To Do, To Love

February 1, 2026March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“To Do, To Love, To Walk” based on The United Methodist Social Principle on Civil Disobedience Micah 6:1-8

For many of us, the requirements of Micah 6:8 are profoundly familiar. What God requires of us is that we to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God. Justice, kindness, walking with God. To do, to love, to walk.

Micah is one of the prophets, and the prophets are the ones who call out injustice. That is, that most often they speak to the fact that God wants society to take care of everyone, and make sure the hungry have food and the unhoused are housed and the widows and orphans can access life giving resources. Debts should be forgiven, judges should be impartial, there should be no systems of oppression nor domination.

To do justice includes calling out injustice, and acting justly. Paying agreed upon amounts, finding ways to re-balance imbalance, sharing, taking responsibilities seriously. God’s dreams can’t be fulfilled unless individuals and societies DO justice.

I am so grateful that the second one is kindness and not niceness! We are to love kindness. Isn’t that a delight? Not just do kindness but also love it, notice it and be excited by it and celebrate it and embrace it. LOVE kindness. Love how it feels to be kind, love how it feels to receive kindness, love how it feels even to see kindness.

And, finally, “walk humbly with God.” Sometimes I hear this one and the energy is on the “humbly” but I think it should be on the “with God.” Remember we are not alone. Remember that God is with us, and God is powerful, and God is loving, and God is at work doing good in the world, and that we GET TO work with this God of love and also just savor God’s love in our lives.

This week I came across a piece entitled “How to Take Care of Your Mental Health Under Fascism” by Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy who I know NOTHING about other than she works in Minneapolis as a licensed therapist, but I appreciated her point that we are supposed to oscillate “between coping skills that confront what is happening and coping skills that take breaks for respite.” Every one I know is DOING this, but I – for one – did not have clarity on it is as a model for health. We do the things, whether it is ingesting the news or reading history, calling our representatives, showing up for protests, posting our views, making donations, checking on people… we do the things. Some of the are HARD, they take a lot. (And, for me, I mostly mean ingesting the news is hard.) But then we do the other things… we craft or create, we get together with friends, we play and eat, we do yoga or mediation or puzzles, or watch or read something escapist, or sing, or get exercise or simply pray.

And we go back and forth.

We confront what is happening and we feed our souls. That is, we do the important things, and we do the other important things. And within this we do all the things: we do justice and we love kindness AND we walk humbly with God and it is all in there.

The work of coping skills that confront includes so many of the things we’ve been doing. For me, it helps to connect this with the work of doing justice. And, as we know, sometimes the justice loving requires Civil Disobedience. Jesus did it, and sometimes his followers need to as well, because God’s commandment to love our neighbors take precedence over obedience to immoral authorities. And thanks be to God that our denomination names this important truth.

There are astounding stories these days of the many ways that doing justice is happening. Have you heard the stories of people in Minnesota protecting their neighbors by standing watch over schools and then the stories they tell of other people bringing them coffee, or handing them 3-d printed whistles, or just showing up to keep them company for a bit? People who are doing front line work are doing their work supported by others doing different work and together whole communities are holding strong in the face of unrelenting pressure from the domination system.

The people who do the best organizing are the ones who know the power of art and music and culture to strengthen community and commitment. Singing together matters, beauty matters, COFFEE matters. (Huh, it is almost like churches do know a thing or two about bringing people together!)

The work of coping skills that offer respite connects really well to loving kindness as far as I can tell. Loving kindness for others AND for ourselves. The inspiring stories, noticing the wonder, and of course the imperative escapism of zoning out.

I’ve been loving kindness by noticing good things. When the news troubles our souls, it can be far too easy to focus on the horrible and horrifying things around us. But when we are looking for them, we are able to see that there is an abundance of good too.

This week I’ve been noticing snow removal. This is might sound trivial, but let me explain. I now walk a 5 year old to and from school every day and it makes me very attentive to conditions of the sidewalks. In my neighborhood most people put forth a decent effort and that’s great, but usually a few houses along our route… well.. don’t and it turns out that the ease of the route is really impacted by whether or not EVERYONE has cleared the sidewalks.

This week is the first big snowstorm since we started walking and the sidewalks were in much better condition than usual. This surprised me, and I paid even better attention and found signs that neighbors were taking care of each other. Snowblower tracks flowed continually from one property to another. Rock salt color also crossed property lines. And, my personal favorite right now is the house on the corner across from the elementary school where a 5 foot high pile of plowed snow creates a barrier from exiting the sidewalk… and the people from that house broke through the mess on one side (outstanding work that) and then used their snowblower on their LAWN to create a path around the insanity snow pile to let kids get to school safely. (Please note my child climbs over this pile, but I appreciate the path nonetheless.) Collaboration, creativity, and care are visible on our city sidewalks!

The third piece of what is required of us is to walk humbly with God. That one doesn’t show up in the therapists model, probably because she wasn’t aiming her words at a spiritual community. For me though, the capacity to do justice and the attention to love kindness come out of my walking with God. God holds me and upholds me, makes space for my anger and fears and joys and delights, offers me patience and hope when I run out, and more than anything just is WITH me reminding me that I’m not alone and we’re not alone in the work we do. We’re not alone in doing justice, God is with us sanctifying and strengthening the justice we do. We’re not alone in loving kindness, God is with us sanctifying and strengthening the kindness we love.

God wants full and abundant lives for all people. That’s why we work for justice AND why we love kindness. And that’s why we stay connected to God in prayer and worship, ministry and study, in savoring quiet moments and the wonder of music and art.

We are asked to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. That is, we are called to confrontation and respite. So, in case I haven’t been clear enough yet, truly dear ones, oscillating between confrontation and respite is IMPORTANT, do both and don’t judge your needs for balance. I’m pretty confident God doesn’t judge us for needing respite. 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

February 1, 2026

Sermons

The Beloveds

January 18, 2026March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“The Beloveds” based on Matthew 3:13-17 and The UMC Social Principle on Racism, Ethnocentrism, and Tribalism

Into a world obsessed with those who have power over others, comes this little story about John and Jesus. The story is a fight to the bottom of the power structure. It is clearly told by early Church to tell us things about Jesus, as it doesn’t really fit the realities of his life. But it is, nevertheless, a rich little story.

While Luke goes to great pains to set up John and Jesus as cousins, that doesn’t happen in Matthew. In Matthew, John is a prophet in the wilderness calling the people to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come” and baptizing the people in the River Jordan. John was functioning as a prophet, and he acquired students who learned from him and taught his ways. Students are also known as disciples, and the way one became a disciple of a teacher or prophet was to be baptized by him.

Which is to say, that by the best guess of the best historical scholars, based on what we know, Jesus was a disciple of John. He was baptized by John and learned from him. Later on, when John is killed, Jesus continues the ministry of John INCLUDING taking on his theme “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come” as Jesus’s main theme. He does, eventually, make it is own.

So we have this historical detail that Jesus was baptized by John, adapted a bit by the early Jesus movement to make sure it is clear that the point of this story is JESUS and not JOHN. So they have John objecting to it, which probably didn’t happen. And they have the voice of God show up… and I have to say I’m less willing to fight about that one.

Why?

Because at every baptism I have ever been present to it has been as if God has been speaking saying, “this is my child, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” So while I’m not about to claim that this voice of God was objectively heard by all present or anything, I think it is one of the fundamental truths of the universe that is especially noticeable at baptism and it seems feasible to me that people could have sensed it at the baptism of Jesus.

In Latin, the phrase is “imago dei” which translates to “in the image of God” and it is the church shorthand for “people are made in the image of God which means that each and every person is holy.” This is one of the most foundational truths of our faith. We share it with other faith traditions, it is a truth that cannot be easily contained.

Everyone is beloved by God. God wishes good for everyone.

And while I always I hear this truth reflected at baptism, let me state explicitly that it applies to people who are not baptized, people who are not Christian, and people who are not religious. Being beloved of God even applies to people who do great harm. That doesn’t mean God is in favor of people harming each other, God’s love for us is just so immense and foundational that it can’t be broken by human action.

(And, yes, sometimes we want to make lists of people who are JUST SO BAD that maybe they’re not included, but dear ones, EVERYONE means EVERYONE. And excluding people from God’s love is not how we practice our faith.)

This is one of the Sundays in the year where I think it is reasonable to engage in extended quotation, particularly of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In my favorite of his sermons, “Loving Your Enemies” he says:

I would like to have you think with me on a passage of scripture that has been a great influence in my life and a passage that I have sought to bring to bear on the whole struggle for racial justice, which is taking place in our nation. The words are found in the fifth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Saint Matthew. And these words flow from the lips of our Lord and Master: “Ye have heard it said of old that thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.”5

These are great words, words lifted to cosmic proportions. And over the centuries men have argued that the actual practice of this command just isn’t possible. Years ago the philosopher Nietzsche contended that this command illustrates that the Christian ethic is for weak men, not for strong men, and certainly not for the superman.6 And he went on to argue that it was just additional proof that Jesus was an impractical idealist who never quite came down to earth.

But we have come to see today that, far from being the practical, the impractical idealist, Jesus is the practical realist, and the words of this text stand before us with new urgency. And far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, love is the key to the solution of the problems of our world, love even for enemies. Since this is a basic Christian command and a basic Christian responsibility, it is both fitting and proper that we stop from time to time to analyze the meaning of these arresting words.

There are many things that we must do in order to love our enemies, but I would like to suggest just three. Seems to me that the first thing that the individual must do in order to love his enemy is to develop the capacity to forgive with a naturalness and ease. If one does not have the capacity to forgive, he doesn’t have the capacity to love. …

The second thing is this. In order to love the enemy neighbor we must recognize that the negative deed of the enemy does not represent all that the individual is. His evil deed does not represent his whole being. …

The other thing that we must do in order to love the enemy neighbor is this: we must seek at all times to win his friendship and understanding rather than to defeat him or humiliate him. …

Now for the moments left, let us turn from the practical “how” to the theoretical “why,” and ask the valid, the vital and valid question, Why should we love our enemies? …

I would say the first reason, and I’m sure Jesus had this in mind, we should love our enemies is this: to return evil for evil only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. And somewhere along the way of life, somebody must have sense enough, somebody must have morality enough, somebody must have religion enough, to cut off the chain of hate and evil. And this can only be done by meeting hate with love. For you see in a real sense, if we return hate for hate, violence for violence, and all of that, it just ends up destroying everybody. And nobody wins in the long run. And it is the strong man who stands up in the midst of violence and refuses to return it. It is the strong man, not the weak man, who stands up in the midst of hate and returns love.1

I commend the whole sermon to you, but I’m going to stop quoting now. While the evils of racism have never been defeated in our country, we are now – again – in a time when the “fierce urgency of now” is present. And, that means that as people of faith, we are once again called upon to reflect HOW we want to seek God’s work in the world. Are we people of love and of non-violence, who believe in the transformational power of love to change the world for the better? Are we willing to be people who practice forgiveness? Are we able to be people who believe in imago dei for those who are doing harm? Are we able to remember that people are more than their worst? Are we willing to reach out in love, over and over again, seeking the well being even of those who do us harm, even when they respond with hatred and violence? Are we willing to use our lives to show the power of meeting hatred with love? Are we strong enough to things God’s way?

There are people in this world, people with power, who don’t believe in imago dei. They believe that SOME people are more HUMAN than others, instead of believing that all people are sacred because all people are loved by God.

Beloveds, these are our “enemies.” And, they are people in need of transformation.

The work of responding to hatred with love changes everything. But it isn’t fast. This is the work of our whole lives. We are often going to be frustrated at backsliding and new incarnations of old evils. But we are people of God. We are people who believe in the power of love. We are people of HOPE. We are people who believe that God’s love is found in everyone and can be kindled into even the people most committed to wrongdoing.

We may not see visible progress right now, but I assure you God is at work. And every act of love matters.

We are called to love our neighbors, to love ourselves, and to love our enemies. Because it turns out all of those people are ones to whom God speaks saying “This is my child, my beloved.” Thanks be to God. Amen

1 https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/loving-your-enemies-sermon-delivered-detroit-council-churches-noon-lenten

January 18. 2026

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

Sermons

Christ the King

November 23, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Christ the King” based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Philippians 4:4-9

Today is “Reign of Christ Sunday” or in more historical language “Christ the King Sunday.” It is the final Sunday of the Christian year, as we start a new one next week with Advent. We’ve been counting Sundays after the Pentecost for a while now, this is #24. Fun fact, the times when we are counting Sundays after something are called ordinary time. It is really easy to presume that’s because nothing special is going on and they’re thus “ordinary” but it actually refers to ordinal numbers “1st” “2nd” “3rd” etc. OK, fine, my fact wasn’t that fun.

Anyway, at this culmination of the Christian year we find Christ the King Sunday where we celebrate the ways that the Kindom of God is here on earth and anticipate the Kindom coming in fullness. It is a time when we can contrast the ways of the “kingdoms” and “empires” of the world with the dreams of God for an earthly reality of abundant, communal, sustainable living.

This year, there has been more conversation about kingship in the United States than we tend to have. There have been condemnations of those who seek to use democratically elected positions in authoritarian ways like monarchs do. That condemnation is really in the spirit of Christ the King Sunday. (Yes, I do prefer “Reign of Christ” language but my point is clearer with “Christ the King.”)

The difference between the Kingdoms of the world and the kindom of God is immense. Kingdoms are top down, they benefit the king and those he prizes, and and to do so control the masses, impoverish the many for the sake of profound wealth for the few, use religion to prop up systems of control and dehumanization, lash back at dissenters, blame minority groups for the struggles of the masses to deflect blame from those truly benefiting, thrive on hierarchy and fear, and mostly exist to move resources to the top of the hierarchy.

Sound about right?

The kindom of God is flat. It isn’t a kingdom with a king, it is a kindom where people treat each other as kin. No one is above or below anyone else because we are all made in the image of God. The kindom of God is mutual, it lives ubuntu – the reality that our well-being is inherently interconnected. The kindom of God uses collective wisdom for collective well-being. The kindom of God uses just resource distribution as a means to care for all of God’s people, so that all may live and thrive. Or to go back to the quote that I loved so much last week, in the kindom of God resources will be used “so that all may luxuriate in life as the creator intends.”1 The kindom of God doesn’t require people to live in fear or anxiety, in loneliness nor isolation. It is meant for the thriving of people, all people. It delights in diversity, takes serious the wisdom of minority groups and dissenting individuals, engages in shared decision making (even though it is slow because it moves at the speed of trust), and in the kindom of God there is no longer a need for the church nor clergy because everyone is able to teach everyone else about God and God’s love. (This is under the idea that the goal of every non-profit is to put itself out of existence.)

Deuteronomy is seeking the kindom by giving people instructions about how to live well in a shared society. This is a passage about tithing, about each person sharing 10% of what they have for the common good to balance out the differences between those doing well and those struggling. This is a passage about humility, where the people retell the story that it is God’s goodness that takes care of them and gives them abundance and not their own labor. This is a passage about the practice of faith.

And the ending blows me away. After the tithe has been given, the instructions are, “Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.” Now, I LOVE that the gifts given to God are directly used to take care of everyone. The Levites are the ones without land, so without the gifts given to God, the ones who are to use their lives attending to the things of God wouldn’t have anything – including anything to eat. The aliens, the foreigners, were also cut out of land distribution, and were thus dependent on those who grew the food sharing in order to eat.

In these instructions for the people settling into the land they’d long dreamed of, God asks them to take the first fruits, give them to God, and let them be used to care for those without. AND then those with and those without CELEBRATE together the bounty of God.

Because it turns out that there is enough for everyone when the resources are shared.

Because this is a kindom of God vision and not a Kingdom of this world one. The resources are only too small to take care of all the people when the resources are being distributed unjustly and some take more than their fair share and thus deprive others of a share at all.

Both Deuteronomy and Philippians focus on giving thanks to God for God’s abundant good gifts. For life in the land of milk and honey. For God’s care and love and trustworthiness. For the people living out God’s ways in the world by being gentle, and living in communal shalom (peaceful well-being).

The United States tradition of Thanksgiving is fraught with narratives that glorify the European settlers and dismiss the history of those of European descent in the Americas enacting genocide on the Native Americans who were indigenous to this land. And, for some of us, it is also a holiday we love dearly with great traditions and family connections and food we love.

I believe it is necessary to hold those truths together.

And whether or not we want to associate gratitude with the USA holiday of Thanksgiving, the act of giving thanks is an important part of our faith. So, too is rejoicing.

It is my hope that the commitments people make in their pledging for 2026 are commitments made out of gratitude for what God has done in their lives and out of a desire to be part of what God is doing in this community.

I wonder, sometimes, what story we should tell. It may still be that “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor… and when my people were affliction God found a way to get us out.” But there are other stories too, stories of why we give. “I moved here and was alone and lost, and found people who cared.” “I needed to be with other people who believe that God’s love for everyone means everyone has a right to eat.” “I was lost, and God found me, and I found this place.” “God has given me life, and I am grateful.”

The stories we tell ourselves about what God has been up to in our lives, and how that has led us to respond with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness… those stories are REALLY important. Maybe, even, you might want to tell someone else that story? Maybe you’d be willing to share the summary of the story in a moment when we receive pledges, and tell people the fuller story if they ask??

Because I think those are our stories of seeing the kindom of God, of practicing the kindom of God, of deciding use our lives to build the kindom of God.

The stories we have, the ones that lead us to giving back in gratitude, those are the stories of us rejecting the Kingdoms of Oppression and Hierarchy and turning to the kindom of mutual care and connection.

Let’s keep remembering and practicing those stories, with each other and in our hearts, because they help keep us grounded to choose the kindom of life and not the kingdoms of death. Thanks be to God. Amen

1Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah Vo. 2: 40-66 in Westminster Bible Companion Series, edited by Patrick D. Miller and David A. Bartlett (Louisville, KT: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 248.

Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org/

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Nov. 23, 2025

Sermons

Peace Be With You

April 27, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Peace Be With You” based on Acts 5:27-32 and John 20:19-31

“Peace be with you.” It is repeated 3 times in this passage, and that’s pretty notable. There are many possible explanations for it. It is quite common in the Bible when there are experiences of the Divine that the human being experiencing something extraordinary is greeted with “Peace be with you,” I’ve often wondered if that’s because they’re usually so startled by what’s happening that they need a soothing to even settle in and listen.

But, even then, the words are very specific. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you” might also be consoling, but that’s not the norm. The norm is “peace be with you.”

And, of course, whenever we’re dealing with the Gospel of John we have to assume that the language being used reflects the early church as the Johannine community knew it, and I think by the time John was written it was common for Christians to greet each other with “Peace by with you” or “The peace of Christ be with you.” It is assumed to be one of the most ancient parts of Christian worship, we do not have any sources of early worship that predate the tradition of passing the peace. Which raises a question of if they said that cause they remembered Jesus saying it or they remembered Jesus saying it because they said it. Both are good.

Based on both of these ideas – that this is what gets said during a Divine appearance and that this is something Christians have said to each other since maybe the beginning – this phrase is really notable. And then we have it THREE times in this passage alone.

I’m thinking that these particular words are really important, maybe even core to the Jesus-movement.

Now, the word “peace” in English is an accurate and valid translation of the word “peace” in the Bible, but it is much SMALLER than the word in Hebrew and Arameic. In English peace is primarily the absence of war and violence, and then might refer to a lovely state known as “inner-peace.” But in Hebrew the word is deeper and wider. Shalom refers to the kind of peace we know, and then it keeps going. Because it includes things like root causes. So Shalom has aspects of absence of violence and war, and tranquility, but also the things you need to get there like adequate access to resources, healthy relationships, family and friends and neighbors who also have adequate access to resources and healthy relationships.

These days when I think of Shalom I often connect it with the African word “ubuntu.” In 2018 the Love Your Neighbor Campaign – a great organization we’ve been a part of that was working for the collective well-being of people in the United Methodist Church1 – put out a statement on ubuntu as a means of clarifying our priorities as a movement. While not short, I can’t in good faith cut any of it, so here it is in wholeness:

Ubuntu is an African concept that embodies a way of life. In simple terms, it is translated to mean ‘humanity’, where humanity is based on the understanding of interdependence and community life. Ubuntu is more than an expression, value, or philosophical concept. Rather it refers to a way of life that is visible in all spheres of human existence. A lifestyle that values the humanity of others as an imperative for one’s existence. It is lived recognizing that we are all created in the image of God and should do unto others as we wish it be done unto us. It says ‘I am because you are, we are not born into a single family but a community’.

Ubuntu encompasses virtues that invite us to a new way of life and our journey as Christians. In this way of life, human dignity is an inherent and inalienable virtue of all humans, from birth, regardless of any distinctive feature and circumstances, and should be protected by all at all times. When we recognize each other as created in the image of God, protection of one’s dignity and worth is a collective obligation tied our existence as we share the pains and joys of humanity.

Ubuntu invites us to extend grace to everyone, regardless of our views or situations. God’s grace is available to all, everywhere and all the times. We recognize that our lives are defined by free and undeserved favor from God and are called to extend that grace to everyone. Our humanity isn’t defined by our efforts or status but instead defined by remembering that because we have freely received, freely we give. The consideration of others isn’t based on formulated expressions of exclusion, but rather in embracing all people, God does not exclude anyone from God’s expression of grace.

Relationship is a key element of an interdependent and community life. Relationship is more than knowing my face and name. It includes sharing struggles and successes, living and working together on our path to a good earthly life and perfection to God. We are brothers, sisters, siblings, not because we think and act the same way, but because we are all created in the image of God and were created to help one another. The image of God in you isn’t temporary nor based on my perceptions or limitations, but is a permanent reminder that we all originate from God whose infinite grace and love compel me to uphold your dignity and value in our society.

God reminds us of what God expects from us, to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. Thus, we share the collective responsibility to stand for one another when justice is denied to any one of us. We stand for one another because your safety and wellbeing is directly tied to mine, injustice is rotational, solidarity and love are the greatest weapons we have. Justice isn’t the decision of the majority, but rather the moral option that safeguards the welfare and integrity of all members of the family.

In a global but polarized world where individualism has led to racial profiling, injustice to the poor and vulnerable, religious intolerance, tribalism and nepotism, xenophobia, rejection of refugees and discrimination to people based on sexual orientation, we have failed to live to higher call of Jesus to love another just as God loves us. Ubuntu is a reminder that we share a common origin and destiny, our welfare is tied to another and we have the collective responsibility to protect the sacred dignity of our fellows, extend grace and seek justice for all, for our welfare is dependent on their welfare.

Our siblings who recently returned from Africa University reminded us in their presentation about their trip of this important concept that is now understood to be cross-African.

The words written by our African siblings in faith about ubuntu resonate with the profound meanings of shalom in the Bible. It brings the fullness needed back to the phrase “peace be with you.”

And, now, I think, we can hear more fully what it means to share a story about the risen Christ meeting with the disciples and starting the interaction with “peace be with you.” He spoke a blessing. He spoke a truth. He spoke a hope. He spoke a shared vision for the world as it should be. He spoke interconnectedness. And it was repeated THREE times in this one story because it is that central to their experience of God, of the risen Christ, of following Jesus.

To be people of faith in the tradition of Jesus is to be people of peace, of shalom, of ubuntu. It is to be blessed with knowing we are all interconnected and our well-being depends on others’ well-being. It is to be reminded that physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health are interrelated, and our health impacts each others’ health. It is to seek the well-being of ALL, and not just some. The blessings of peace, of shalom, of ubuntu and the dreaming of the kin-dom of God are one and the same.

This sermon is, I freely admit, review. I haven’t told you much you don’t already know, nor much I don’t repeat on a regular basis. There are good reasons we have “passing the peace” in worship, and I’ve previously done my best to explain it.

The thing is, I’m about to be away for 11 weeks and while I entirely trust Karyn to preach and lead worship while I’m gone, I still feel some responsibility for offering you something to hold on to for a while. There are treacherous things underfoot, all trying to harm God’s beloveds and upset our… well, our peace.

So, for now, I leave you with the simple reminder that “peace be with you” is a fundamental Christian goal, that it has layers and layers of profound meaning, and it is worth spending our lifetimes seeking to live that blessing. Thanks be to God for aiming us well at peace, at shalom, at ubuntu. Amen

1 https://www.lyncoalition.org/

April 27, 2025

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

Sermons

Hosier

February 16, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Hosier” based on Jeremiah 17:5-10 and Luke 6:17-26

It is Black History Month, a wonderful month when all of us have opportunity and encouragement to learn about African Americans in this country – their experiences, their contributions, their lives! I appreciate the reminder that African American history is American history, despite the emphasis in any particular history book any of us may have read in schools.

Here at First UMC Schenectady, we’ve now in our second week of singing songs written and/or composed by African American authors and composers, and what a gift that is to this moment in history!

In the gospel today we hear Luke’s sermon the plain, the Lukan version of Matthew’s sermon on the mount. Matthew’s version is better known because it is more palatable. Which, contrarian as I can be, means I like Luke’s version better. Luke’s is more concrete. Matthew says “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Luke says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Luke makes it concrete again, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” And while Matthew promises comfort to those who mourn, Luke promises laughter to those who weep.

And, of course, Luke includes “woes” that Matthew does not. Luke makes it clear we are not talking about keeping the status quo with a few more people included in the “haves” group from the “have nots.” Luke says we’re talking about a full reversal of fortunes.

OK, fine, I don’t love that. I get it, but I don’t love it. I don’t want those who are laughing now to weep, I just don’t want them cackling with glee at hurting people. And I don’t want ANYONE hungry. But, regardless of my preferences, here is the text, challenging as anything, pushing us past comfort zones to consider deeply that one should not assume good fortune is God’s will AT ALL.

Which is quite important, because all of us know people who are like Jeremiah’s trees planted by streams of water – people who soak up the goodness of God and have it to share in abundance – who don’t happen to have material wealth or social power.

And I want to tell you about another of those people. I mentioned in the Call to Worship that God likes to surprise us. If you were thinking about what opportunities presented themselves to African Americans born into slavery in North Carolina in 1750… what might you say?

Right, of course: one of the greatest preachers in the world, one of the most significant voices of the First Great Awakening. That’s what I thought you’d say.

from https://www.umc.org/en/content/harry-hosier-americas-first-black-methodist-preacher

Now, we aren’t sure of much about Harry Hoiser’s childhood. People think he was likely born on our about 1750 (his life overlapped with that of John Welsey), most likely in North Carolina, more likely than not into slavery. No one knows. At some point he became a Christian, and although he was not literate he could memorize a hymn on first hearing, and shared scriptures entirely from memory. He was a preacher, and he became Bishop Francis Asbury’s traveling companion.

You may know of Asbury, he along with Thomas Coke was commissioned by John Wesley to lead the Methodist Church in the burgeoning United States. He was the traveling companion of Asbury, meaning Coke said of him, “I really believe he is one of the best preachers in the world, There is such an amazing power attends his preaching, though he cannot read; and he is one of the humblest creatures I ever saw.”

Harry Hoiser was a PREACHER. His sermon, “The Barren Fig Tree,” preached at Adam’s Chapel, Fairfax County, Virginia, in May of 1781, was the first recorded Methodist sermon by a black person in America.1 He was also an organizer, and a man who worked for justice. He was also a known companion of Freeborn Garrison.

You may have heard of Freeborn Garrison, perhaps because he was the one charged with making a Schenectady Circuit and thus with organizing, oh, you know, our church in 1789…under the authority of and sent by Bishop Frances Asbury.

So, what I’m telling you, is that one of the, if not THE most famous Methodist preacher of the Great Awakening was Harry Hoiser, whose best known companions were responsible for forming this church, and that great preacher was an African American man. I will say that our history books do not mention him, so I am unable to say with any certainty if he was directly a part of the formation of this church, but he was so great a part of the Methodist movement, that he impacted this church even if he was never here.

Harry Hoiser, along with Richard Allen (who later broke off and formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church), were the only 2 African Americans at the formational Christmas Conference of 1784.

It was said of him, “His voice was musical, and his tongue as the pen of a ready writer. He was unboundedly popular, and many would rather hear him than the bishops.”2 Those Bishops, I might add, were Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury and the story has it that when he became Asbury’s traveling companion he would exhort the listeners after the sermon to enact what Asbury had preached. At some point he became the principal preacher.

Now, Freeborn Garrettson, “following his conversion, found himself dejected. Then one Sunday as he led family prayers, a thought penetrated his melancholy gloom: “It is not right for you to keep your fellow creatures in bondage.” Whereupon he told his slaves they were free. Later, Hosier, a former slave, and Garrettson, a former owner of slaves, ministered together.” (shivers)

In addition to being the first African American Methodist preacher in the newly formed United States in 1781, only 3 years later he became the first African American Preacher to preach to a white congregation.3 On at least one occasion, Hoiser preached to more than 1,000 people at once!

Booker T. Washington said Harry, “was the first black American Methodist preacher in the United States.. He traveled extensively through the New England and Southern States and shared the pulpits of the white ministers whom he accompanied. But he seems to have excelled them all in popularity as a preacher”.

Francis Asbury and Harry Hoosier baptized so many people that Asbury wrote in his journal that on any given day Asbury and Hoosier would baptize more people than a typical parish minister back in England would baptize during his entire ministry.4

One more interesting piece about Harry Hoiser – there is not scholarly consensus on why Indiana is the Hooiser state, but one of the solid theories is that the State of Indiana was unusually Methodist at the time of its founding, and they were Hooisers in remembrance of Harry Hoiser (sometimes spelled Hoosier.)

So, clearly, God was at work in Harry Hoiser, and despite the limitations attempted to be imposed on him by society and the challenge of being illiterate was widely renowned as a preacher. The United Methodist bookstore is Cokesbury (Get it? Thomas COKE and Francis AsBURY), whose symbol is of John Wesley riding on horseback while reading a book, a trick he was famous for. And yet, John Wesley’s movement in the United States was largely dependent on the preaching skills of someone whose life never afforded him the opportunity to read one.

We don’t have direct lines we can draw from our existence today to Harry Hoiser’s preaching, but it seems safe to say that Hoiser’s influence was so significant that both American Christianity and the Methodist movement would never be what they are without his work for God and God’s justice.

Blessed are you who are born in obscurity, the world will know your name.

Blessed are you who learn from others instead of from books, many will learn from you.

Blessed are you who break barriers, the world will be blessed through you.

Blessed are you who seek justice, you will be part of building it.

And, to be concrete like Luke, I suspect Harry Hoiser was hungry as a child, but the Methodists kept him well fed later in life. He was poor as a child and likely as an adult, but he lived the kindom of God. He was often excluded, but won people over. Whatever weeping happened early in his life, there was laughter in abundance as he connected and reconnected with friends the Methodist movement.

Harry Hoiser is one of many examples of what God has been up to. He reminds us that the limitations we see in life are ones God enjoys blowing away. He reminds us that what we think a person can do isn’t in any way related to what God thinks a person can do. He shows us that humble beginnings don’t need to define a life, at least not a life within God’s people.

Harry Hoiser reminds me of the basic Christian affirmation- the limits humans put on each other don’t limit God. Nothing, nothing, NOTHING can stop God’s work in the world. NOTHING.

Thank goodness. Amen

1 https://aaregistry.org/story/black-harry-hosier-orator-of-spirit/

2 https://www.umc.org/en/content/harry-hosier-americas-first-black-methodist-preacher

3ibid

4 https://harryhoosierproject.org/the-story

Feburary 16, 2025

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

Sermons

To Fall Down

January 29, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“If I Fall” based on Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Lay Leader Karyn McCloskey’s sermon:

Friends, all I can say is what a week to end up preaching…

I suspect there are at least one or two here today who climbed into a pulpit on September 16th,2001 and the months following and may remember what this feels like.

I don’t mean the sheer incomprehensibility of the attacks – at least to those of us born and raised in this country – but rather the aftermath. The hateful response to anyone who looked or sounded “foreign” –especially those with brown skin. The changes in our own government, the “Patriot Act” and the like. “See something, say something.” Distrust your neighbors – especially those with headcoverings and accents. It still bottoms out my stomach when I think about it.

This week feels the same. Changes in government, gag orders, stepping out of treaties and away from world citizenship. And now the ICE raids, families keeping their kids out of school, worried about neighbors turning them in—or at the very least not standing up to power.

It’s a lot and it’s overwhelming and it has the potential to seem completely hopeless…except that we are called to be people of hope. In essence for me, that’s what our baptisms recognize – they’re an outward sign of inward grace. Grace found in all people – regardless of race, religion, creed, time, place, socioeconomic status, or ability. There’s no clearer indication of this than the baptism of the Divine by a human. And for me, no clearer call on my heart than our baptismal vows.

I chose to use them as our call to worship because I think we need to have them in front of us. To give us strength when we’re weary. To pull us back when we’re getting distracted. To make us angry enough to flip tables that society would like us to quietly sit at.

This isn’t the first time that people of faith—and to be clear I don’t mean just Christians – have been called to action, called to stand with the vulnerable, called on a massive scale to respond with a very clear “NO”. Some of you have heard me tell the tale of Denmark in 1943, when after three years of Nazi occupation during which time the entire population, including the royal family, refused to comply with even intolerance, Hitler sent transport ships on the eve of Rosh Hashanah to gather up the Danish Jews. Word was spread across the countryside and through the cities – and overnight the Danish people hid over 7,000 of their fellow citizens away – in hospital beds, under fake names. In barns, in basements. And then shuttled them away in the holds of fishing boats across the waters to neutral Sweden. The German ships returned empty — and Denmark holds the distinction of being the only country in occupied Europe where the majority of those sent to the death camps were not Jewish.

A more recent example comes closer to home, when in March of 1965 came first the horror of Bloody Sunday, when 600 African Americans marching from Selma to Montgomery Alabama were beaten, run down, and tear gassed by State troopers and county possemen on the Edmund Pettus Bridge — followed by two more marches along that same route when thousands of people of all races, many of whom were clergy and other people of faith – with the third one ending with more than 25,000 assembling to protest at the Alabama State Capital, demanding the removal of obstacles to Black voter registration. ( On a side note – if you want to be inspired, I highly recommend watching the film “Selma” – that’s how I spent part of last Monday.)

There are others—like the decades of struggle, pain, and hard work that made possible this brand new Book of Discipline I got this week – but you get the point. At such a time as this, we are called to build the kindom.

To fall down and get back up.

To pick each other up – or lay down beside each other until we can rise again.

To stand behind, beside or in front of those who are vulnerable.

To use every ounce of whatever privilege we have

to speak out,

to lead out,

to fight our way out of this mess going on around us.

Because that’s how we renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil and unjust powers of this world, and repent of our separation from God and each other. So that we can accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves!

And this becomes possible, because we know, to the very core of our beings, that the God of Jacob formed us too and the promise that echoes through the ages remains true: “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Amen.

January 26, 2025

Sermons

Grounded Hope

January 5, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Grounded Hope” based on Luke 1:39-55

Somehow I messed up the order of the Advent Candles this year. They’re supposed to be Hope, Peace, Joy, then Love, but we did Peace, Love, Joy, and now hope. Truthfully I copied from a prior year, which likely copied from some lovely liturgy of yet another year, and didn’t notice until Louis asked me why on early we were doing Love on week 2. By that point it was too late to change so we left it.

So perhaps I’m just justifying things here, but I also have been thinking that it feels right this year to end on hope. I’m not disparaging love! It is, after all, “the greatest of these things.” It is just that this year, hope seems like the hardest one to come by.

To speak plainly, there are already a whole lot of problems in our country and our world, and we’re facing a future with a government who will do intentional harm to the vulnerable. Usually when we think about hope, we think about hope for building the kindom, for making things a little bit better, piece by piece. But right now, we’re facing everything getting worse, and it isn’t even entirely clear what we hope for.

I’m a big fan of Dr. Emily Nagoski, a writer and pod-caster who thinks deeply and writes clearly. Dr. Nagoskisends out a regular email newsletter that I get, and this July she sent out one on hope. Emily struggles with depression, and she shared that while she’s delighted when other people can resonate with Emily Dickinson’s poem “hope is the thing with feathers” where nothing can hurt hope, she can’t actually access that hope.

Here is an excerpt from that email:

Moral philosopher and author of “How We Hope” Adrienne Martin developed an “incorporation model” that formulates hope as “a desire for an outcome and the belief that the outcome is possible but not certain” and you use your assessment of its possibility as justification for feelings, thoughts, and plans.

Got that? Hope is justifying your feelings, thoughts, and plans based on your assessment that a desired outcome is possible.”1

This definition of hope, where the desired outcome is “possible but not certain” may be why hope see so hard right now. I’d like to hope for an end to hopelessness, but that is a whole lot less likely then “possible but not certain.” I’d like to hope for an end to hunger, but that, too, is a whole lot less likely than possible but not certain.

For Dr. Nagoski, living with chronic depression, assessing what was possible with an optimistic viewpoint became so hard that from her perspective hope died. But, she says, that’s not the whole story:

Hope is a sustaining energy, it keeps us working through trials when we’re being challenged, but it is contingent on that assessment of the probability of that desirable outcome.

But there is a noncontingent sustaining energy, which cannot be interfered with by any assessment, no matter how dire, of the probability of a desired outcome.

That noncontingent sustaining energy is an unimaginable hope.

What’s it called, when you have no reason to believe a wanted future may come to pass and yet you continue to work toward it just as if you did believe you could make a difference? What’s the name for that emotion, when you walk toward the world you want, knowing that each next step might be off a cliff?

Adrienne Martin calls it faith.2

Now, to be clear, Dr. Nagoski is an atheist, so her faith may look different than ours, but I found this reflection so startlingly helpful. Because what we are doing now, when we hope for good care for those with disabilities, when we hope for compassionate responses to immigration, when we hope for changes of heart around medical options for trans kids in red states – that’s the stuff of “when you have no reason to believe a wanted future may come to pass and yet you continue to work toward it just as if you did believe you could make a difference” That’s the stuff of, “when you walk toward the world you want, knowing that each next step might be off a cliff?”

Now, as people of faith, maybe we still get to call this hope, but more like “faith-hope” or “God-hope” or “we’d have no hope in this without trusting God” or just “hope grounded in love” or “grounded hope”? Or some other nuance. But it isn’t practical, pragmatic, having assessed the likelihood and deemed it possible sort of hoping we’re doing now, when we try to build the kindom of God on earth in this day and age. What we’re doing is continuing to love because the world needs love, is practicing peace because only peace begets peace, is seeking joy because joy is resistance, and continuing to work towards building the kindom of God because God has done crazier things than bring justice out of THIS HOT MESS. That is, we hope.

And to a significant degree, what I hear in Luke is pretty similar. Mary and Elizabeth, the too young and the too old, pregnant and shocked and processing, and speaking hope in the faithful God in the midst of the world that was a hot mess.

The Roman Empire at that time had highly concentrated wealth and power, most people felt vulnerable in their positions, so tried to press harder on those below them to stabilized themselves, the masses of people were struggling in life threatening poverty, and the government was trying to control the religious narrative to make itself look good. I know it is all hard to imagine, but do your best. 😉

This young, vulnerable, faithful Mary speaks her faith, her grounded hope, to Elizabeth. She speaks of God’s mercy – God’s compassion shown to those God could instead choose to punish. She speaks of God’s strength – God’s capacity to make things happen.

And then she talks about what God does with God’s mercy and compassion. Which is, inverses the fortunes of the world. For many people at that time, especially those who were not a part of the Jewish faith (but probably many who were too), it was assumed that those who had power and money had it because they were favored by the gods and “good.” And those who didn’t’ have things were being punished. Right? That way it looks like the world is fair, if everyone gets what they deserve. (You realize people think this now too, right? Sigh.)

The book of Job, I would say, is one of the ways the Bible fights back against that idea, because even in the Bible there is this tendency to want to justify things by saying all is as God would have it be, so don’t mess with the status quo. But, luckily, there are also A LOT of narratives that say God isn’t’ happy until justice comes, and that’s the tradition Mary is drawing on here.

Mary speaks of God lifting up the lowly, bringing down the powerful, filling the hungry, sending the rich away empty, scattering the proud, and fulfilling God’s own promises. To have that happen would overthrow the empire, and install in it’s place God’s own kindom on earth. She is talking about leveling, about making it so everyone can eat, and no one lords over anyone. She is talking about building the kindom on earth.

It makes sense, of course, that these words would be in Mary’s mouth to make sense of Jesus. The early Christian community saw all of this happen in Jesus’s life, and they used Mary’s words as a narrative device to tell people what to pay attention to in his story. (Also, I contend, it makes sense to think of Mary as one who had such faith and was able to teach it to Jesus.)

I think that from the perspective of Mary and Elizabeth, the Roman Empire was immutable. It couldn’t be changed, couldn’t be toppled, couldn’t’ be bested. This was probably even MORE true by the time the gospels were written and the destruction of Jerusalem occurred with mass causalities. Moving from that system to justice as God wills it would have looked….

Well, it wasn’t “possible but not certain.”

It was much more “when you have no reason to believe a wanted future may come to pass and yet you continue to work toward it just as if you did believe you could make a difference?” In fact, I would go so far as to say that one of the primary points of Jesus’s teaching was that we have to work towards the future we want, the kindom of God on earth, as if it is possible because unless we work together on it – IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE. Jesus brought the people together and showed them that together they had enough where as apart they did not. Jesus taught them they had power, not the kind of violent power over of the Empire, but the amazing power of connection and love that can change things to make life BETTER.

Beloveds of God, the likelihoods are not in our favor right now. Very little that improves the lives of the vulnerable is going to happen on the federal level in the short run.

Oh well.

God is still God, God is a God of mercy who brings down the mighty and lifts up the lowly and we’re working with God on that kindom building project. Our hope is grounded, faithful, and impractical. We do what needs doing even if it isn’t likely to bring the outcomes we want. We do it anyway, because we are the people who follow Mary’s son. Amen

1 “An Alternative to Hope Or, The Secret Medicine for When the Thing With Feathers Stop Singing” an email from Emily Nagoski on Jul 9, 2024.

2 ibid

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

Sermons

Led Home

January 5, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Led Home” based on Jeremiah 31:7-14

Jeremiah, the prophet of the exile, speaks to the exiles in the midst of their exile. You get it? EXILE, “the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons.1” The state of exile is a state of displacement. Who you used to be has been ripped away, along with your connections to what roles you used to play, what people you used to be connected to, AND what places you used to occupy. In many ways, to be in exile is to have ones identity ripped away.

The Exile in the Bible, the time when the leaders of ancient Israel were force marched to Babylon tore away the identity of a nation. Those left behind were decimated by violence and continued to be defenseless against invaders. Those sent into exile were decimated by violence and displaced. They had known themselves to be God’s people, protected by the Divine and formed by their relationship to the God-Who-Is. To have lost their city, their status, the lives of their loved ones, their temple, and their treasures to Babylon SERIOUSLY threatened their identity as beloved by God.

In fact, I believe that the Hebrew Bible was written down in this period largely to make sense of the exile, and to figure out identity once again.

So the words of Jeremiah, the prophet of the exile, are particularly poignant as they come from the time of displacement and lack of identity, a time of pure shock and dismay. Jeremiah is known as a downer, because most of his prophecy was about warning what would happen if the exile came to be. But once it happens, he ends up telling the people that God won’t let it last forever.

Our Hebrew Bible reading today, from Jeremiah 31, is a prophecy of RETURN. A word from God that says that the people will return (they do) and that it will be glorious.

When we talk about Jesus today, at least for most Christians, the emphasis is on Jesus as Savior. For me, it is often a relief to notice what saving means in the Hebrew Bible. Which, in this case, is “return.” The people ask God to save them, God brings home a remnant of the people and thus keeps the people alive as a people – maintaining their identity and connection to their God.

Christianity today is focused on saving being about afterlife, but in most of the Bible it is more pragmatic than that. Jeremiah suggests that this is a story of salvation – that the people will come home.

The specifics, it is worth mentioning, are profoundly lovely. While Jeremiah as prophet of doom and reports of the destruction before the exile talked about the deaths of babies and pregnant women, Jeremiah singing the story of salvation says that God is going to bring the people home – and the list of who will make it home safely is remarkable:

people who are blind
people who have physical disabilities
people who are pregnant, including those in labor

And those beloveds of God will be gathered back home. They will be comforted after the years of grief. They will be safe, walking near water so they can drink as they wish, on a smooth straight path where they cannot get lost and will not be tripped.

Then, when they people come home, they will sing with joy! They will be fed with abundance. The crops will grow, the animals will thrive, life will be easy and good. The people will dance, and be happy. Their mourning will turn to joy. They will be comforted. Their sorrow will become gladness. There will be so much abundance that the priest’s small portion will be more than enough and the things of life will overflow and satisfy.

Its lovely.

But I think my favorite part is who is named as the ones God is bringing home. The focus isn’t on the descendants of the king, nor the priests and Levites, nor the warriors or scribes…. Even though those were most of the people who were taken into exile because Babylon thought they were useful (and that Jerusalem would founder without them). It is the most vulnerable people in this case also the ones who would have the hardest time with long-distance travel to return. It is the ones for whom returning home would be most miraculous.

God says God will make the way so smooth, so straight, so easy that they too can make it. This feels the the Biblical equivalent of those wonderful internet memes that remind us that EVERYONE can use a ramp, but not everyone can use stairs, so ramps should be the highest priority. God is building a RAMP home so that those least able to make it on their own will have an EASY journey. The return home is meant to be so easy that a woman in labor, a person who is blind, and a person who cannot walk on their own can all make it. God will lead them home, and it will be possible.

There is a way home, with God. The people will be saved, the return is possible and will happen, everyone will be able to make it if they wish to.

Thanks Jeremiah.

It seems to me that the powerful experience people had with Jesus and then the powerful experience people had with the Holy Spirit after meeting the followers of Jesus must have been REALLY STRONG for those people to start claiming that God’s salvation was KNOWN in him. Because, let’s be frank, the man was killed by the Empire on cross as a condemned man, and his most faithful male followers ran away in fear afterward.

It didn’t, at least at first, look like the salvation Jeremiah was talking about. It didn’t look like return from exile, it didn’t look like the prior story of freedom from bondage in Egypt through the Passover.

Nor did it fit the salvation of the expected Messaiah. It didn’t look like King Solomon’s rule over many neighbors. It didn’t look like political freedom, or overthrowing the Empire, or even a temple that was dedicated to truly honoring God again.

But those Early Christians claimed the idea that God saves us, and claimed the idea that God was sending a Messiah to restore the Kingdom of Ancient Israel – a Messiah to save them and their IDENTITY. And the Early Christians said, YES, God did, and it was Jesus!

And friends, let’s be clear, Jesus DID NOT FIT THE BILL. When our Jewish friends point out that Jesus didn’t fit the identity of the expected Messiah, they are ENTIRELY CORRECT.

But, also, I think the early Christians were onto something. Jesus didn’t bring political power, a resurgence of the Ancient Israelite Empire, the power of violence to kill enemies, a restoration of the Kingship or Nation, or even help the priesthood cleanse itself of Roman influence. He didn’t do any of it.

But, he did empower those who had been disenfranchised. He did listen to widows. He did show people the miracles that happen when people combine their resources. He did preach about God with the people everywhere they go. He did teach about God’s incredible power of love. He lived a life of radical connection, radical love, radical trust in a God of goodness. And those who met him – and those who met those who met him – and those who met them – and so on – saw in him a different sort of salvation. Maybe one more like Jeremiah’s after all. They saw in him that their lives had value, even if the empire couldn’t get rich off them. They saw in him that they could love each other and it would matter, and that no power of violence could destroy the things that really matter. They saw in him that God is bigger than even death, and fear can start to take a backseat to love because love always wins and its far more worth basing a life on. They saw in him the power of peace, of connection, of relationship, of faith, of trust, and of hope.

And they called those things salvation.

And I think they were right. I think that’s why Jeremiah preached it too. Because before return comes, you have to want it, and you have to believe it is possible. Before freedom comes, you have to want it, and you have to believe it is possible. Before the kingdom comes you have to want it, and you have to believe it is possible. Because believing in it makes it possible.

May God lead us all home to the kindom! Amen

1Apple dictionary, accessed ½/2025.

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

January 5, 2025

Uncategorized

Untitled

November 24, 2024
by Sara Baron

“Don’t Worry!?!?!?!?!?” based on Psalm 126 and Matthew 6:25-33

So. Here we are. Back in the “sowing of tears,” and “going out with weeping.”

Again.

And once again, perhaps this is not the moment that you are in the mood to hear, “Don’t worry.” Perhaps, like me, you are prepared with a list of perfectly reasonable things that one could be worried about, and all of them without over-responding to reality.

Right?

And yet, once again, I have to admit that Jesus was talking to people who also had pressing concerns, life and death concerns, including about where their next meals were coming from. It was to people whose lives were being shortened by poverty, who lacked access to basic resources that Jesus said, “don’t worry.”

Which I think means we aren’t able to ignore it.

I find, when I stop fighting with this passage and listen to it, that Jesus is making some pretty pragmatic points. He isn’t actually saying, “don’t worry, be happy.” He is saying, “Don’t worry because worrying doesn’t get you anywhere. You don’t solve your problems by worrying about them.”

Which is just true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked myself up into a lather about particular concerns just to have those particular issues never actually emerge in my life, or in the world. I always seem to worry about the WRONG things.

In the end, this gospel passage comes to an interesting conclusion. Strive for God’s kin-dom, and trust God, and you will be OK.

Now, take a breath. I know, and you know, that things aren’t going to be OK for everyone. We aren’t being hopelessly naive here. The world is a hard place and lots of people struggle profoundly. Like in the time of Jesus, lack of access to resources results in people’s deaths, even when there are enough resources to go around.

So, what was Jesus getting at? The man was not hopelessly naive.

I hear two really important points in what in Gospel lesson. The first is a point mostly to those at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The people that society has deemed expendable. The ones whose lives are shortened by greed at the time. To those people, Jesus says, “God doesn’t see you as expendable. You matter.” To make this point Jesus reminds them that all the wealth and resources of the world can’t dress a person as beautifully as the flowers. And nature itself cares for the birds, and God loves you more than the flowers and the birds. Perhaps that sounds trivial, that people matter. But I think it isn’t. I think that’s everything. I think that’s in the core of the good news. God cares about EVERYONE, NO ONE is expendable, and whenever anyone is treated as expendable, that is against the will of God.

The other piece is equally central. “Strive first for the kindom of God and God’s goodness, and the rest will follow.” Here is the thing. It actually will. Because the more people are striving for the kindom, the more people are living out God’s goodness, the better things get. Even in the most impoverished places on earth, if people work together, they have a lot more than when they compete. And the more people buy into “everyone matters” the closer we get to sharing life-giving resources responsibility.

I’ve also noticed, in the past few weeks, that striving for the kindom of God and seeking God’s goodness is the one of the most inspiring things I can do. It is harder to worry about cabinet choices when one is face to face with a breakfast guest who is sharing about their life. It is hard to worry about what will come in a few months when sitting with someone at the end of their life. It is hard to maintain hopelessness when reflecting on lives well lived. It is in a whole lot of pretty small actions that hope gets rebuild. And, around here, we have plenty of small actions that need doing that end up building the kindom of God and seeking God’s goodness.

I remember learning eight years ago that I am lucky to have a pulpit, because working to find the good news keeps me focused on it. I’ve watched, even in the past few weeks, the ways that regular committee meetings can be sources of comfort and hope. Even just being in shared reality helps.

This time around, I don’t want to be as easily swayed. I don’t want to spend years being angry, or to be dismayed all the time. This time, we have a pretty good sense of what is coming. And I, for one, want to be grounded in God’s goodness and centered in community and ready to be able to stand in front of those who are vulnerable without wavering. To do that though, I can’t let myself drown in despair, let go of hope, or even burn with righteousness anger.

Luckily, we know about stuff that grounds us in God and community. Worship. Prayer. Mission. Ministry. Human Connection. Laugher. Joy. Play. (PLAY!) Humor. Music. Art. Bodily Movement. Nature. Sabbath.

And, a lot of that we’re pretty good at.

So, here is your permission: put on your oxygen masks. We are going to need to be able to take deep breathes to do this well. But with God, we can be love in even this world.

And, I’m not going to tell you not to worry. But, please remember: God loves everyone, and building the kindom helps build resilience to despair. Also, best of all God is still with us.

I think that’s plenty to be thankful for, how about you? Amen

Nov. 24, 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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October 13, 2024
by Sara Baron

“For Everyone Born” based on Luke 14:7-14

Today, in our gospel lesson, we hear Jesus giving dinner party advice. Which is, let’s be honest, kind of unexpected from Jesus. To be fair, the Jesus Seminar thinks this narrative is Luke’s creation – it fits both Hebrew literature and Jesus’s priorities but seems a little bit too much like a narrative device. That said, it does fit both the values we hear throughout the Bible and from Jesus, so I think it is plenty worthy of our attention.

According to my beloved commentary A Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels:

“Dinners were important social occasions that were used to cement social relations. … It was very important who was invited. Moreover, accepting a dinner invitation normally obligated the guest to return the favor. Sometimes guests refused invitations knowing that the return obligation was more than they could or wish to handle.

… Table fellowship across status lines was relatively rare in traditional societies. In the inclusive early Jesus groups, it was an ideal that caused sharp friction on several counts. It was especially difficult for the elite, who risked being cut off by families and social networks if seen in public eating with persons of lower rank. That was especially so in the city (the setting for the text), where status stratification was sharp and members of the elite were expected to maintain it.”1

Well, that helps make sense of why this is in a gospel – this reflects the radicalness of the early Jesus movement and just how significant it was for people to dismiss the social norms. The early Jesus movement mixed people across class lines and dismissed the concept that anyone mattered more than anyone else and it was … well, just the opposite of how things worked then.

And maybe now.

While sometimes I want to think things are better now, when I look at social policy, I notice that our systems and structures treat those living in poverty as expendable. When it would be easier, cheaper, and more just ease people’s lives and we don’t – I can’t find many explanations other than we CHOOSE to enrich the elites at the cost of the lives of the poor and marginalized.

Maybe there isn’t social cost to going to the wrong party in the same way anymore- although that may depend on one’s social circle – but we still function as if some people are expendable and that’s the same core problem.

Thank God the Jesus movement saw through it. Thank God the Hebrew prophets saw through it, and Jesus helped too.

Thank God for each and every person who refuses to be at peace with anyone being expendable and truly believes we are all made in the image of God! My goodness it matters, and my goodness it requires us to keep reminding each other to pay attention!

It requires that we let go of hierarchies – for ourselves and for others. The gospels tells us to always sit at the bottom, instead of fighting for the top. And, we are to invite those whose presence will lower our social standing, instead of those who can help pick us up.

I wonder, if someone had followed Jesus’s advice in this (and I think they did), what it would be like to be one of “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” invited to a fancy dinner party for the elites. It seems like it might be terrifying. Would people have declined because they were playing by the rules and couldn’t repay the invitation – or agree because they were too hungry to care? Would they worry about what to wear and who else would be there? Would they be comforted or upset when others in their own social class were the other attendees?

Because, it turns out that the narratives of who matters are also taught to those society says don’t matter, and it isn’t easy to let go of it even when you know it is a falsehood.

What would it be like to be a host used to formal dinner parties with people engaging in social climbing, to suddenly be at a table with people you are used to ignoring and dismissing? Might it be uncomfortable? Refreshing? Would there be a lot of laughter? What might the host learn?

One of the things I learned in seminary studies of urban ministry is that people do best in mixed income housing situations. And they mean all people. Because we have so much to learn from one another. It benefits kids of families who are living in poverty to see other ways of life. It benefits those who are well off to see that those who are struggling are real people with gifts and passions, and to see their way of life. It creates stronger communities, with more empathy and more creative solutions when we don’t segregate ourselves – by any measure. Further, it encourages everyone to be generous with what they have which benefits all the givers and all the receivers. It makes generative space for everyone born.

It is funny to think of this dinner party. The host might teach about expected table manners, but the guests might be honest enough to admit what doesn’t taste very good 😉 Or exclaim with delight at a delicious bread the host had stopped noticing years ago. Or just be happy to be full, and remind the host that such a gift is one to be truly thankful for.

In our We Cry Justice reading, Carolyn Jean Foster imagines that shared table as a place for meaningful conversations between equal conversational partners – a pretty beautiful image that fits the Jesus movement well. She reminds us that people who are well off often try to solve issues of systemic poverty – but don’t actually understand them, “People who live in poverty know the solutions that would alleviate their suffering; they just do not have the resources. They need to be at the table.”2

In the world, this is still an oddity!! The world still seems to believe that those who are successful are more capable of solving problems for others instead of trusting that those who have experienced injustice are most capable of identifying their own problems.

But what a wonderful thing it is when people follow God’s way instead of the world’s ways! What a wonderful thing it is when we refuse honor, invite the unexpected guests, accept unexpected invitations, and learn from each other!

Now, you may not have noticed it, but socio-economic differences are not the only kind that exist. Around here they may not even be the ones we struggle with the most. I think for many of us, listening to those whose values differ from ours can be incredibly difficult, and even triggering. What would this gospel passage feel like if it said, “don’t invite those who already agree with you, invite those who are voting for a party line you abhor?”

Feels a little harder to me already. But, then I remember all the times God has worked in me to undermine my assumptions.

These floods and hurricanes recently have had me thinking about 2011 when there was major flooding in the town where I was pastoring. I ended up coordinating volunteers who came to help people, some of the holiest work of my life. It also put me in some positions I wouldn’t have otherwise agreed to be in. Some of the volunteers came from churches that didn’t permit women clergy, and refused to accept women’s authority – but they cared more about helping people than avoiding my leadership role. Some of the UM volunteers came from what are now GMC churches and we’d sit down and eat lunches on muddy former lawns and talk about things and realize how many places we disagreed – and how it didn’t seem to matter one little bit when we were both there to share love.

A few weeks ago I shared on facebook a recommended set of questions for just such a dinner party, “How to have conversations with people who disagree with you” which suggested asking:

Which life experiences have shaped your views?
Imagine for a moment that you got what you wanted in regards to this issue. How would your life change?
For those who disagree with you, what would you like them to understand about you?
What do you want to understand about those with whom you disagree?
What is this personally important to you?3

Those aren’t questions about changing each other’s minds, but they are about actually hearing each other- about re-humanizing each other – about learning! I may never agree with someone who wants to cut SNAP benefits, but it is entirely possible that I can learn form their perspective and come to a more nuanced understanding of what could work better than what we have now!

We are in conversations right now about creating some spaces to talk with those with whom we think we disagree. I think those are exactly the holy places Jesus wants to invite us into. The Gospel tells us so.

Thanks be to God for holy moments when we can speak and listen and be formed by our compassion into people even more able to love all of God’s people – everyone born. Amen

1Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003) “Textual Notes: Luke 16:1-16” p. 285-6.

2Carolyn Jean Foster, “50: Band-aids or Justice” in We Cry Justice, ed. Liz Theoharis (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021) p. 217, used with permission.

3Source: Solutions Journalism, posted by “Unfundamentalist”

October 13, 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