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February 26, 2023
by Sara Baron

“What To Do With Creation Stories” Based on Psalm 104:1-4, 10-15, 27-30 and Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25

I was really excited about the idea of starting Lent with Creation. After all, Lent is a season of preparation, a time when we are reflective and attending to the needs of our faith, and what better way to start that work than with the beginning of our shared story?

That excitement lasted until I sat down to reread the texts. At which point I began to question my sanity itself, and why I would set myself up to try to make meaning out of the Adam and Eve story. After all this story has been one of the primary ones used to subjugate women, not to mention queer and trans people AND has a bonus narrative of over emphasizing a duality of gender. My concerns about preaching about this led me down a line of thinking where I started to wonder if Creation itself really matters to Christianity and if perhaps we would be better off just ignoring all stories of Creation so I don’t have to preach on Adam and Eve.

That should count as a red flag in my thinking processes, because my faith is at the root a Creation-based faith. Creation is how I make sense of EVERYTHING. The Bible starts and ends with creation. We as people are co-creators with God, working towards the world as God would have it be (“the kindom”). Creation is sacred. The natural world is one of my best teachers. All of creation sings praises to the Creator. There is wisdom in every rock and stream and leaf. This is how I think. This is how I am!

I myself learned how deeply all of this is engrained when my beloved 2 year old spent last summer curiously pulling leaves and flowers off of living things, while I found myself assessing the health of the plants and inserting myself between him and any plant I deemed likely to be hurt by the loss of a single leaf. The lectures that came out of my mouth about respecting all of living creation were an excellent clue as to what I believe, although – as you might expect – not terribly convincing to the one who heard them.

So, what to do with creation stories?

And, before anyone gets too concerned listening to me, this seems like a prime time to talk about science and how great it is. To take a creation story seriously is not to assume it is factual about history and science, it is to consider it as a meaning making narrative and look for the clues of what it was trying to explain and why. I am DEEPLY committed to understanding God as Creator, it is inseparable from my faith as well as my world view, but I believe God created through the big bang and continued to create through evolution and continues to create today, along with us and beyond us.

For me, to claim God as creator isn’t about denying science. It is about believing there is sacredness in all that is, and that goodness is possible because God is the root of all being.

But, still, what are we to do with creation stories?

Well, I guess, we take them as they are: stories to help us understand the challenges of life, and we listen for their wisdom. Of course, the Bible has a multitude of creation stories because the Bible is working to make meaning and creation stories are particularly good at that. Phyllis Trible, starts the book God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality with the words “The Bible is a pilgrim wandering through history to merge past and present.”1 Looking at creation stories is the same as looking at the rest of the Bible. To make sense of it for the present requires some sense of what it may have meant in the past, but also a firm grounding in the present to see what it means now.

Now, as creation narratives go, Psalm 104 is one of my favorites. It seems to focus on the goodness and majesty of creation, and I like that theme. It also focuses on God’s presence within creation, another one I really like. Best of all, Psalm 104 presents God as active in caring for creation for the goodness of creation itself – us included. It serves as a reminder to be grateful for water, which brings life, and for grass which sustains cattle, for edible plants we get to eat and wine and water and bread to satisfy people. If Psalm 104 does all this while having some weird conceptions about what the sky is and some odd ideas about punishment, I can let it be, because I need the reminders of awe and care and hope that I hear in the text.

However, as creation narratives go, Genesis 2 is probably my least favorite. To be fair though, I dislike the text because of what others have done with it more than because of the text itself. So I forced myself to actually listen to it, and it turns out to be WAY more interesting and life giving than I expected.

Dr. Gafney says the first created human in this story is an “entity that will be divided into equal halves to form two human persons, yielding different theological implications than turning a man’s rib into a woman.”2 She is working on the interpretation from Phyllis Trible, which I’d like to point out was published in 1978 and continues to be one of the best texts on the subject.

In Trible’s translation of this Genesis creation story we start with, “And YHWH God formed hā-’ādām [of] dust from hā’adāmâ and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life and hā-‘ādām became a living nephesh.”3 From the beginning, Trible says, “Hā-‘ādām is the focus of God’s pleasure.”4 She translates hā-‘ādām as “earth creature” as it is a pun on the word for earth, and points out that the earth creature is NOT identified sexually. Rather the earth creatures is “precisely and only the human being so far sexually undifferentiated.”5 Further, “only two ingredients constitute its life, and both are tenuous: dusty earth and divine breath. One from above, one from below. One is visible, the other invisible.”6

And here I start to get a sense of the meaning the early story tellers were trying to get to. They wondered about this fragile reality called life, they noticed that we are interrelated with earth, but also more, at least while we are alive. These metaphors for what we “are” make a lot of sense if you are thinking meaning making and not science, right? Also, if you are listening to what the text says and not assuming that “earth creature” is “man.”

Now, if I were to pick one point from this story as the key thing that I think should be taken from it, I would pick the line “it is not good for the earth creature to be alone” which, as Trible says, “contrasts wholeness with isolation.”7 Please note that this is said while the earth creature is still… one. So I don’t think this is actually about romantic or sexual love, but rather the need for companionship and RELATIONSHIP. Further, God has been quite present with the earth-creature to this point, and it seems that God rather LIKES the earth-creature, but God still senses that the earth-creature is MADE FOR RELATIONSHIP with other earth creatures TOO.

And that, dear ones, I think holds throughout time. Trible says, “Since the earth-creature is not only part of the earth but also other than the earth, it needs fulfillment from that which is other than in the earth.”8 And, I’ve got to say, that feels right. And she points out that the ACTUAL phrase attributed to God says, “I will make a companion corresponding to it.” If you have a word other than companion, particularly one with a hierarchical basis in your mind, know that it is not fair to the Hebrew the story is told in. Trible explains, “According to Yahweh God, what the earth creature needs is a companion, one who is neither subordinate nor superior, one who alleviates isolation through identity.”9 Then God makes the animals, and they don’t fit. This reflects a God who is flexible, and working out with the earth creature looking for what that one needs, right? I like that metaphor too!

And then, God tries something else. Trible says, “In becoming material for creation, the earth creature changes character. Whereas the making of the plants and animals were divine acts extrinsic to the earth creature itself, the making of the sexes is intrinsic. Indeed, this act has altered the very flesh of the creature: from one come two. After this intrinsic division, hā-‘ādām is no longer identical with its past, so that when next it speaks a different creature is speaking.”10

“And hā-‘ādām said,

This, finally, bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh

This shall be called woman [’iŝŝâ]

because from man [’îš] was taken this.”11

Trible again, “the female pronoun this (zō’t) unmistakably emphasizes the woman whose creation has made the earth creature different. Only after surgery does this creature, for the very first time, identify itself as male.” “No ambiguity clouds the words used ’iŝŝâ and îš. One is female, the other male. Their creation is simultaneous, not sequential. … Moreover, one is not opposite of the other. In the very act of distinguishing female from male, the earth creature describes her as “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” These words speak unity, solidarity, mutuality, and equality. Accordingly, in this poem the man does not depict himself as either prior to or superior to the woman. … For both of them sexuality oringinates in the one flesh of humanity.” I’m going to take this a step further and say that if this story claims the first earth creature was not gendered (non-binary perhaps?) and that humanity comes before gender, sex, or sexuality. The human experience is primary. The human need for relationship is primary.

This story seems to be trying to figure out not just where we came from, but what relationships we are supposed to have with God, with earth, with plants, with animals, and with each other. While it is at it, it is trying to figure out the pull of sexuality and the power of new love, the form of families, the role of gender, and what makes humans unique. That’s a lot to try to answer for one story. It is a lot more than the Big Bang Theory is able to offer too.

The Bible gives us multiple creation stories. I think that means we are to take seriously the sacredness of creation, but not fuss over the facts presented in each one. But we do have these stories to help us make sense of the big questions of life. Some of the answers will work for us, some won’t. It is OK to take what brings life and leave the rest.

For me, today, I like the idea of being an earth creature with Divine breath, I appreciate the reminders of awe and beauty, and the ones that say that I was MADE for relationships and that’s why they matter so much to me. What will I do with creation stories? Fight with them and savor them. Thank God. Amen

1Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978) page 1.

2Wilda Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2021), p. 78.

3Trible, 79.

4Trible, 80.

5Trible, 80.

6Trible, 80.

7Trible, 89.

8Trible, 90.

9Trible, 90.

10Trible, 97.

11Trible, 97.

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 26, 2023

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February 19, 2023
by Sara Baron

“There is No Single Way to Follow Jesus” based on Zechariah 8:1-8 and Luke 7:24-25

The United Methodist Church is a big tent denomination. We are large enough to include a wide variety of perspectives and values, or at least we have been. (Some of the most conservative US churches are choosing to leave right now.)

Many years ago I was sent to an area of the country that tends to practice Methodism rather differently than I do, and then I was asked to lead a small group of seniors in college who were experiencing a call to ordained ministry in The United Methodist church. This seemed rife with issues.

They spoke of God differently than I did. They made assumptions about God that I didn’t share. They’d lived different lives than I could understand, and let’s be honest, I was pretty confused even by the food.

And, in the midst of all that, there was something profoundly familiar in talking with those college students. The differences in how we understood God weren’t big enough to negate that I could sense God’s love in and for them, and the tingling awareness of their faithful decisions to live their lives to share God’s love.

The most embarrassing part of this for me is that I was surprised. I discovered that I had believed that people who thought and spoke of God differently than I did weren’t having authentic experiences of God. I discovered in that experience how small minded I was. And as I processed that, I was reminded that everyone is on a faith journey, and at every step along it we are doing the best we can, and we are WRONG a lot, and probably RIGHT a lot too, but no one has it all down. And even if they did, context changes everything, and requires adaptations again the next minute.

The places I thought the others were wrong didn’t negate God at work in their lives. The places I was wrong didn’t negate God at work in my life.

It turns out that I’m far more obsessed with perfection than God is, and God is willing to work with humans as we are. Phew.

Many years later, three dear friends and I went on retreat to write a confirmation curriculum that we would be excited to teach. We asked ourselves questions about what really mattered about our faith in our own lives, and how we might communicate that to others. The confirmation that I have taught here over the years is that curriculum, intentionally named “A Jesus Way of Living.” A Jesus Way, not The Jesus Way because we knew by then that what worked for us wasn’t going to be what worked for everyone, and that was one of the most important things we wanted to teach the young people in Confirmation Class.

A quick reference point: the vows from the baptisms today were that we as a church, along with parents and godparents will do all that we can to each these young people what we know of God and God’s ways. Confirmation class aims to teach older kids what they need to know about the church, it’s beliefs, and other ways of being faithful so that they can decide whether or not to “confirm” for themselves the vows made at their baptism.

One of the key components of the “A Jesus Way of Living” Confirmation Class is spending the first 15 minutes of any class engaged in a wide variety of spiritual practices and prayer traditions. We hoped to teach kids that there are many ways to access the Divine, and start them along the road of discovering how they TEND to best connect with God. This is, of course, incredibly personal, and every person who has been through the course has different experiences of each kind of prayer.

All of this seems like an affirmation of the reading from Luke today where Jesus talks about how different his ministry is from John’s without claiming that either one is better than the other. Right? It ends with Jesus saying, “For John the Baptizer has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you all say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Woman has come eating and drinking, and you all say ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet Wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”1

Two men, making opposite choices with how to live out their faith lives, and they were BOTH RIGHT. That’s what the last line means. Wisdom is Holy and Divine Wisdom, sometimes talked about in the Bible as if Wisdom is it’s own entity, and in the Gospels as if Jesus is Wisdom’s child. Wisdom is also consistently female in the Bible.

Dr. Gafney says of this passage, “What behaviors does Jesus associate with his divine Mother? A life full of joy and celebration, including those who, in the words of Paul, are low status and despised. Yet he does not disdain the ascetic’s path John follows: indeed he commends John with unparalleled praise. There is no single way to follow Jesus.”2

I hope that this information about there being many ways to follow Jesus is freeing.

But I want to also admit that it can be really heavy. I think it is easier to believe that there unique right answers and if one simply follows all the rules everything will work out OK. It is easier to believe that there is a right way and a wrong way and all one has to do is do things right.

It is way, way, way harder to believe that God works differently in different contexts, and in each of us, and even differently in each of us in different parts of our lives. It means that we are always learning, and changing, and seeking to hear the Divine EVEN THOUGH we know we will never hear God perfectly. It means often having to forgive one’s self for beliefs that one no longer holds (Like thinking that God only authentically works in people who think like I do), and that’s heavy. It means constantly letting go of assumptions about God and Godly living that aren’t bringing life anymore, and that too can be difficult. Worst of all, in my opinion, it means being open to a huge range of possibilities and NOT being able to cross any of them out as WRONG, but rather having to slow down enough to hear the wisdom I hold, and the ways God is working in me, to decide which way to go. It is slower, more careful, and much less certain work. It can be tiring.

That doesn’t make it unimportant though.

Now, I’m going to have to explain a little bit of context in order to explain how Zechariah fits into all of this, but I’m getting back to listening to what God is up to.

In 587-586 BCE Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading army of Babylon when the King had decided to stop making tribute payments. Many were killed, the temple was destroyed, the poor were left undefended, and the wealthy and educated were force marched to Babylon where they stayed for generations. In 538 BCE the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the Persian Empire. Starting then, some of the descendants of those who had been force marched to Babylon started to return, and over a VERY long time they eventually rebuild the Temple, the City, and the community of faith.

The story of that rebuilding is what we’re working on in Bible Study, it is also told in different ways by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Because, much like there being many ways to follow Jesus, the Bible is at peace with there being many ways to tell a story, and doesn’t assume that only one perspective is “right.” Zechariah, in our passage today, is speaking about hope. God is going to return to Jerusalem with the people, and full and abundant life will be present again. I rather love that the way he talks about that is by saying that there will again be elder women and elder men sitting on the streets watching, and there will again be girls and boys playing in the streets. The abundance of life is captured by the presence of the old and the young together, and that is a great image of wholeness.

The line that really pulls on me is attributed to God and says, “Though it seems miraculous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it seem miraculous to me, says the COMMANDER of winged warriors.” That is, God says, “Sure, you don’t think it is possible

that you can rebuild and life can be good again for all people. But should I let your fears stop what I want to do???”

And that’s where I think we come back to listening to God, and listening broadly. I think that God is often dreaming and nudging us towards bigger and more wonderful things then we can dream on our own. Other times God is dreaming and nudging us towards smaller and more wonderful things than we would allow ourselves. Listening to God means being open to an astounding amount of love and how it wants to move in the world, and how it wants to move in US in the world.

So, just in case I haven’t been clear enough yet, this is my point today: There is No Single Way to Follow Jesus, you have to figure out your way yourself, AND what God is up to in the world and in you is meant to be beautiful, wonderful, and loving. And I think it is worth the time to figure out and to live it. Amen

1Luke 7:33-35, “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church” translation by Dr. Wil Gafney.

2Gafney, 70.

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 19, 2023

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February 5, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Welcoming…Enemies?” based on Isaiah 16:1-5

The Bible doesn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the Moabites. It does suggest that the Moabites were cousins of sorts of the Israelites, claiming that their patriarch was Lot, the son of Abraham. However, if you remember that story, the basic suggestion is that Lot’s line lived on because his daughter got him drunk and got pregnant off of him, which is not the sort of origin story one tells about a group of people you like.

To quote the Encyclopedia Britannica “The Moabite language differed only dialectally from Hebrew, and Moabite religion and culture were very closely related to those of the Israelites. Nevertheless, Moabites were excluded from the Jewish community (Deuteronomy 23:3–6), where the name Moab became a typical denomination for the enemies of God (Isaiah 25:10).”1

Right, so the Moabites were sort of the old-school version of the Samaritans – close cousins, deeply hated, enough so that Moabite was the synonym for enemy.

And into that reality comes the Isaiah reading today. We’ve been working from “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church,” and translated Dr. Wilda Gafney makes an intentional choice to translate Zion and Jerusalem in the feminine (as they are in Hebrew). To make clear to the English speaker the constancy of the feminine, she “reproduces ‘daughter in places where English masks the frequency of the feminine address.”2 That has resulted in a lot of “daughters” in our recent readings, which may – in this case – create some confusion for those who heard the text today. So, let me clarify. In the New Revised Standard Version of this Isaiah passage, the translators tell “daughter Zion” to care for the “daughters of Moab.”

As Dr. Gafney says, ‘God calls on her daughter, Zion, Jerusalem to welcome her Moabite sisters in their time of need. Israel’s relationship with her border states was perpetually tumultuous even with shared ties… Often in the Hebrew Scriptures foreign women are treated as prospective danger, irresistible to Israelite men through sexual wiles, leading to Israelite men straying from their God. But in Isaiah 16, God calls on Israel to care for these vulnerable women.“3

The Bible has pretty much nothing nice to say about the Moabites, but when they are struggling and in danger, the people are told to shelter them, really, to save them. That’s so far beyond "love your enemies so God will judge and drop heaping coals on their heads” (thanks Paul) and sounds more like “love your enemies because they’re beloved of God too, and worthy humans at that.” These were the people the Israelites were at war with, more often than not. And they’re told to welcome them, shelter them, and keep them safe.

There is, you may remember, another place where the Bible has something rather nice to say about the Moabites, which is that Ruth was one and she was pretty great. This is a thing I love about the Bible. It is unable to sit tight with violence and hatred, it just can’t keep God’s love from seeping in, even with the ones it struggles with the most. As anyone who has ever attempted to explain the Good Samaritan parable knows, you have start with explaining the enmity between the Israelites and the Samaritans to get to the point of the Samaritan being the hero. Or, after the HORRIBLE defeat of Jerusalem by Babylon, the exiles are told to seek the good of the city of Babylon.

The Bible doesn’t make peace with hatred. There is always light shining through. As much as the people struggle with each other, God’s love for all can’t ever be extinguished. And, truly, I think the people tried. Their own grief, fear, and anger created enormous blinders to the humanity of the outsiders, the enemies. But, God’s work to transform it is ALSO always there, and nudging away the blinders to see the beloveds of God underneath.

Now, I believe the commandment by Jesus to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you” is well known. But I think maybe we don’t spend enough time talking about the skill sets necessary to do so. This week I picked up a book by my favorite seminary professor, Andrew Dreitcer. The book is entitled, “Living Compassionately: Loving Like Jesus” and in the introduction I found myself remembering why he was my favorite professor. He talked about his own struggles with loving his enemies, and trying SO SO HARD to love people, only to discover that telling himself he should wasn’t the same as actually doing so. He said, “The constant efforts to manufacture acts of love because my faith demands it – even when I don’t feel loving – may lead me to a sense of guilty inadequacy, or a sense of failure, or ultimately to burnout.”4 The HONESTY of that was such a relief.

But, he also didn’t leave it there. He acknowledged it, and then came around to, “The heart of the Christian path of love – radical compassion- can be taught.”5 Then he spends the rest of the book teaching it.

In recent years, one of the most common questions I’ve been asked has been about how to remain connected to people on the other side of the political spectrum. This is a WONDERFUL question. This is a loving question. This is also a REAL question. We may know that politics are just politics, and that outsiders are trying to divide us, and that people matter more than their stances on some issues, but at the same time the mostly deeply held beliefs we have about what the world looks like and what it should look like are often in contrast to what people believe on the “other side” of that spectrum. And in cases of the violation of our most dearly held values and beliefs, it is truly a challenge to find shared humanity.

So, I’ve really appreciated that people acknowledge how hard it is and try to do it anyway. And I’ve offered some answers and suggestions to those who have asked, potentially even something vaguely helpful if I’m lucky. I’ve suggested listening for other people’s values and digging in deep until the similarities of desires can be found – even if the solutions on top of them aren’t shared. I have suggested acknowledging that others are struggling and make space for that struggle, particularly for the fear that is so prevalent in our society.

But between this Isaiah passage about sheltering one’s enemies and the book on compassion, my answers sound weak to my own ears. I wish now I had started by offering people compassion for the struggle they brought to me, and in doing so modeled the compassion that I think we need for such work. Dr. Dreitcer reminded me that from my own faith position, compassion flows three ways between God, other, and self, and that when we are struggling to offer compassion to another, we may first need to make space to experience God’s compassion for us, and/or to have compassion for ourselves first. We can’t browbeat compassion out of ourselves, or pick it up from bootstraps. And then, I wish I had reminded myself and others that by offering vulnerability we make space for the sort of intimacy we want with others. If the goal is to remain in contact with people we care about, then there are skill sets for that too.

Now, I suspect you’d like the easy fix on how to be more compassionate, and I sort of want to give it to you, but it isn’t an easy fix. It is the stuff of long regular practice, of starts and stops, of learning by doing, of taking time for what matters. It is the stuff of good spiritual practice. Dr. Dreitcer recommends intentional spiritual practices focused on intention, attention, awareness, intimacy, imagination, and feelings. (Yeah, just that!) I offer that we are blessed with new committees working on relationships and on spiritual formation, and the work of the groups will continue to offer to all of us the means of developing our compassion so that the actual practice of loving our enemies, or maybe just those who really exhaust us.

I think this is all good news. That God doesn’t want us to stay in enmity with others, and that there are ACTUAL ways to build compassion so we don’t have to just feel guilty when we aren’t as loving as we want. It is all good news. And we can work on it together. And it is good to be a faith community where that’s part of what we’re trying to do together. We are in this together. May God help us along our way. Amen

1 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moabite

2 Wilda Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2021), p. 50.

3Gafney, 53.

4Andrew Dreitcer, Living Compassionately: Loving Like Jesus (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2017), 12.

5Dreitcer, 13.

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 5, 2023

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January 29, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Everything Is Good” based on Zephaniah 3:14-20 and 1 Timothy 4:1-6, 9-10

I was trained in process theology, which focuses on genuine free-will and understands God to be all-good and all-knowing, but NOT all powerful (because that would defy free will). These days I mostly don’t think about process theology, it just sort of flows through me without awareness. But then I came upon the line from 1 Timothy, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing for rejection, rather received with thanksgiving.”1

Reading that, my heart leapt for joy! An affirmation of the goodness of creation! YES! A reminder to focus on the good! YES! A move towards gratitude, as spiritual practice, YES!

And about that far into my excitement, I found the counter-narrative building up in me. Because there are weapons of mass destruction and addictive recreational drugs and I’m not willing to go so far as to claim they are good. Now, if you want an easy way out of this, you can say simply that “everything created by GOD is good” and not everything created by humans. Truthfully, that’s probably a good distinction.

But, this is where I find I’m truly a process theologian. Process theology says that any capacity that exists can be used for good or for evil, and that as capacity increases so too does the capacity for good and in equal measure the capacity for evil. So, power. Any given power can be used for good, or for evil. To go back to my prior examples, we might think of the scientific and engineering minds as well as the money that was used to create weapons of mass destruction and that those resources could have been used quite differently – maybe to modernize the electrical grid or enable tree planting to fight climate change or… all sorts of things. The capacities can be used for God. God intends them for good. But we are free to choose how we use them.

Unfortunately, quite often, people choose to use power and capacity for evil. The reasons are wise ranging, and quite often those doing great harm are doing so because they were also harmed, but the truth is that there is a lot of bad stuff out there. And society is rife with collective horrible decisions.

And, I think there is wisdom still in 1 Timothy’s “For everything created by God is good, and nothing for rejection, rather received with thanksgiving.” Because I think God did create everything for good, and nothing for rejection – and WE have choices about how we use stuff.

In Dr. Gafney’s reflections on this text she said, “The Epistle is highlighting how very much opposite of the spirit and teaching of Christ are the false doctrines they are rebuking; doctrines that limit and exclude.”2 Now, this argument is powerful and beautiful, and should be held carefully.

My specific concern is the decision made by the early Church to not require followers of Jesus to follow kosher guidelines. I think that decision was fine, but I also think it it is a faithful choice for Jewish people to be kosher, and for religions to have dietary codes. I’m reminded of a young friend who kept kosher, and was willing to talk about it who said, “It is what I can do to remind myself regularly of God.” Beautiful.

Which I guess is to say that religious dietary codes can be good.

And lack of them can be good.

The capacity of all things to be good makes space for us to consider what it means to use any given thing FOR good. How can we sanctify something in how we choose to use it? 1 Timothy says, “For it is sanctified by God’s word and prayer,” but I think there is a little bit more to it.

If everything is made to be good then even the most basic parts of our lives are sanctified. What does it mean to eat with an awareness of the goodness of the food we have, and God’s blessings on it? Does that change the pace at which we eat, the presence of prayers of grace, the amount of attention we give to the flavors of our food? Does it impact what we choose to eat when we are thinking of eating itself as a potential moral good for ourselves and the world?

What does it mean to think of sleep as GOOD? How does that impact how we approach it?

Or, this was a recent insight for me, what does it mean to think of exercise as “the opportunity to move with joy?” (Because if I’m honest I have mostly thought of it as “the best way to quickly punish my body for the fact that I sit too much.”) I think maybe thinking of exercise as a good gift from God can create some pretty radical changes for me.

Or, what does it mean to notice the goodness and sanctity of … the chance to sing a hymn together, or the joy of a cup of tea, or a random meeting on the sidewalk? The simple little things that make up our days and our weeks, what if they ARE all meant for good?

There was a line in a commentary on Ezra that I read in preparation for out Bible Study that really stood out for me. The author, Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi who is a Rabbi, points out that Ezra is not focused on the work of heroes but rather on the work of the people as a whole. She says, “Success is not a return to glory but the sanctification of the mundane, ‘daily, prose-bound, routine.’”3

Sanctification: making something holy. So “success” is finding the holy in the mundane.

Now, the things that have done great harm to us or others – we need to be clear those were not God’s intent – but what if God is working with us to transform them anyway? To bring healing and to make it possible to bring whatever good is able to come out of even great harm. (From Zechariah, “I will change their shame into praise.”)

What if God is up to all kinds of good all the time all around us and all we have to do is notice?

Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Isn’t that wonderful?

Amen

1 1 Timothy 4:4,Translation by Wilda Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2021), p. 49.

2 Wilda Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, p. 50.

3 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, In an Age of Prose: A Literary Approach to Ezra-Nehemiah (Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1988), p. 187.

January 29, 2023

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January 19, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Rebuilding after Trauma” based on Psalm 18:2-11, 16-19 and Isaiah 62:1-7

I picked the wordiest readings ever this week. They’re awfully hard to keep in focus. I’m sorry. They’re just so lovely though, that I couldn’t help myself. They are texts that talk about rebuilding after traumatic events, about God’s power and grace being enough to bring hope when it looks lost. They have imagery of healing and regrowth.

They talk again and again about salvation and delivery, and it seems like a good time to claims those words in their Biblical strength and power. Salvation comes from the same root as “salve.” To be saved is to be healed. Delivery has connotations of birth and passing through a narrow place to get to safety and wholeness. Both words are used throughout the Bible to indicate God’s actions for God’s people. God moves the people to healing, to wholeness, to safety. God liberates. God heals. God creates safe places for liberation and healing to occur.

If you, like me, have had a little bit too much exposure to the Christian fundamentalist narrative that salvation is about being saved from hell, I invite you to lay it down. Let it go. We aren’t talking about that.

In fact, Isaiah is talking about restoring the community of ancient Israel. Piecing together those who had been left behind in the unprotected lands with those who had been force marched into exile, and finding connection and wholeness again. Isaiah is talking about the horrors of violence, the battles and destruction of Jerusalem and that they DO NOT GET to define the people any longer. “No more shall your land be called Devastated; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her”. Wow!

The Psalm presents itself as being more about an individual, which it may be. Sometimes it is hard to tell in the Bible if an individual is an individual or a way about talking about a group as a whole. It doesn’t really matter though, the truths hold in it either way. The Psalmist expresses trust in God “The Rock Who Gave Me Birth is my rock” and then goes on pretty quickly to mention that things are not going well. “The snares of death encompassed me”, etc. The Psalmist called out to God for help, and experienced God listening and responding.

I wonder if there is something important there. The Psalm goes into quite a lot of detail about the strength of God’s response. God heard, God cared, God responded – and the earth SHOOK. When any of us is responding to trauma, being reminded that God is, that God cares, and that God can help matters a lot. There is isolation and powerlessness that keep trauma in place, but the reminder of God’s presence and care can change that reality quite dramatically.

Finally, the Psalmist says God simply plucked them up out of the danger and set them down somewhere safe, ending with “she delivered me because she delights in me.” What a profound conclusion.

A definition of trauma that I find quite useful is, “Exposure to an event which was perceived as intensely threatening to mind, body, or spirit, accompanied by feelings of helplessness, powerlessness and horror.”1 You’ll note there are two part to this definition: a threatening event and a sense that one couldn’t do anything about it. It is also worth noting that the PERCEPTION of the threat is the key, not the reality of it. AND that the threat can be to mind, body, or spirit.

Trauma is incredibly common in our lives. Adverse Childhood Experience Studies look at 10 common traumatic experiences (abuse, neglect, family dysfunction) and find that 60-65% of adults experienced at least one traumatic event in childhood. So MOST people. Most people were seriously harmed in their childhoods. The prevalence of childhood trauma has dramatic effects on physical and mental health over the course of a lifetime. And, of course, traumatic events occur in adult lives too.

A particularly notable one would be a global pandemic. Where there are threats to physical well-being in the form of the virus, AND mental and spiritual well-being in the form of separation.

Clearly, there are a wide variety of experiences in the pandemic and experiences of the pandemic. Some people have experienced far more trauma in the pandemic than others. Yet, we have each experienced some trauma, and we have had a COLLECTIVE trauma. It may even be that we are still in the midst of experiencing collective trauma. (I think it is hard to tell for sure.)

While trauma has incredible impact on bodies, minds, and souls, it is important to pay attention as well to resiliency factors. Because the impact of trauma is CHANGED by the presence of resilience. Things like: supportive friends, ways to engage with community, people to look up to, a sense of purpose, feeling valued, a sense of competency, opportunities for play. In my reading on trauma and resilience I’ve been struck by how UTTERLY IMPERATIVE mirroring is.

Mirroring are ways that people consciously or subconsciously reflect or “mirror” the emotions and feelings and aspirations of another. This has the impact of validating, accepting, and showing love for that person. (Generally when it comes to anger or outbursts mirroring is less useful, but naming emotions can still help a lot.)2 Mirroring gets a lot of attention in terms of parenting, but let’s be real for a moment: for the adults in the room, a lot of life is about self-parenting ourselves and supporting others in their capacity to do the same. We have have emotions, feelings, aspirations and needs, and sometimes we all need some help in accepting them and finding them valid. Sometimes we can do it ourselves (regulating!) sometimes we do it best with others (co-regulating!) and most of the time its a mix.

Mirroring and regulating feel central to these Biblical passages about delivery from trauma, salvation after trauma, restoration to a full and abundant life. In Isaiah God names the ways the community feels. It is heard and acknowledged. It isn’t dismissed. God is even named as “God who sees.” The ways the community has experienced the exile are spoken by GOD. The hope doesn’t come out of the abstract, it meets the people where they are.

In the Psalm first we hear the distress of the one who is struggling and then we hear the ways God responds. Perhaps you need to hear this too, so keeping in mind the traumas of the past 3 years or so, see how it feels to hear this as God’s response to the struggles you’ve lived through:

Then the earth shuddered and quaked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and were shaken because of her anger.

Smoke went up from her mouth;

burning coals blazed forth from her.

She spread out the heavens, and descended;

thick darkness was under her feet.

She mounted up on a cherub and flew;

she soared upon the wings of the wind.

She made darkness her veil around her,

her canopy dark waters and thick clouds.

She reached down from on high, she took me;

she drew me out of the multitude of water.

She delivered from from my strong enemy,

and from those who hate me;

for they were too mighty for me.

Wow!

Well, I feel less alone, and less frightened by my finitude with God responding like THAT! (Also, I rather like that the “enemies” aren’t attacked, rather the Psalmist is simply placed out of their reach.)

The Psalmist brings fear and heartache, and FEELS God mirroring, responding, helping, empowering, and bringing them to safety. The whole earth shakes and God starts the process of rebuilding their life after the trauma.

In Isaiah, too, the trauma is acknowledged in the mirroring, and other healing starts too. There is dreaming, hoping, reframing, renaming, reconnecting. Trauma happens in human lives, individually and collectively, but trauma isn’t the last word. God doesn’t give up on us when we’re struggling, God sees and hears, mirrors and responds, and helps us find the skills to regulate. God works to bring us to safe places. God delights in us, EVEN when we are broken by the trauma of our lives.

We don’t have to be healed, or whole, or trauma free to be loved. God doesn’t expect that of us. God sees and hears, mirrors and responds, loves and hopes. Trauma doesn’t have the final word, love and hope do. That is, God does. Amen

1 https://resolutioncounselling.ca/resolution-articles/nature-impacts-trauma/

2Adapted from https://www.enlivenminds.org/parental-mirroring/

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 22, 2023

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January 15, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Foolish and Wise" based on Isaiah 52:1-10 and 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Again and again I find myself at the website for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and reading over the principles of Rev. Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence. Every time I read them, I learn. Every time I read them I notice again how deeply rooted Rev. Dr. King was in following Jesus, and in the wisdom of other traditions that also teach nonviolence.

This week, the principle that jumped out was number 2: Nonviolence Seeks to Win Friendship and Understanding.

The outcome of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation1

It is always worth reviewing the idea of the Beloved Community, central as it is to Rev. Dr. King’s thinking. The Commission on Religion and Race wrote about this for us, “Philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce first conceived the Beloved Community concept; later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr popularized it during the Civil Rights Movement. Rev. Dr. King envisioned that the Beloved Community to be a global movement where the agape love of God would be the driving force to redemption and reconciliation and a place where all people can share in the abundance of wealth in the world. In the Beloved Community, all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and dehumanization are eradicated and countered by a more inclusive, interdependent existence of people who live in non-violent harmony with one another.”2

That is, the Beloved Community is formed from the truths of our 1 Corinthians passage. The ways to move from systems of power-over, oppression, and hierarchy don’t tend to come from those who hold the power, engage in the oppression, and maintain the hierarchy. Rather, the wisdom to see how things work, why things don’t work, and what could be better tends to come from those disempowered, oppressed, and on the bottom of a hierarchy. The ones lowborn, “foolish” in the ways of the world, insignificant, weak. They’re the ones most likely to listen to God, to respond to God’s urgings, to find new ways.

The nonviolent social movement of Rev. Dr. King, Ghandi, and Jesus are most notable to me, in that they sought to eliminate oppression with LOVE. They did not seek to eliminate the oppressors, only the oppression. They wanted to CHANGE relationships, not stop them. They saw that there is real power in community, in connection, in solidarity, and in peace. World changing power, and they all used it. Not power over, but power with.

There is the vision of the kindom, or the Beloved Community. The way of God in the world is not in power over, but power with. It is in humanizing ALL. It is in sharing abundant resources. It is in togetherness.

This, I think, is also the real meaning of the salvation discussed in Isaiah. The historical idea was of return, hope, freedom, and connection. And, when it is looked at carefully, it is clear that God is at work to move towards peace – towards wholistic well-being of all and each, towards joy – for all, towards comfort, towards freedom from oppression.

God’s dreams get spoken a little differently in each time and place, but in Isaiah and Paul, Jesus and Ghandi, Rev. Dr. King hopefully in each of us, they resonate with the same underlying melodies, hopes, and passions. God’s passion is for ALL to be WELL, together.

As you may remember, Rev. Dr. King talked about the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism as “forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle.”3 About poverty, he said, “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty … The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.”4

Heavens. It is even less “new” now than when he said it. The existence of poverty within our nation is a choice our nation has made about it’s values, a choice that the Bible CLEARLY disagrees with. We could house everyone, and we could do it for LESS money than it costs us NOT to house everyone, but we choose not to. We could feed everyone, and the impact on our society as a whole would be profound, but we choose not to. We could provide affordable, excellent healthcare for everyone, once again at lower costs than our current system, but we choose not to.

As Ms. Bryce Covert summarized in an NYT opinion piece entitled “There is a Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things,” this summer,

“In a seminal 2001 paper, the economists Alberto Alesina, Edward Glaeser and Bruce Sacerdote tried to answer this very question: Why doesn’t this country have a welfare system that looks like the ones in European countries, progressively taxing those with the most wealth to redistribute resources to those with the least? Economic differences, they concluded, don’t explain it. But they did find that “racial fragmentation” has played a “major role” in keeping us from these policies in a way it hasn’t elsewhere. They also found that while Europeans see the poor as members of their own group who are merely unfortunate, Americans see them as lazy “others.” American voters are less likely to demand that their leaders pass policies that help the least well-off. “Racial animosity in the U.S. makes redistribution to the poor, who are disproportionately Black, unappealing to many voters,” they concluded.5

That is, our choices to allow people to struggle in poverty are inter-related with racism. Like Rev. Dr. King said.

The way I see it, at the center of all the evils and violence is the dehumanization of others. Which means that every SINGLE movement toward compassion is a movement away from violence, away from evil, towards the beloved community. Compassion MATTERS, for each of us, for all of us, and for the world we want to make. For the world we are making with God.

I subscribe to a newsletter from Emily Nagoski, who with her sister wrote “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” which I would put on a required reading list for humans if I had the power to make such a thing. Last week she entitled her email newsletter, “Burnout: You don’t have to Wait for the Revolution to Feel Better.”6

Her words were profound to me, and so I’m going to share them with you. She says that there are solutions to burnout, and they are neither the revolution nor self care. BUT RATHER, compassion. Speaking of society as a body, she says:

We help the body learn not to treat parts of itself as the enemy.

Just because a cell in our social body is different from us doesn’t make it “foreign” or a threat; its difference means that it plays a role in our social body that we ourselves cannot play, and so we must protect it, because our own wellbeing within this social body depends on every different cell sustaining its wellbeing. We can’t soothe the inflammation of the social body by attacking any part of it.

No, the cure for burnout can’t be some fantasy of revolution, nor is it the finger-trap of self-care. It is simply care; it is all of us turning toward each other with kindness and compassion. When we see each other’s exhaustion and overwhelm, we offer support without judgment. When we notice our own sense of inadequacy, we allow others to witness it and love us anyway. The “cure” is each of us declining to let the forces of racist, sexist, capitalist oppression stop us from loving the hell out of one other, come what may.

…

And if you’re worried I’m saying, “Don’t try to change the system; let’s just be nice to each other while the world burns,” I invite you to think bigger. Think outside the boring dynamics of Force A acting against Force B and so Force B retaliates with overwhelming power. Imagine instead Force B transforms into a cloud, saturating Force A with peace until it deliquesces and releases us into the natural, soft flow of being human.

Audre Lorde says: community built on honoring our differences. She calls us to “recognize difference as a crucial strength.” She says,

“Without community, there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression. But community does not mean shedding our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.”

The cure is not “self-care.” The cure is simply care — all of us, caring for each other, by honoring our differences and loving one another because of them.

That’s it, dear ones. That’s how we do God’s work, how we build the kindom, how we live the Beloved Community, how we follow Jesus, how we continue the work of Rev. Dr. King. We love the hell out of each other, we simply care, we honor our differences and love one another. May God help us do it! Amen

1 https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/

2General Commission on Religion and Race. https://www.r2hub.org/library/what-is-beloved-community

3 https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/

4Ibid.

5 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/opinion/racism-paid-leave-child-care.html

6 https://emilynagoski.substack.com/p/burnout-you-dont-have-to-wait-for?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=287493&post_id=95085447&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

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January 8, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Radical Experience of Acceptance” based on Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12

I have a very clear recollection of the first time I paid attention to the words of Bobby McFerrin’s arrangement of the 23rd Psalm. I’d heard it before, but I hadn’t LISTENED before. There was a church choir concert in Hollywood, the church I interned at was hosting, and one of the choirs sang it.

I was in seminary. I was reasonably familiar with the 23rd Psalm. I had expectations of what words I would hear. And then what I did hear was: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need. She makes me lie down in green meadows Beside the still waters, She will lead”1 All my breath left me, and I found tears rolling down my cheeks.

I went to a progressive seminary. I’d been led by intentional and caring clergy for years. I knew, and used inclusive language for God. I’d heard it used. I knew that the Holy Spirit was feminine in Greek. I knew God wasn’t male. I knew I was made in the image of God.

And.

And in that moment in a new and profound way, I felt included as a child of God. This overly common imagery of God as a shepherd translated from a distinctly male image with male pronouns to a distinctly female image with female pronouns mattered to me, to the deepest parts of my being. This is related, I think, to music touching a different part of our beings than logic and rational though. When that choir sang “she makes me lie down in green pastures” I felt safe and welcome, cared for and most significantly of all, I FELT the reality that I could be a reflection of God as a woman. To hear the metaphor of God as female in that song healed me a little bit. EVEN THOUGH I’d already “known” all of that.

Probably because there is a difference between knowing (head) and knowing (body and spirit).

As I read these epiphany scriptures this week I found myself cringing a little bit at the repetition of “daughter.” It felt like too much. I wanted to soften it, take it back, make it quieter. It felt like maybe it would exclude those who aren’t female.

But, I read the textual notes, and Dr. Gafney wrote in them, “Isaiah 60 speaks to a female entity, Zion, Jerusalem, frequently styled as God’s daughter; each “you” and “your” is explicitly feminine and singular, rhythmic and repetitive in Hebrew. I have added “daughter” each place this occurs for the English speaker-reader-hearer.”2 So, it is truly there, and what is odd is to hear it explicitly in English, “Arise, daughter; shine, daughter; for your light has come, daughter, and the glory of the Holy One has risen upon you, daughter.” (Isaiah 60:1)3

So, instead of softening the language, I’ve sat with it. What I’veheard is that when God reveals God’s self to us (“epiphany” which is the name of the Sunday we’re celebrating) it often has to do with a radical experience of acceptance – and quite often a radical experience of acceptance when we were expecting rejection.

This is where we are gifted with a lot of wonderful power as a church. We are the people who can use they/them pronouns for God, and let people who are non-binary that we see God in them and them in God. What a gift to be able to give!

I have often reflected with awe at the impact of this church on those who were raised in it. In the process of preparing celebrations of life for church members, I get to know their families, and I am often struck by how this church has gifted the world with men who are free to be tender and compassionate and women who are free to be strong and clear, and visa versa, and more so. This has been for a long time a place where gendered expectations are put away and space is made for the fullness of God’s gifts in each person to emerge. What an incredible legacy this church has!

I have heard stories from many of you about your process of finding your way here, and the radical experience of acceptance that kept you here. One story involves sitting in a car in the parking lot and wondering if this church would really have enough love for the one waiting to enter. (You did.) One story involves looking for a long time for a church that could welcome two people with very different needs, and the powerful relief that came when it was offered. You did that too. A lot of stories involve a positive experience of faith in childhood, a developing sense of scientific knowledge and logic, and the wonder of finding a place where faith and knowledge can be held together in peace. Many stories involve a yearning for a community, and a struggle to find one who knows God well enough to know how big God’s love is. (This actually saddens me. I wish every church knew the expansive and epic extent of God’s love.)

Thanks be to God, that for many people, this is a place of epiphanies. This is a place where God reveals God’s self. This is a place where people experience radical acceptance, and that changes EVERYTHING.

Arise, daughter; shine, daughter; for your light has come, daughter, and the glory of the Holy One has risen upon you, daughter.

AND

Arise, son; shine, son; for your light has come, son, and the glory of the Holy One has risen upon you, son.

AND

Arise, child-of-mine; shine, child-of-mine for your light has come, child-of-mine, and the glory of the Holy One has risen upon you, child-of-mine.

God speaks to all of you, to all of us.

It strikes me as sort of funny that this story from Matthew is the one that gets called the story of the Epiphany. Of all of the revelations of God in the scriptures, this doesn’t seem like the most notable. Most of the story is about the sages from the East talking to Herod, which I’m quite confident was NOT a strong God-moment. I will give it to them though, the story is courageous. Asking the King of Judea about the one born TO BE King of Judea is not usually a good choice. But, it is the one presented here.

The story says that they had a God-filled experience in following the star, an even stronger one in meeting “the child with Mary his mother” and an additional one in a dream that warned them about Herod. So there ARE three epiphanies in this story, but what is the Bible if not stories of the revelations of God’s love?

It seems to me there are some profound reflective questions gifted to us by these texts:

When have you had a radical experience of acceptance? What was it like? Why did you need it? Is it share-able?
When can you/we offer radical experiences of acceptance? Where is it needed? How can we do it?

I’m encouraged to note that it isn’t always a heavy lift to do this work. Hearing a beautiful song can be a radical experience of acceptance. Seeing the progress pride flag in out hallway has been for many a radical experience of acceptance. Using a variety of pronouns for God and God’s people can be a radical experience of acceptance. Making space for someone to be sad or mad can be a radical experience of acceptance. The reminder that it can be little things that offer radical experiences of acceptance lightens the load a little bit.

Because I believe we are called to radically accept, and love, and celebrate God’s gifts in all of God’s people. We are called BY our epiphanies to be people who offer space FOR epiphanies. We are ourselves radically loved by God, and we are able to offer God’s abundant love to others.

Thanks be to God! Amen

1 Lyrics here: https://genius.com/Bobby-mcferrin-the-23rd-psalm-dedicated-to-my-mother-lyrics, has a link to recording too.

2 Wilda C. Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021), 35.

3 Dr. Gafney’s translation, page 33.

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 8, 2023

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“Joy” based on Luke 1:46-56

December 11, 2022
by Sara Baron

Some of you weren’t here last
week, and quite likely most of you have been through enough this week
that the nuances of last week’s sermon are no longer front and
center. (Most? All? It’s OK.)

Last week we lit the Advent
Candle of Love, and we looked at the example of Elizabeth’s loving
words to her young cousin Mary. Mary was engaged, pregnant, and
vulnerable. Her pregnancy looked like proof of infidelity,
everything in her life was likely in an uproar, and her cousin
greeted her with words that changed everything. They celebrated
Mary, they exclaimed over Mary, they reframed Mary’s shame, and
painted her instead as a a person committed to God’s faithful acts in
the world – even at high cost. The words showed that Elizabeth saw
her, loved her, and helped her let go of her fear and her shame.

Truth be told though, the Luke
reading cut off right in the middle of the scene last week.
Elizabeth greets Mary – and it was extraordinary. BUT, the next
lines are Mary’s response to Elizabeth, and they make a lot of sense
to read together as one conversation.

After Elizabeth wiped away
Mary’s shame and made room for love, Mary responded with her words of
praise for God, ones that are so famous they’re named. Mary’s words
are “The Magnificat,” called so for the opening line about
magnifying the Holy One.

Now, most scholars agree that
Luke 1 is a creation of the early Christian community, maybe even of
the author of Luke itself. What I find really remarkable about that
is that Luke has so much compassion for these women, and such a
strong sense of what they would be going through. It gives me hope
that there were strong women’s voices within the Christian community
at that time, that the equalitarian nature of the Way of Jesus
continued long enough that women’s voices were actually being heard
in the ways these stories were told. Or, maybe, Luke was simply an
outstandingly compassionate human, able to see beyond the bounds of
his own education and gender. Either option is really lovely, and
I’m really grateful for the ways these stories are told, so that
there is INCREDIBLE truth and wisdom in them. Luke and/or his
community, and his later editors cared about Mary and Elizabeth, not
just as wombs, but as humans with their own struggles and needs.

Thanks be to God for these
stories.

And, truly, thanks be to God for
the ones who thought enough about Mary to find words for this hymn of
praise to God that fit who she was as a person and a parent. They
are profound words.

They are also PROFOUNDLY joyful.
Mary is praising God, for being God. Mary knows her place in the
world, and it is not the top. She is awed that God would work with
her to do important things, and SEES herself as being “lowly” and
lifted up by God’s work with her. I’m also stuck that while the
first few verses name Mary’s awe at God’s work in her life, she moves
on quickly to simply her delight in God’s own self. She celebrates
God’s loving-kindness, constancy, strength, willingness to turn
upside down the powers and privileges of the world, to lift up the
lowly, to fill up the hungry, to offer care to those in need of it.

Mary’s song is a song of joy for
a God who feels close at hand in her life and in history, the past,
the present, and the future, the one who brings hope, the one who
makes it possible for her to face her own daunting circumstances.
She expresses JOY at being a partner with God in God’s work EVEN
THOUGH the circumstances were so far from ideal for her.

And I believe her words of
praise for God were a response to the words Elizabeth spoke to her.
As Elizabeth wiped away her shame and made space for Mary to
experience love, Mary’s life-light was able to emerge fully, and that
came out as PURE JOY.

It is hard (really really hard)
to fight through our shame to get to joy. But when the shame goes,
OH the things that can emerge!

I’ve been thinking a lot about
shame in the past few weeks, largely because focusing on the story of
Mary doesn’t give me any other option. Mary fits into a very long
cultural tradition that values female virginity, seeks to control
female sexuality, and generally treats women as if their only value
is in their capacity to provide womb access to the man who owns that
access. If she fails – because she is raped, because the couple is
infertile, or for any other reason, SHE is shamed.

This is one of the few times
when I don’t think the Biblical needs much contextual help. History
has changed, but not so much that we can’t follow that one.

This is why I find Elizabeth’s
words so powerful, when she compares Mary to other Biblical heroines
who were in compromising situations but were not defined by them.

I also have been thinking about
what shame looks like today. Obviously there is still an
over-abundance of shame around sex and sexuality. But we like to
make things complicated in our society today – we have a tendency
to make standards so contradictory and impossible that everyone can
find something to be ashamed about. There is shame for having too
much sex, or too little, for being too focused on it, or not enough,
for being sexually interested in the “wrong” person (or type, or
gender), or for being asexual, … for example.

And, there is shame for those
who have been assaulted, harassed, raped, or abused. This is some of
the strongest shame, and some of the most problematic.

For anyone holding sexual shame,
I invite you to this powerful reality: you are like Mary, the
mother of Jesus.

And I pray there are people like
Elizabeth in your life who will help you reframe what you’ve
experienced and find your own power in your story. So you can find
your joy!

In our society, though, sexual
shame is just one component. It seems to me that there are almost as
many sources of shame as there are ways we categorize each other.
Existing within capitalism, we have a societal narrative that poverty
is shameful. But, truthfully, we also know there is a shame in being
wealthy too – that to gain too much is to take it from others, to
have too much is to refuse to use it to help others. And, somehow,
people in the middle can feel shame BOTH WAYS.

Which is how a lot of things
work. Our society acts as if there is shame in struggling in school,
but also shames those who do too well in school, and it manages to
fall both ways on those in the middle. Or there is a story that
there is shame in different bodies – heights, weights, abilities,
dis-abilities, colors, hair types, noses.

And, let’s also mention the
shame around relationship status, where one might experience shame
for being single, or marrying too quickly, or being divorced, or
remarrying at the wrong time, or having kids or not having kids or
staying home with kids or not staying home with kids or having too
many kids or too few kids or kids the wrong way or at the wrong time.

Our society is ripe with ways to
shame us, to tell us we’re wrong, to make us squirm. It manages to
land on everyone, although not at all equally, and causes untold
damage, most of which is invisible.

I suspect the shame is aimed at
controlling us and getting us to buy things, a population overcome
with its own failures is less likely to notice how it can seek
justice for each other, and is less able to connect and build
relationships that transform lives. And, we’re all a part of it too
– as we are overwhelmed by our sense of shame, we tend to try to
lower the anxiety of it all by naming what we see in other and…
passing it along. Ick.

But, this story of Elizabeth and
Mary is a profound example of the powers that can TRANSFORM shame.
Elizabeth saw Mary’s shame, referenced it, reframed it, and
celebrated Mary instead of shaming her. That’ll change things.

Last week I called us to be like
Elizabeth, wiping way shame to make space for God’s gifts of love
(and this week I’ll add joy.) But one of you, in response, reminded
me that before we can be like Elizabeth wiping away shame, we need to
face our shame like Mary did.

And now, I need to go back and
admit that Elizabeth had her fair share of shame too. At the
beginning of Luke she was a childless woman, which would have been
understood to be a “useless” woman. (Blech.) But something had
happened in Elizabeth where her shame become an opening for
compassion instead of a form of embitterment.

What a beautiful thing that is,
when our wounds, our shame, our struggles can open our hearts, break
open our compassion, make space in us for the struggles and shames of
others. That thing that can happen is a form of grace. It is an act
of God.

It is an act of God that comes
in many forms – sometimes the grace within us starts in awe and
wonder, sometimes from another person offering it to us, sometimes
directly from God, sometimes from the wisdom of a stranger – maybe
through a book or podcast, sometimes even I think it just comes from
within when the strength of our spirit rejects the narrative of our
brokenness.

Even though shame gets passed
around this world, and magnified, SO TOO does grace. I believe that
this is a place where good theology is a source of grace, and thus of
hope, love, and joy. So let me say some things as a person of faith,
a religious leader, a pastor, a person who seeks to follow Jesus’s
ways of knowing God:

God is not ashamed of you.
Shame is not a tool God uses.
God is willing and able to work
with you to eliminate your shame.
God loves you and even LIKES
you, and has compassion for you.
Grace is a tool God uses.
God is willing and able to work
with you to show you the power of grace in the world and in your
life.
Your body, your desires, your
gender, your abilities, your lack of abilities, your strength, your
weakness, your relationship status, your work status, your income,
and your resume are NOT what make you worthy or unworthy.
You are INHERENTLY worthy.
You are a beloved child of God.
God wants wonderful things for
you.
God wants wonderful things for
everyone.
You can’t exempt yourself from
God’s desire for goodness for you.

And finally

You aren’t going to shame
yourself into being better.

So, dear ones, to the extent
that it is in your capacity to do so, let go of your shame, and then
let God help you let go of it some more. Let grace in.

Because when you do, you may
find that your song of JOY is even more profound than Mary’s! Thanks
be to God! Amen

December 11, 2022

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

Uncategorized

“Rejoice” based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Philippians 4:4-9

November 20, 2022
by Sara Baron

I think gratitude is one of the
most important parts of our spiritual lives. I’ve experienced this,
AND I’ve seen the research, and I love it when both are true.

The challenge is, I’m not sure
what I have to say about gratitude that is new, and I’m rather afraid
of being trite. This tends to be my problem when I encounter
scriptures I rather agree with, rather than ones I can have a good
debate with. But, I’ve found time and time again that a conversation
with scriptures can take me to unexpected places, so let’s see where
they lead today.

We can start with Philippians.
With that lovely repetition to “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I
will say, Rejoice.” (4:4) I am always moved by the people I meet
who are living out this commandment. The ones attending to the good
God is doing, and speaking it with joy. The ones focused on joy, and
rejoicing, and celebrating God’s goodness.

I also love the next line,
inviting people to “let your gentleness be known.” That sounds
like the highest of callings, to be known by gentleness. I have
known some people to whom that description would apply, and it is a
gift simply to be in their presence. Their very self-hood changes
the world around them for the better.

But then we get to “don’t
worry, trust God.” And while it is very good advice, it is very
difficult to apply. Especially because the world isn’t fair. But
then again, those who I’ve known who live this are often the ones
with the least amount of worldly goods, who say they trust God
because God has provided. So, maybe I don’t actually know that much
about this, and I simply have a lot to learn.

Then, focus on the good. This
is the one that meets me where I am right now. This is the one
that calls for my attention, my reflection, my sharing. So, here we
are and here we are going to stay. In Paul’s words, “Finally,
beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if
there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.” (4:8)

Maybe it is because of the work
I do, but it often occurs to me that the resource I spend the most
time managing is my attention. This isn’t just about if I give my
attention to the good stuff or the hard stuff.

The daily questions start with:
Do I respond first to this email, or that one? To email or phone
calls? To texts or facebook messenger? Do I end this conversation
because I have a meeting, or do I make space for this because it is
more important? When do I know I’ve found the right poem, or hymn,
or sermon example and it is time to move on, or maybe it isn’t good
enough yet and I could keep searching. Which book should I read
next? Do I have time to read? Should I go visiting? Which
committee asked me which thing to follow up on? Which one of those
things needs the most immediate response? Which one of those things
will take the most preparation? Is reading the news important so I
know what is going on, or is it a distraction to what is REALLY going
on with God and God’s people? Do all of the staff have what they
need from me to do their jobs well? Is it OK to just sit and be with
God before I try to balance any of these things?

(If you found that list
overwhelming, please note that it applies ONLY to my work life, and
doesn’t even touch on other parts of my life. Also, if you found
that overwhelming, I’d appreciate knowing how you make such
decisions, cause it sounds like you may have wisdom I need.)

That last question about
sitting with God and just being before I try any of the things,
that’s the key one for me. I’ve known since my early twenties
that I’m at my best when I get quiet time with God, but I’ve
struggled to allow myself to have the thing I need when other things
also clamor for my time and attention. Someone recently asked me,
“if I already know what I need in order to be the best pastor and
person I can be, why am I not doing it?” And in the question, I
was thus reminded that connecting with God, and being centered, is
the thing that makes all the rest of what I do valuable, and it is in
EVERYONE’S best interest for me to nurture my connection with the
Holy and to have space to hear my own wisdom (even when the wisdom is
hidden under my fears.)

So, I’ve been doing it. Not
perfectly, but waaaayyyy more. Sometimes I still feel guilty.
Because I could be using my time and attention for so many other
things! But, I’m pushing through the guilt.

And the results have been
interesting. Mostly because my capacity to see the beauty of the
world, the wonder of people, and the mysterious goodness at hand has
changed. Being quiet in the morning (most mornings), softens me. It
slows me down. And it makes things easier. I’m get hurt less
easily. I have empathy closer at hand. I can see details and the
big picture, at the same time, with more ease. I’m just less
overwhelmed.

But the best part is being able
to see wonder again. I’m awed by text messages from people, because
they so often contain wisdom and I’m able to be thankful. The other
day – please don’t judge – I saw a dust particle floating in a
stream of sunshine and it was beautiful, and I had ENTIRELY forgotten
that dust can be awe inspiring and beautiful. I’m a little more
flexible (don’t expect immediate miracles people), which makes
everything flow easier in … well, parenting, and being a partner,
and in being a pastor.

For me, the key to being able to
bring my attention to “whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything
worthy of praise” isn’t in just trying harder to focus on
the good things. For me, at least, the way to bring my attention to
the good is to attend to what I need to be whole, and then the rest
flows.

Now, some of you are great at
letting yourselves have the things you need. I commend you, and
apologize for this mostly useless sermon as far as you are concerned.
However, for a wide range of reasons (including “capitalism”) a
whole lot of us aren’t great at letting ourselves have what we need.
Sometimes there are external factors that make it hard (or
impossible.) But often, there are internal ones. I can tell you
that I believe God wants you to have your needs met. I can tell you
that if you stop fighting what you need as too much, or too selfish,
or unreasonable, or … whatever you tell yourself… that other
goodness flows from letting yourself get what you need.

Now, I continue to believe I’m
likely not alone in needing quiet time with God, but I also think
that my need is a little different than other people’s. This week I
was given the gift of a GREAT descriptor of this church as a group of
people who love kinetic prayer. That is, many of us around here NEED
to give back. Some people NEED to hear gorgeous music and just feel
the wonder of it in their bodies. Some people NEED to move in nature
or their souls start to shrivel up. Some people NEED connections
with others, regularly. (I think we all do, but more so for
extroverts.) Some people NEED to create. I can’t tell you what you
need, but I suspect you already know.

The key is to let God help you
whittle away at the internal barriers to allowing yourself to
prioritize what you need.

So, a quick hot take on
Deuteronomy. This is the story of God giving the people what they
need. Land to work, food to eat, homes to settle into. And the
people give back to God of what they have. That is, they RECIEVE the
gifts of God, and they give back from what they have RECIEVED.

Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe it’s
just me, and if so I’m sorry for wasting your time but I’m really
happy for you. That is, maybe I’m the only one still struggling to
receive God’s good gifts, and let myself have what I need. If not
though. If you still struggle too, may this be a moment of
assurance. We have to receive what God gives us before we do
anything else with it. It is hard, TRUST ME I KNOW, but God wants
goodness for you.

Please don’t stand in God’s way.

And when you let God’s good
gifts fill you up, the gratitude comes on its own. And it is
amazing. May you see it too. Amen

November 20, 2022

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

Uncategorized

“God’s Responses to Despair” based on Isaiah 65:17-25 and…

November 13, 2022
by Sara Baron

The people that walked in darkness have seen a light….
but it is discolored and a little murky.

I think that’s a fair
summary of what the “return” from the exile was actually like.
When Jerusalem was defeated in 587/586 BCE, the city gates were
ripped down, the Temple was destroyed, there was massive death and
destruction, and the remaining leaders, priests, and scribes were
force march to Babylon. The exile. During the time of the exile we
hear emerging stories of great pain and lament, AND prophecies of
great hope in and care of God. The exile and the period right after
it are also the time when the Hebrew Bible started to be written
down.

In 538 BCE those in exile were freed to return home if
they wished. Thank God! And many did, thank God!

And when they came home, it was …. painful.

The Promised Land had been decimated. Those who
remained had been without protection, without resources, without
hope. Many, many had died. I’ve heard as high as 90% of the
population. Those who were alive had now lived in fear and scarcity
for generations. And those who returned weren’t much better off,
except that they’d had hope of return which now turned out to seem to
be misplaced.

I’m going to just throw out here that if we are now in
the “end of the pandemic” it sure doesn’t look like I hoped it
would in March or April of 2020, and I have lots and lots of empathy
for those who “came home from exile” only to find out that home
had changed in the meantime.

In the midst of the struggles of return, and the
conflicts that inevitably emerged between those who’d been left
behind and those who’d been force-ably removed – and even more so
between their children and grandchildren, come the words of our
Hebrew Bible text. In context, Isaiah 65 is still struggling to
answer why things are so bad, and the first part of the chapter
claims that the issue is that people aren’t being faithful to God and
God’s dreams. But this later part of the chapter is focused on the
blessings God has in store for those who do follow the ways of God.
We may like to think of this as the fruits of living out God’s
visions for a just and compassionate society.

And, its pretty great. We’ve talked recently enough
about the part of Jeremiah that urged the exiles to build houses and
live in them, plant gardens and eat from them. This Isaiah passage
reiterates those ideals, but does so BACK AT HOME. Now the command
is not to give up on Jerusalem, but to have hope it can be rebuilt.

I think this might be a good time to remind you that
Jerusalem WAS rebuilt. The Temple was rebuilt. The city walls were
rebuilt. The city gates were rebuilt. The traditions of the people
were rebuilt. The hope in God was rebuilt. It didn’t look the same
as it had before, but it was rebuilt.

In fact, that’s a story we don’t focus on enough, and
I’ve been in initial conversations with people about restarting Bible
Study in January, and I’ve now convinced myself we should read the
book of Ezra, the story of rebuilding Jerusalem. (If you’d like to
study with us, the current question is: what time on Sundays shall we
do it, and I’d LOVE to hear your opinion.)

But now I’m ahead of myself.

In our passage today, we hear of the “new heaven and
new earth” God is preparing. To summarize quickly, I’m turning to
Walter Brueggemann¹:

“Yahweh is moving beyond what is troubling and
unresolved to what is wondrously new and life giving. There is a
steady push towards newness in the Isaiah tradition that intends to
override the despair of Israel, especially the despair of exile.”
246

There are thee facets of new city:

“The first quality of the new city, stated negative
then positively, is a stability and order that guarantees long life.
As long as the city is both a practitioner and victim of violence and
brutality, no life is safe and no one will last very long.” (247)
“There will be a reordering of resources so that all may luxuriate
in life as the creator intends.” (248)

“The second facet of the reconstituted city is
economic stability.” Which implies stable society, lack of
invasion, fertility of land, fair taxes, fair laws. “Yahweh will be
the guarantor of a viable, community-sustaining economy.” “No
one is threatened, no one is at risk. No one is in jeopardy because
the new city has policies, practice, and protective structures that
guarantee what must have been envisioned as an egalitarian
possibility.” (248)

“The third provision…concerns an agenda of
well-being for children in the new city.” (249) “These three
accents on guaranteed long life, economic stability, and life under
blessing all attest to a city in which the power for life given by
the creator is fully available and operates in concrete ways. The
poem is a vision, but it is a vision looking to a public practice.”
(249)

That is, Isaiah 65 is written to COUNTERACT despair with
dreaming. It is a vision of hope, but one that would be worth
perusing. Despite the language of new heaven and new earth, this is a
pretty earth-centric vision. It centers on civic stability, economic
sustainability, and God’s tangible presence among those who are
alive. It starts with peace, includes distribution of goods, and
looks towards the well-being of all.

That seems like it would have landed well among the
people in despair, and changed what was possible for them.

Which has me wondering what God is dreaming of here.
How God is counteracting despair here and now. What sort of vision
God is planting among us for our community, state, nation, world
today?

Because I have noticed that God doesn’t give up when
disaster strikes, God just keeps on working towards goodness. This
also strikes me as the narrative of Luke. I think to hear our Luke
passage well requires remembering that Luke was likely written after
the destruction of the SECOND Temple, which coincided with the
destruction of Jerusalem and a horrifying number of her people. It
was a time of great despair, a moment of transformation in our faith
history and the history of our Jewish siblings in faith, a time when
everything changed and new forms of faith practice had to be created.
The transition from the Temple to the Synagogue happened at that
time, the end of the Sadducees and beginning of the leadership of the
Pharisees, etc. Our tradition was so new I can’t point to the same
types changes, but I can see how seismic this experience was.

The passage we read today was written by the early
Christian community, presumably trying to make sense of the
destruction and trying to reassure each other about what Jesus would
say to them in the midst of it. It is probably true that the Holy
Spirit helped them find these words of comfort, but it is probably
ALSO true that Jesus didn’t say this stuff in his life time.

The early Christian imagination produced the hope it
needed to face its reality without shattering into despair.

Which is to say that both of our passages are written to
people in despair, to try to keep them together and focused on hope.
They just sound really different.

Maybe that’s because people need different things at
different times.

Maybe it is because the despair they faced was
different.

Or because the perceived opponent acted differently.

Or the community was struggling in different ways.

But truly there are different ways to respond to despair
with hope, and the Bible is full of them, and we have two solid
examples before us today.

And, I heard a third recently. Bishop Karen Oliveto
shared a quote that I keep thinking about, “I rarely feel such
clear signs of fatigue and anxiety on days that are filled with
travel, meetings and assignments—only when I stop to rest. Without
sabbath, I would be dangerously ignorant of the true condition of my
soul.” ― Andy Crouch

I think in the midst of the struggles I hear today, this
is the one that could make the fastest difference. Right now we have
a lack of sabbath, lack of rest, lack of spaciousness for joy – and
lack of time to face despair. But this is change-able. We can
prioritize sabbath. We can make space for rest. We can sort through
despair instead of running from it. We can make space for joy and
not just distractions. We can even make space for relationships and
not just be ships passing in the night.

Over the past almost 3 years we’ve been exiled. I can’t
tell if we’ve really returned, but if we have, it is still hard.
We’ve seen a lot of destruction and more than our fair share of
death. But based on the Bible we can be sure that God is speaking a
word of hope and a depth of vision into this moment.

Maybe this seems too simple, but I think it is abundant:
take time OFF. Be spacious with your soul. Let your to-do lists
go. Follow what brings you joy. Let your emotions BE, without
judgment. Let God have time to dream in you.

Because as Psalm 30 says, “Weeping may linger for the
night, but joy comes with the morning.” God isn’t done with us,
not yet. May God’s dreams be met with our spaciousness to hear them!
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).

November 13, 2022

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