy are easily abundant everywhere too. Food tastes good (if you are lucky.) Stretching your body feels good. Laying down to rest is a wonder. Your favorite song is worthy of savoring.

And, to bring it full circle, there are pretty flowers in the world. Ones that you have now brought attention to, embodied the joy of, talked about the joy of, and … savored. Daffodils and tulips, they’re pretty amazing, huh? And they are just one of the many wonders around us, gifts given by God and others to calls us to full, beautiful, connected, joyful LIFE.

Thanks be to God!

Amen

1https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/covid-grief-trauma-memory-biden-trump/677828/

2Emily Nagoski, Come Together: The Science (and Art) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections (New York: Ballantine Books, 2024), 292.

3Nagoski, 270.

4Nagoski, 272.

5Nagoski 273.

6Nagoski, 273.

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

March 31, 2024

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  • March 24, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Hosanna” based on Psalm 118:1-4, 19-24 and Matthew 21:1-11

Within Christianity, we use “Hosanna” to express joy, and praise, and adoration. Just one little issue with that – the actual meaning of the word. Hosanna is a Hebrew word meaning “Save us, we pray!” The people around Jesus weren’t shouting “Great is God” or “Jesus is good!” or “YAY, Jesus, YAY God!” Instead, they were shouting, “God, save us from our oppressor” which was clearly the Roman Empire, who – let’s be honest – didn’t appreciate that. “God, help us, the enemy is bigger than we can take on ourselves.” “God, we’re in over our heads, help us out here!”

And, of course, they were shouting, “Save us, we pray” during a PASSOVER celebration, when Passover celebrates God’s actions in saving the people from oppression in Egypt, which made the Roman Empire’s representatives a “little bit” antsy.

The Roman Empire’s representative Pontius Pilate was already coming to the city, like he did every year at Passover, with soldiers and fanfare meant to keep the Jewish people in check. The Roman Empire saw QUITE CLEARLY that getting a whole bunch of people together in the city to celebrate God’s acts of freeing them from oppression was a tinderbox for revolt, and they sought to tamp it down with displays of power and reminders of their violent capacity. In fact, they came in from Pilate’s normal abode on the Mediterranean – so from the West. With gleaming horses, and banners with the golden Eagle of Rome, with drums and the crowds shouting “Hail Caesar, son of God; Praise be to the Savior who brought the Roman Peace; Caesar is Lord….” the Empire sought to intimidate people out of revolt.

But.

Then there was Jesus. Jesus who seems to have let the crowd claim kingship of Ancient Israel on his behalf, which sometimes feels a little bit strange but is in the story nonetheless. The Palm branches were a flag of Israel- the opposite of the Golden Eagle. The donkey was expected to be ridden by the Messiah entering the city – but also is rather opposite a gleaming horse. The soldiers accompanied Pilate – while a large crowd of people impoverished by the Empire accompanied Jesus. And Instead of “Hail Caesar” the people shouted “God Save Us (from the empire).”

The Roman Empire took this Jesus parade as a significant threat.

I believe they were meant to. The protest made the violence of the Empire stand out. They crucified Jesus with the accusation “King of the Jews” above his head, as if this was the charge against him. And, after all, they shouldn’t have killed the leader of a PEACEFUL revolt, only a violent one. But sometimes the authorities have a hard time telling the difference between violence and what scares them. (Still true today.)

Then, of course, Jesus did another PEACEFUL demonstration – this time managing to make visible the ways the Empire had put in place Temple leaders who were aligned with Empire and not God’s people. That one many of us learned as the “Cleansing of the Temple.” John Dominic Crossan reflects on the “den of robbers” the Temple is said to be saying, “Notice, by the way, that a ‘den’ is not where robbers do their robbing but where they flee for safety with the spoils they have robbed elsewhere.” (God and Empire, 133.)

Jesus made clear the city of Jerusalem was where “conservative religion and imperial oppression – had become serenely complicit.” (131) And, he dies for it. Crossan says, “He did not go to get himself killed or to get himself martyred. Mark insists that Jesus knew in very specific detail what was going to happen to him – read Mark 10:33-34, for example – but that is simply Marks’ way of insisting that all was accepted by both God and Jesus. Accepted, be it noted, but not willed, wanted, needed or demanded.” (131)

Beloveds, this Palm Sunday parade is one of the most brilliant acts of non-violent direct action I’ve ever heard of, but it is part of the story of why the Empire responded with violence. I can’t hear the Palm Sunday story without knowing that it walks us to the Good Friday Crucifixion and the Holy Saturday grief and disillusion. They’re all a part of this one story – that when you make clear the ways people are oppressing others, there is a fierce lash-back and the power of violence is immense. Thank God, that isn’t the whole story – we get to Easter next week – but it is a real story, one that we can’t dismiss.

This year, the Palm Sunday parade that walks Jesus into Jerusalem sounds terrifyingly like Nex Benedict walking into school on their last day. I can’t separate out Jesus being faithful to God despite the consequences from gender-queer and non-binary people claiming their space in the world – despite the consequences. But, friends, it is sickening.

There is a story out there, one that says people are supposed to stay in tight little conformist boxes that help others make sense of the world and, heavens, the VIOLENCE that comes out when people speak up and say, “this box doesn’t fit me.” And it can be such small stuff:

I’m a woman, but the box “quiet and gentle” doesn’t fit me

or

I’m a man, but the box “stoic” doesn’t’ fit me

or

I’m a woman, but the box “looking for a man” doesn’t’ fit me

or

I’m a man, but the box “looking for a woman” doesn’t’ fit me

or

… the box “wants to have kids” doesn’t fit me

or

… the box “monogamy” doesn’t fit me

or

… the box “woman” doesn’t fit me

or

… the box “man” doesn’t fit me

or

… the box “gendered” doesn’t fit me.

And, I mean, you all know this but… WHO CARES? They’re all just silly little made up boxes that no one should be forced into and everyone should have the space to occupy, or adapt or not occupy as they see fit? Sure, some people want the world to be black and white without shades of gray – that everyone is cis-gendered, straight, sexual, and single raced 😉 But, too bad because that’s just not true.

And yet, the violence that comes when people try to force others back into the boxes they think they should live in – it reminds me of the violence of empire. There seem to be gleaming horses, loud drums, and shiny swords all over the place. And, worse, it isn’t just the external violence that attacks people – the very people who are brave enough to leave their ill-fitting boxes behind end up internalizing the violence. They’re courageous, they’re clear, they know who they are and they won’t go back to pretending to be otherwise – but that violence is so darn insidious, and it gets inside them. Those silly stories about how we’re supposed to be are so poisonous. That human need for connection gets twisted around and turned against people. And the beautiful ones who are brave and unique and wonderful end up dead.

Jesus could have stayed out of Jerusalem, except he couldn’t.

Nex could have pretend to have their gender assigned at birth, except they couldn’t.

They couldn’t. It would have been safer, easier, …. some would say wiser. But they couldn’t.

Friends, as you know, the trans and queer communities around the country and world are aching for Nex and Nex’s family and friends. Their death has reminded people of prior losses, of other brave and beautiful souls who also internalized the violence against them. The heartbreaks are everywhere.

This holy week, we will worship through the blessings of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the heartbreak of the disciples, and land on the wondrous reality that God’s work can’t be stopped by violence or death.

But how do we make sense of Nex? And the ones before them? And the ones after them? How do face the violence of the Empire today, and the ways it gets internalized?

There aren’t easy asnwers.

We grieve.

And we share the aches with God.

And we name the problems with each other.

And we keep on learning how to undercut the broken narrative, and break open little boxes, and keep people safe when they leave them.

We aren’t going to do it fast enough – we already haven’t, but just because we can’t do it immediately doesn’t mean we can stop. Jesus showed us the power of violence to stop people, and the ways religion can become complicit with violence. And he paid for it, paid to teach us those lessons. But we have them! So, we know that God and love are more powerful than violence, and love is the way we respond. And we know that religion that oppresses isn’t religion at all, and we shout it from the rooftops.

Hosanna.

God save us.

We pray.

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

March 24, 2024

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  • March 17, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Hope for Just Justice" based on Ezekiel 22:23-29 and Deuteronomy 16:18-20

Our two scripture readings today clarify for me that I prefer to hear the dreams of God in the positive instead of the negative. Deuteronomy lays out how a just society should be ordered, in this case by clarifying what a just justice system looks like. Ezekiel points out that the justice of God has not been fulfilled and describes what things are like instead. And, boy, I like the Deuteronomy reading a lot better. But, it does seem fair to point that they’re making the same point in different ways.

The ways that the Bible, especially the Torah in the Hebrew Bible, obsesses over just justice, tends to surprise me a bit. It pushes back on some assumptions I have about how complicated the society of ancient Israel was – and makes it clear that ancient Israel was a complex and REAL human society. It wasn’t some dream state, or .. I don’t, a part of such early history that the hurts of society weren’t present yet. (My assumptions are really off and need some reflection.)

Part of the ancient Israelite narrative was that they were people who had been freed from slavery in Egypt. The scholarship I respect the most suggests that those who were actually in Egypt and freed may well have been a very small number, but their story resonated with others and was taken on as an identity narrative – first by nomadic people in the desert and later by some of the people in the land they would come to call the Promised Land and the culminating group of people who understood themselves to be ancient Israel were the people who identified with this story of God freeing them from slavery.

What feels important about that is that ancient Israel was thus a place that knew how worldly systems of domination worked. Right? Egypt was a monarchy with slavery and forced labor and money flowing from the bottom to the top. Those who were listening to God and dreaming a new society were wanting to prevent the same thing from happening again. Those same scholars also suggest that the hills of Judea were largely populated by people who had exited the early societies in both the Fertile Crescent and Egypt, which suggests they were the ones who weren’t successful in those systems, who left because they thought they could do better on their own than in a society that was pressing down on them. This may be why the “God freed us from slavery” narrative resonated so well.

The first 5 books of the Bible create shared identity and a shared dream, the idea of creating a society the way God wants it to be. We know that they were written down AFTER the destruction of the Temple in 587-586 BCE and the biases of those times impact what how things were written down, including a yearning to have listened better so as not to be in that situation. Ezekiel is a prophet OF the exile, he was called while in exile in Babylon, and spoke his prophetic words from Babylon. Which gives us the context that it is from another domination system – Babylon – that todays words came into being. (Although there were more edits later, of course.)

Anyway, Deuteronomy makes these points about what justice should look that feel so ON POINT that it is hard to remember they were written down 2.5 millennia ago. Judges need to be everywhere – an assumption there will always be disputes that need an impartial third party to help. Judges should render JUST decisions. Judges should not distort justice. Judges should not show partiality. Judges should not accept bribes ( ah. hem.) Bribes blind wisdom and prevent right judgement. Justice and only justice must be the work of those who judge – and their work is imperative to making it possible to live in the land in right relationship with God and each other.

So, apparently all groups of humans have disagreements and need trustworthy ways of finding just solutions AND being able to offer that justice to people WITHOUT BIAS based on power or wealth is one of the fundamental pieces to creating not only a functional society, but a society where people find it easiest to connect with God.

Well, Deuteronomy, no lies are found there.

Ezekiel goes a little further, condemning all the leaders for the lack of justices that the vulnerable experience: the upper class is violent towards the poor; the clergy enable the wealthy to skip the sabbath in order to seek more wealth; the officials destroy lives for their own gain; and the prophets claim it is all OK. The result, then is oppression of the poor and needy, and the immigrants being mistreated without having any capacity to seek justice.

Um. Wouldn’t it be super cool if the prophet of the exile who remembers the destruction his society and reflects on what issues might have brought down his beloved nation sounded like he was talking about a really, really different place than the one we live in??

Yep, I’d prefer for Ezekiel not to resonate and Deuteronomy to be self-evidently the way things already are.

And… here we are anyway.

I do not wish to make a comprehensive list of all the ways our justice system lacks justice, because I’m told people don’t like multi-day sermons (🤷🏻‍♀️), but one of the end results of our system is that we have 2.3 million people incarcerated in the USA, which is about 0.7% of our population. Therefore, While the United States represents about 4.2 percent of the world’s population, it houses around 20 percent of the world’s prisoners.1 And, as we know, the prison population is incredibly disproportionate by race, and those who are imprisoned are the people in the US who lack the right not to be in slavery, and many of the jails and prisons in the US are run by for-profit industries who are making money both on the labor of the inmates and on the fees they charge to offer sub-human care to the inmates.

Maybe I am more open to how Ezekiel expresses concerns than I thought I was! 😉

As is often the case, I think I’ve managed to preach us firmly into despair, and now we get to move together towards hope. Because of being part of the church, I was introduced early on to the concepts of restorative justice and how they differ from punitive justice. Even knowing this has been life-changing. Our current, imperfect, Social Principles say:

In the love of Christ, who came to save those who are lost and vulnerable, we urge the creation of a genuinely new system for the care and restoration of victims, offenders, criminal justice officials, and the community as a whole. Restorative justice grows out of biblical authority, which emphasizes a right relationship with God, self, and community. When such relationships are violated or broken through crime, opportunities are created to make things right.

Most criminal justice systems around the world are retributive. These retributive justice systems profess to hold the offender accountable to the state and use punishment as the equalizing tool for accountability. In contrast, restorative justice seeks to hold the offender accountable to the victimized person, and to the disrupted community. Through God’s transforming power, restorative justice seeks to repair the damage, right the wrong, and bring healing to all involved, including the victim, the offender, the families, and the community. The Church is transformed when it responds to the claims of discipleship by becoming an agent of healing and systemic change.

And this isn’t just TALK in the church. The United Methodist Church has standards for companies it will and will not invest in, including in our clergy pension programs, and companies that make profits from private prisons are on our DO NOT invest list. If you were wondering, this church holds the same policy. United Women in Faith have a specific focus on stopping the school to prison pipeline. The General Board of Church and Society advocates on our behalf in Washington for criminal justice reform. There is a program called “Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century” that aims at strengthening predominately Black congregations in mission and ministry, and one of their foci is on ending mass incarceration. More of my education on these concerns has happened here in this church, in the Intersectional Justice Book Club, and in conversations with you wise people. We also have in our midst a United Methodist Home Missioner whose job is to offer family law services to inmates in NYS prisons. Just by being part of the UMC our local church is part of changing what is into what should be. That’s a big part of why our connection matters.

I think a lot about being the tragic gap – the place where you see both how things are and how things should be and are vulnerable to the pain that results from the distance between them. I believe the tragic gap is a holy and important place to be, but NOT because we need to be left in despair. Rather because change can’t happen unless we see with clarity what is AND see with clarity what can be. Being vulnerably in the tragic gap is a way to be open to God’s creative work within us. For most of us, the work to make the justice system more just isn’t our primary work – but here is the amazing thing! By being in the church and doing our own primary work, we enable others TO DO that work. The goal of the Body of Christ is to work towards justice, but no one person is meant to do all the pieces. Thank God for all who are seeking restorative justice, criminal justice reform, working on behalf of those incarcerated, for those seeking the well-being of friends and family in prison, and thank God for those who are living in prison and finding ways to seek justice and live love despite it all.

Things aren’t as they should be, but that’s not a reason to lose hope. God and good people are working on change, and change will come. On this, and on many other ways justice is lacking. Thanks be to God. Amen

1https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2022-statistical-tables

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

March 17, 2024

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  • March 10, 2024
  • by Sara Baron

“Hope for the Meek” based on Psalm 37:1-11 and James 5:1-6

I really love the book of James. When we worked our way through it in Bible Study years ago, I remember the shock that members of this church had that there was a book of the Bible that they could just receive without having to fight with it. That it was a book about God as we know God, and it didn’t even feel like there was a lot of contextual translating to do. Just… it was right. And that was a relief. And it is a great book.

Also, I did HEAR the passage this morning and it wasn’t particularly comfortable to sit through, particularly as a citizen of the wealthiest nation the world has ever known. And I know I am complicit.

I know I am complicit because I am a human who likes to eat food and while I do engage in some practices to make sure that the coffee we make at home results in neither deforestation of rain forests nor wage theft from growers… I don’t manage to do that with every purchase. For instance, I have no idea if the people who harvested and transported the broccoli I’m making this week are paid fairly – and in this society if I don’t know … they very well may not be.

And that’s just ONE component of life, right? The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the ways we travel, the things we purchase, the ways we deal with refuse, and if we have homes the ways we heat them, the places electricity comes from ….

I can’t keep up. And often, even if I wanted to, there aren’t good options! Or, the options that are good are so expensive that it seems like the money would be better used redistributing resources to those who are impoverished by our systems.

And, as you may already know if you’ve been listening to me preach for a while, I can then go down rabbit holes of guilt and frustration and be overwhelmed and just hang my head in shame for siding with the rich oppressors when it is SO CLEAR that the whole darn system is biased against God’s beloveds who live in poverty.

So it is kinda easy to weep and wail for how things are, even when I’m in many cases the oppressor and only sometimes the oppressed.

But then I stop, sometimes, and listen for God.

It is an occupational hazard, one that I strongly recommend to all people.

And what I hear feels like an interruption of my though process and spiraling about broccoli and solar power.

Instead, I hear a calling to a bigger picture, almost like the ways that the parables of Jesus were useful in bringing attention to the systems of oppression in his day and in breaking through the details to see the broad strokes. I hear God suggesting that I not obsess over the sourcing of broccoli, nor feel an obligation to perfect every purchase I make, and INSTEAD to focus on the big picture. Which then leads me to ask what the big picture is, and God laughs at me.

This is pretty much status quo for our relationship.

And then, suddenly, I remember what I did on Monday. On Monday I went to the Capitol with the “Invest in Our New York” campaign that was co-sponsored by many organizations – the ones I was connected to were the Labor and Religion Coalition and the New York State Poor People’s Campaign. It was a day for faith leaders to ask for a Moral New York State budget and it was a true delight to have two of this church’s laity in leadership present as well.

Anyway, we got to have conversations about what PROGRESSIVE tax laws, and how if we stop being so regressive in our tax laws we could have enough money in New York to transform the lives of the vulnerable among us. Because, remember, tax law can make a difference in HOW MANY HUMANS LIVE IN POVERTY and such important things like that, not to mention how much money is available to subsidize housing… and pretty much every other important function of government as well.

So, this week I’d bee in the Capitol advocating for

  1. A capital gains tax on income over $500,000 a year gained through investments – which is estimated to bring in $12 Billion (yes BILLION) a year.
  2. Raising corporation taxes on companies with more that $2.5 million a year in profits – which would raise $7billion annually
  3. Breaking up the income tax brackets differently, and adding a few at the top – which would raise $21 billion annually
  4. Taxing the WEALTH of billionaires – a sustainable annual income of $1.5B
  5. Creating an heir’s tax on inherited wealth over $250,000 – an annual income of $4B.

Now, you may note that these are not radical. They’re not impacting most New Yorkers. They’re asking the wealthy to pay their FAIR SHARE so that there is enough to provide resources for everyone.

This really seems like the stuff James was talking about – that when someone who has a wealth in the billions and objects to paying taxes at the same rates as those who are bringing home a paycheck makes those objections, James would respond, “weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you.” Because objecting to taking from obscene wealth to pay for food for the hungry is INHUMANE.

God isn’t asking me to be perfect in all I do, or all I purchase. But, I did hear that God would like SIGNIFICANT systemic change, particularly changes that pick up those who have been harmed the most.

I really like these asks we made on Monday, which I interpreted to mean that they’re pipe dreams. Because normally if I like something, other people think it is radical. However, we were assured that they are likely to be in the Joint House Budget proposal. Now, I think a lot of things go into that and then a lot of things end up getting negotiated out, so I’m not holding my breath or anything but — that’s good news.

It is seriously good news that our state, which has the greatest wealth disparity in the country, because we have an unusual percentage of the super wealthy, is giving serious consideration to how we can have tax laws that work for everyone and not just for the super wealthy.

We can’t win every battle, we can’t get every good resolution passed, and we can’t spend all of our money responsibility. There will always be ways that James calls us out, AND, at the same time, there is reason to hope.

The Psalm says, “the meek shall inherit the land, and delight in abundant prosperity.” When I first read it, I wondered if this was simply a device to keep people from losing hope. I thought about how trust in God to create justice “eventually” has been a means to maintain the status quo. But then I started to wonder what it would be like to trust in this dream of God’s. Maybe I won’t ever see it, but maybe my life can be a contribution towards getting to it.

What if those who wished to do harm didn’t have the power to do so, so people didn’t get hurt? Then the ones James calls out as taking the wages of laborers..,wouldn’t? What if we could live together with security and delight? What if those who are in need didn’t have to fight to get what they deserve, but we all lived in a society with just distribution of resources and the meek people who aren’t willing to lord over anyone else – what if they also get enough and had delight and ease?

The Psalm isn’t a pipe dream, it is yet another description of the kindom of God we’re working toward. A more moral state budget isn’t a pipe dream either. As Rev. Dr. Theoharis – oh, did I mention she was also there advocating with us on Monday??- as Rev. Dr. Theoharis says, change is possible INCLUDING when people who are seen as POWERLESS work together.

I love her story of migrant laborers taking on big farming and winning.

I love that requests for a more moral budget are in consideration. I love that I got to advocate with amazing people on Monday, and be heard by some great ones too. I love having a little hope. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea that the meek get the benefits without having to fight for them. That’s an image I want to savor. That in the kindom of God it isn’t your birth place, or your connections, your skills, or even your capacity to be persistent that gets you a fair shake in life – but it is your EXISTENCE. The meek. The meek shall inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity. That’s what I’m working on, and I’m sooooo very glad to be working on it with you, beloveds of 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

March 10, 2024

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