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March 26, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Contagious” based on Isaiah 51:1-8, Luke 13:18-21 March 26, 2023

In 2001, in a grand adventure, I ended up in Fairbanks Alaska so I I could drive home with my brother home who’d had a summer internship with the National Wildlife Refuge. While in Fairbanks I was gifted with sourdough starter that I still use today.

Three years ago, a whole lot of other people got into sourdough starter, and I happily shared mine, but I didn’t go with the craze because I’ve already been on it for quite a while. Except last week I came across an article about “high hydration” bread and I suddenly realized that the 2020 sourdough craze where all of my friends suddenly made prettier bread than I ever managed to wasn’t because of my lack of artistic skills after all! Instead, the “no knead” breads are actually high-hydration breads which get mixed differently and a particular style of bread I’d always wanted and failed to make was suddenly in my grasp.

So.

On my day off last week I decided to try high-hydration sourdough bread, except I couldn’t find the right recipe. The ones I found either required yeast (I think that’s cheating) or bread flour (and I believe in a limited number of flour types in a home at any time). So, I just sort of made the same bread I always make, but with a different proportion of water. And then I waited.

The recipe with yeast said it would double in 90 minutes.

I started at 8AM.

At noon, I thought maybe it had fluffed, a little.

At 2 it looked the same.

At 4 I decided maybe I should refrigerate it for the night, and try again the next day – as recommended by another recipe I’d found. But I was doing something else so I didn’t get up.

At 6, when I went to put it the fridge, voila, it had doubled!

Now, I love making bread, and it ALWAYS feels like magic when the bread rises, even with yeast, but more with sourdough. This time felt almost like the first time I’d ever made bread when I stared in wonder at what had happened. (My grandmother often used to look at me with affection and say that simple toys amused good children.)

Now, when Luke 13 says “it is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened,” I need you to know the “yeast” is actually sourdough starter. And sourdough starter in practicality is some partially made bread from last time, set aside for this time, from which a bit will be kept for next time. It really is just flour and water with wild yeast alive in it, that becomes concentrated by being fed with flour and water.

What I’m trying to say here is: IT IS SO COOL.

The flour and water that has invisibly hidden within it the wild yeast from the air all around us, is able to mix in with other flour and water, and the yeast grows and changes the whole batch – which can both make delicious bread and replicates itself for batches of the future too.

The yeast is, in one way of looking at it, contagious. Now, at this point of life most of us have some pretty negative connotations of the word “contagious,” right? In no small part because it is a word that reflects a POWERFUL reality, a way of changing things that can easily get out of control. Or, in the positive, it indicates the power of one small thing to bring enormous change.

The amount of sourdough starter within bread dough is almost negligible, but it changes everything. Mustard seeds are so small they can be hard to pick up… but the seeds grow huge and enable more life to come! (Also, the seeds when ground up have a potent, almost contagious flavor impact… just saying.)

I am so used to thinking about faith as active. We live out our faith. We nurture our faith. We nurture faith in each other. We work with God to build the kindom, and so on and so on and so on.

But in Luke, it doesn’t sound like that. In Luke, the power of the kindom of God is potent, and contagious and unstoppable. Sure, the seed needs to find the right place to grow, but when it does … WOW, a bush so big its almost a tree! Sure, the bread needs to be fed and mixed and kneaded (or not?) and baked, but WOW, the bread does the rising on its own!

One of the weaknesses of living within the post-industrial revolution, scientific method, de-mystified, de-mythified world that we now occupy is losing track of those WOWs. It can feel like the work of building the kindom is on our shoulders, instead of being on God’s shoulders where we have a chance to make our little contributions along the way. It can feel like we have control, when really we don’t, and then it can feel like it is all meaningless when that isn’t true either.

We can get lost figuring out how to understand God from the worldviews we occupy today. It is easy to do. (It happens to me rather a lot.)

For me, these kindom parables lighten the load a little bit. I can a plant a seed, but I can’t make it grow. I can mix up bread dough, but I can’t make that grow either. I can plant seeds of compassion, but I’m ALSO not responsible for making those grow. The contagion, the growth, the power of life within the world –that’s not my work, it is God’s!

And it is GOOD to have limits on my work!

On another grand adventure (you are hearing about more of those today that you should, proportionate to my life), I stood on the rim of of Bryce Canyon National Park and looked. At Bryce large columns of rock called hoodoos stand isolated, softer rock having been eroded away. On the top of those immense columns of rock, soaking up the sunlight, I found to my surprise – TREES.

How? How did the seeds get there? How did they get enough soil to grow? How did they withstand the wind?

HOW?

But also, thank God.

For me, those trees speak to the power and persistence of LIFE in this world. Life itself is contagious. How did those trees grow? Probably because other ones grew before them! And made soil, and the soil deepened, etc.

Because life brings life. Like yeast, and mustard seeds.

Because in the end, the power of life isn’t ours, it is God’s.

In Isaiah, we are reminded that God’s power is bigger and longer lasting that even the earth itself. It is forever. God’s love, and the power of life that God brings are eternal. God’s work for justice and goodness (righteousness) will not end. It can’t be stopped. It is contagious.

Friends, I have been in churches for my entire life (thanks Mom and Dad!) and for that entire time I’ve heard expressions of dismay at church decline. I’ve never known the church any other way, and I’ve never known the church not to be worried about it. It is, however, kind of a tiring story. One that doesn’t seem to bring along a lot of life with it.

What if we put a little bit more trust in God? What if we trusted that God is at work bringing life into the world and partnering with individuals and groups who are working with God, and along with life comes love and compassion, justice and goodness, righteousness and hope? What if we let ourselves be bread dough, and let God work within us, and stopped worrying about how fast or how well we rise? What if we trust God is doing good work, and we don’t have to control it? What if God’s contagious power of life can’t be stopped, and we couldn’t even do it if we tried? What if all we have to do is hang tight and wait and see, and maybe have some joy along the way?

By the way, the bread was the best I’ve ever made.

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 26, 2023

Sermons

“Not Seen, Not Forgotten” based on 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 and…

June 17, 2018February 15, 2020
by Sara Baron

It must have been about a decade ago, more or less. I was jogging one evening, around dusk. It was a really beautiful evening, the sky had transformed into one of those dark yet vivid shades of blue that always delights me. The temperature was just right – I was neither hot nor cold. I’m not sure how it happened, but I got thinking about floating in a body of water that was also neither hot nor cold, but just right. Just easy floating in comfortable water.

Then I started considering how easy it is to move your body when you are floating in water. A flick of the wrist can shift you around. As I thought of that, I realized that in this envisioned body of water, there was a teeny tiny current. It was so small that a flick of my wrist could keep me from being moved by it, but it was enough that it could guide my way.

That was it. I had a conception of a warm, safe body of water with a tiny current that I could float in, and either allow the current to move me, or not, with great ease. It felt like a lot more though. It felt like a vision of wonder and grace that was a gift from the Divine. I experienced it as a reminder that I had the freedom to easily follow through with my own will, that God would not overpower me. And a reminder that there was guidance available to me, a path that I could let myself be led on if I choose. I need not be aimless if I wish to allow the current to lead. The balance of guidance and freedom co-existing together was powerful.

It was a relief to think about my relationship with God, my life decisions, and even my life itself as FLOATING. I have sometimes had a tendency to think of them more as a swim race across the English Channel. In this vision the floating was good. It was not only good because it was easy, although it was easy. It was also all that was asked of me. I could float where I wanted, or float along as the current lead me, but the current was too slow and gentle for me to find it swimming. All I had to do was float. And even then either choice was OK.

(The few times that I’ve had visions that I think are of/from the Divine I’ve noticed that the God I experience is profoundly nonjudgmental and supportive.)

All in all, for me, that vision reminds me of the experience of Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer is prayer based on the name of God, YHWH, which means something like “I am” “I am who I am” “I will be who I will be”. It is a prayer of BEING, rather than a prayer of doing, or thinking. It is silent prayer, but not just silent on the outside. Centering prayer is prayer that is silent on the inside too. It is simply BEING, along with the “Great I AM.” So much of life is about doing, or speaking, or listening. It is active, engaged, intentional. Centering prayer is like floating on the warm, mostly still waters of God’s care, and just enjoying being alive.

Or, at least, it is when it works. It can be really hard to be silent on the inside, and then it doesn’t feel at all like that when you are trying and failing.

The parables in the gospels seem to tell a similar story. They speak of God’s mysterious actions, ones that humans wouldn’t be able to replicate. We can sow seeds, the gospel says, but we can’t control if they germinate or not. We might as well go to sleep and let God do God’s mysterious things. Soil, water, sun, and air work their magic on the the seed, all giving gifts no human can offer. After all that, the human can cut it down and enjoy the grain. But the human can’t make the grain. (This was true in the time of Jesus, let’s give it to him.)

We also can’t always predict how things will go. “The mustard seed was a common metaphor in Palestine for ‘the smallest thing.’ The plant could grow as tall as a house, and birds seemed to love its little black seeds.”¹ The people knew about the disparity between seed size and plant size, talked about it. In the gospel, it is used to indicate how vibrant and abundant God’s work in the kindom is. What appears small and insignificant to human eyes is plenty to change a landscape and an eco-system.

God is at work in building the kindom. God can make big things happen out of a tiny start! God’s work is mysterious and happens out of our sight, and yet we can see the fruits of God’s labor and with it we are fed and nurtured. God is invested in building the kindom and God is capable of doing it. The planted seed is no longer seen, but is not forgotten as it germinates and grows.

But, this raises some significant questions. Another commentator names them this way:

“One suspects that the early Christian communities were often as puzzled by this parabolic presentation of the kingdom as we are. These two parables that Mark stitches together have generated may theological interpretations over the centuries. Does the kingdom come slowly, over the long haul? Should we understand the harvest in due season as the future event of the eschatological time? Are we to believe that God is in control of the growth and harvest, despite the evidences of the way the world is?”²

Another commentator offered a great explanation of the words themseves.

“Hē basileia tou theou, found fourteen times in the Gospel of Mark and usually translated ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the dominion of God’ is an ancient metaphor not easily translated into today’s culture. In the first century CE, power and dominion belonged to Caesar. Early Christians preached that Caesar’s domination had been overtaken by the domination of God. This was an in-your-face radical claim defining insiders not by Caesar’s proclamation, but by relationship to the community that followed Jesus. (cf. Mark 3:31-35) In various twenty-first century cultures, the claim of radical inclusion is seeking expression in terms reflecting the egalitarian relationship of God’s beloved community. To that end, we translate hē basileia tou theou as ‘the kin-dom of God.’”³

So, then God’s beloved community comes into being mysteriously, with God’s effort, and is able to grow big and strong even from humble beginnings. It is as if the beloved community itself is a gift from God for God’s people. Then, as a part of the beloved community we are able to share that love – and it doesn’t always have to be difficult – and sharing love is building the kindom. I know sometimes it is difficult, and that’s good too. But it doesn’t ALWAYS have to be difficult! It is OK to float along in the current of God’s love. It is OK, sometimes, to just be.

Now, in the Hebrew Bible story, God also acts in mysterious and unexpected ways. The first of which is when text clearly states that God changes God’s mind! 15:34 b, “for YHWH regretted making him ruler over Israel.” (Inclusive Bible Translation) I think it is helpful to notice when the Bible says God changes God’s own mind, it reminds us that we are allowed to also! As I was taught in Process Theology, it also indicates that God is responsive to us! What we do in the world impacts God’s own being, and God has to change and response to the realities that we have created.

The story goes onto say that Samuel thinks he knows what God is going to do next! Samuel is sent to make a king from one of Jesse’s sons, and Samuel figures it will be the oldest one, especially when he sees that the oldest one is tall and handsome. Samuel is terribly human in that way, assuming that stature and beauty have to do with competence and blessing. Samuel is said to be rebuked by God, who does NOT care about those things. Although, I have to admit, later in the passage David is described quite exuberantly as handsome, which sort of undermines the message.

In any case, all of Jesse’s sons were present, except one. The final one was the youngest, doing the task usually assigned to the youngest son, the one least likely to become the head of the family. He was herding the sheep. His father didn’t choose to call for him, to join them at the feast. David had work to do, and he was doing it. But one by one, Samuel assessed that none of the older brothers had been chosen to be king. Finally he had to ask if there were any more sons, and then David was called for.

David hadn’t been seen at the party, Samuel didn’t know him, his family wasn’t paying any attention to him. He wasn’t seen, but he wasn’t forgotten by God either. David in this story is presented as being a lot like that mustard seed – small and forgettable, almost invisible, and yet capable of greatness. God’s work in David is also presented as being like God’s work in seeds planted underground, God transforming what is possible into what is.

The story of David is of God choosing the unexpected one. The parables of Jesus are of God’s mysterious power. These are stories of God at work, NOT of humans at work. I tend to like to emphasize what we are able to do in the world, how we are able to transform the world with God’s love, how God is able to work with and through us. Those are true things. But they aren’t the only true things. It is also true that God works when we least expect it, in the places and people we least expect to be open to it. God’s mysterious work is a source of hope. Not everything is on our shoulders. Not everything good is hard. Sometimes it is OK to just float and trust in God’s love and guidance. Thanks be to God. Amen

1Nibs Stroupe “Homelitcial Perspective on Mark 4:26-34” found in Feasting on the Word Year B, Volume 3 edited by Barbara Brown Taylor and David Bartlett (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville Kentucky, 2009)143.

2Don E. Saliers “Pastoral Perspective on Mark 4:26-34” found in Feasting on the Word Year B, Volume 3 edited by Barbara Brown Taylor and David Bartlett (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville Kentucky, 2009)142.

3Judith Hoch Wray, “Exegetical Perspective on Mark 4:26-34” found in Feasting on the Word Year B, Volume 3 edited by Barbara Brown Taylor and David Bartlett (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville Kentucky, 2009)141.

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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