Weeping

October 5, 2025March 17, 2026
by Sara Baron

“Weeping” based on Lamentations1:1-6 and 3:19-26

World Communion Sunday connects us to Christians around the world. On this Sunday most people who attend worship in Mainline Protestant denominations, those who are Roman Catholics, and some others will all share at the communion table together. Our table is then much larger today than on any other day of the year. We move, just a little bit, towards the vision of unity in Christ with diversity.

But, pragmatically, it isn’t possible to conceive of the whole world all at once. So we pick one part of it, a part of the world our hearts lead us to, and we focus there. When we start the process of planning World Communion Sunday, our first question is “where in the world are our hearts leading us?” We remember our siblings in faith in that part of the world are eating at God’s table just like we are. Well, maybe. This year our hearts led us to Gaza, and I’m not sure how many people in Gaza are able to gather together in Christian worship, nor how people would be able to scrap together the symbolic elements of a feast that feeds God’s people. There is not enough food, and the people are not safe, so our connection with their table means that we notice their struggles and the fact that few tables – even- remain.

As a part of the United States, where anti-Semitism is rampant and far too often deadly, and where support for Palestinians is often heard as hatred of people who are Jewish, I feel a need to be abundantly clear: when I say “God’s people” I mean absolutely everyone. That includes people who are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, from any other faith tradition and those who don’t participate in any faith tradition. There is no place in my understanding of God for hatred or dehumanization of any person or people. To connect my heart with the people in Gaza does not imply that I do not care about any other people.

That being said, now I want to take face on the fact that worship today is really depressing. This is a sermon entitled “Weeping” and I took out our normal “Regathering Song” of “Halle, Halle, Halle” because it was too cheerful for today. It is possible that you were hoping for a more uplifting worship service. My premise in letting all the sadness and weeping hang out today is that we have a communal need to mourn. People have a right to live. Food access is a human right. Hospitals do sacred work. Homes should not be destroyed. War rarely brings peace. The realities of people in Gaza, especially for the past 2 years, are a reason to mourn.

The world is not as it should be, and so we lament.

We do not lament so we feel guilty about what has happened, nor do we lament to make ourselves feel worse. We lament because things have happened that should be mourned and the only way to face them is to mourn together. We mourn because we need to let the feelings out rather than hold them within us, festering.

We have a human need to mourn the things that aren’t right. It is the counterpart of the human need to express gratitude for the things are good and right. And, when possible, we should mourn and celebrate together because it moves the emotions through our bodies and makes space for the next thing. At the “Luke 10 Congregations” retreat last weekend we were told “Prepare, it is going to get worse” (all of it.) It was said, if we assume that it won’t, we’re always going to be horrified, overwhelmed and joyless. But, even when only horror is around, something else is possible. So we mourn and celebrate together. As we do that we learn again and again that our “smething better is possible and we can be a part of making it so.” (Liz Theoharis.) Mourning and celebrating are part of preparing.

That all being said, I have a poem to offer you as another piece of our communal lament.

Poem: My Son Throws a Blanket Over My Daughter1

by Mosab Abu Toha

November 30, 2023

At night, at home, we sit on the floor,

close to each other and

far from the windows and the red

lights of bombs. Our backs bang on the walls

whenever the house shakes.

We stare at each other’s face,

scared and yet happy that we were lucky,

that our lives were spared this time.

The walls wake up from their fitful sleep.

Flies gather around the only lit ceiling lamp

for warmth in the cold night,

cold except when missiles hit

and heat up houses and roads and trees,

scorching an adjacent neighborhood.

Every time we hear a bomb

falling from an F-16 or an F-35,

our lives panic. Our lives freeze

somewhere in-between, confused

where to head next:

to a graveyard, to a hospital,

or to a nightmare.

Our lives keep their shivering hands

on their wristwatch,

fingers ready to remove the batteries

if and when needed.

My four-year-old daughter, Yaffa,

in her pink dress, hears a bomb

explode. She breathes in deep,

covers her mouth with her dress’s

ruffles.

Yazzan, her five-and-a-half-year old brother,

grabs a blanket warmed by his sleepy body.

He lays the blanket on his sister.

You can hide now, he assures her.

As for me and my wife, Maram, we pray

that a magic blanket would hide all the houses

from the bombs and take us to somewhere safe.

—–

O Lord, hear our prayers. Amen

1 https://progressive.org/magazine/my-son-throws-a-blanket-over-my-daughter-toha-20231130/ accessed 10/2/25

October 5, 2025 – World Communion Sunday

The Great Thanksgiving

One: The Lord be with you.

Many: And also with you

One: Lift up your hearts

Many: We lift them up to the Lord

One: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

Many: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is a right and fitting thing to gather around Your table and mindfully extend its blessings to all people, but most especially to those in the devastated land of Palestine, where Jesus was born.

From the beginning of time You have called us to share hospitality with friends and with strangers. Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rebekah, Laban, Lydia, Phillip.. and countless others unnamed in scripture called and chosen to help your beloveds.

You are the One who called life into existence,

you are the one who lives and breathes in and through all people, always and everywhere.

You formed us in your image, and work with and through us moment by moment to feed the starving, to comfort the sick, to release the captive, to bring hope to the lost, and to protect the most vulnerable. You are always with us.

Because of all this, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Many: Holy, holy, holy One, God of Love and Light.

Heaven and Earth are filled with your glory! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is the one who comes in your name.

Hosanna In the Highest!

In the fullness of time You sent Jesus, the embodiment of Your love. He walked with Your people, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, eating with those dismissed and marginalized…and angering those in power.

On the night before he was murdered, Jesus took the bread, raised it, blessed and broke it, saying “Take and eat, this is my body, broken that it may be shared, shared so that you will be connected through me.”

After supper, he took the cup, raised it, blessed it and offered it to his friends saying, “Take and drink this is my life-blood, my love poured out for you and for many so that you know nothing will separate you from me.”

As his followers today, remembering his acts of love toward us, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

Many: Christ was birthed among us. Christ was killed among us. Christ lives among us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the body and spirit of Christ that we may be his hands and feet in this world.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world until your Kindom comes in completion and all the peoples of the world sit to eat together in peace.

Many: Amen

As we gather around this table, we remember the ones who came before, the frightened ones in an upper room, the ones on the way to Emmaus, and on the River Tiberius. We recall the ones who worshipped in catacombs, who hid in basements, bomb shelters, and rubble…as they gathered to share a meal like this one that strengthened bodies and minds. These tables where we gather to share the joy of being God’s beloveds, even in the midst of fear and sadness. These tables that are as much prayer as protest, where we remember Jesus – but also find the courage to stand up to oppressors and to re-member His Body with those who are dying from floods, famines, bombs, and blockades. Come and be fed.

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

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Untitled

October 1, 2023
by Sara Baron

“Blessed to be a Blessing” based on Psalm 67:1-5 and Genesis 12:1-4

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

“Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

These words in our traditional communion liturgy connect the Last Supper of Jesus to our communion table here today, to every communion table around the world today, to every communion table in history, to every communion table in the future, AND to every table we sit at to eat.

They extend even further. The extend to the tables that are empty of food, and to the people who lack tables, and those who have neither. The words connect as well to our siblings in faith around the world who are displaced from their homes – migrants, assylum seekers, and those who have been evicted. It can boggle the mind, the ways the Table of God connects us!

The words of Jesus, at the Last Supper as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels tell us to remember every time we eat and every time we drink. The communion liturgy just reminds us of that. Every time, we are to remember that we are God’s. Every time, we are to remember that’s God’s love is steadfast. Every time we are to remember that we are blessed by God to be a blessing for the whole world. Every time we are to remember that Jesus remembered God’s mighty acts of salvation – at the Passover – and added to them the reminders that we are capable of continuing his ministry as the living Body of Christ.

Every time we eat. Every time we drink.

We remember.

We’re called back to our purpose: we’ve been sent out to share love.

We’ve been sent out to continue the work of Jesus, of calling people back to God, and God’s vision of abundance for everyone. To the work of community, of relationship, of listening, of learning, of love.

And today we remember those who have plenty and those who have nothing. Those who are at peace and those who can’t find any peace. Those who are afraid and those who are filled with joy. God’s table is for all.

In Genesis Abraham is blessed by God, or so our stories go. Today’s little passage makes sense of it. His blessing is that he gets to be a blessing for the world. It isn’t for him. Blessings aren’t meant for just one, they’re for sharing. Eventually it came to be known that the ancient Israelites, too, were blessed. They too were blessed to be a blessing for the whole world.

The World Communion Table is, at first, just the communion table set and celebrated in many churches on the same day. But it is so much more than that too. It breaks down the barriers in our faith, it connects us, and it reminds us that we, too, are blessed to be a blessing. Not to hold on to anything God gives us, but to share it widely.

And so, today, we unite our table with many others around the world, and then we extend our table from the one in this room to the ones in the Fellowship Hall. And hopefully at supper time we remember that the tables have stretched just a little bit further to our own homes. And tomorrow at breakfast we can think about some loved ones we’ve shared meals with and pray for them and their tables. We’ll try to understand the immensity of God’s love, and the multitude of ways God seeks to feed God’s people. So that when we sit to eat, we remember.

And we’re grateful.

To be blessed.

To be blessings.

To be connected.

And now we move towards God’s table, to start this journey again. Thanks be to God who uses food and drink to remind us of what we need to know most. 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

October 1, 2023

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“Bread of Life” based on Psalm 37:1-9, Habakkuk 1:1-4,…

October 2, 2022
by Sara Baron

Sometimes I hear people say that they’re angry with God,
but are afraid to let themselves feel it, or express it. To those
people, I often suggest Biblical reading. The Bible has no problem
being angry with God nor expressing it. Habakkuh does a great job
with this.

How long, O God!

How long shall I cry for help without getting help?

How long will I tell you of the violence I’m living
without you intervening?

Why help me see what’s wrong, without helping me change
it?

Why is trouble all I see?

Why is destruction all around me?

Why is there never justice?

Why are your laws ignored?

Why is everything getting WORSE?

I’m listening God.

I’m standing here, watching and listening, to hear your
response,

waiting for you to acknowledge my complaints.

Right? Excellent work Habakkuk.

And, way to speak the universal even though you were
speaking to a specific context. It feels like Habakkuh holds today’s
paper in his hands as he writes!

Now, as much as I like the truth of his words, and as
much as I appreciate him finding words when I can’t always do it, the
great part for me in this reading is that God DOES respond.

God says:

Write down my vision.

Write it so big someone running by will be able to read
it.

I still have a vision for justice.

I’m still working for good.

My visions are not a lie.

If it seems too slow, be patient.

Justice is coming.

It will not always be true that injustice wins, or that
those who do harm prosper.

Keep your eyes on my vision.

That’s what we’re doing here. We see, we acknowledge,
we name the injustices of the world. We bemoan them. We advocate
for change, and we are required to see what’s wrong in order to
change it. BUT we also have to see what could be in order to change
it. And we don’t stay with the injustice forever. We keep our focus
on God’s visions.

We keep our focus on the transformational power of love.

We keep our focus on God’s dreams of a just world.

We keep our focus on hope of what is possible.

We don’t believe the injustices of the world are the
final answer. We believe God wins, and that love wins.

And that’s the table we gather at together. The one of
hope, the one of EVERYONE, the one that brings us together to work
for God’s vision. People in different countries, people in different
denominations, people speaking different languages, people with
different bodies in , people with different theological
understandings of sacrament. United by vision. Being fed by the
bread of life so we can be for the world a gift of love. Receiving
the gifts of God’s love so we can share it. Remembering hope, so we
can live it. Expanding the table, because that’s an imperative part
of the vision itself.

We receive the bread of life.

We are the bread of life.

Thanks be to God. Amen

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

October 2, 2022

Sermons

“Communion with Migrants and Refugees” based on Exodus 17:1-7…

October 6, 2019February 11, 2020
by Sara Baron

Our faith says, a wandering
Aramean was our ancestor – that is, Abraham and Sarah, displaced
people from Syria, are our shared ancestors.

Our faith says our people were
enslaved, oppressed, and hopeless until God acted to free them.

Our people were desert nomads
for generations, looking for a home but not finding one.

Our people, when they found a
home in the so-called “Promised Land” struggled with those who
already lived there, and centuries (ok, millennia) of unrest
followed.

Our faith says, that a poor,
foreign widow came to live in Israel, and became the great
grandmother of the King of Israel.

When our people had lived in the
land for centuries, had built a temple, had established a government,
and had found peace and stability – a foreign empire defeated them
in battle, destroyed the temple, killed the king’s descendants, broke
open the defensive walls, and took the leaders away as exiles.

Our leaders in exile were told
to “work for the good of the city they were in” because it was
going to take a while.

Our faith says that generations
later, God worked to bring the exiles home, and guided the people to
rebuilt, and restore, and it was hard and there were disagreements.

Other nations fought for power
and control over the land of the Israelites, empires grew and empires
fell, tributes were paid and governments were seized. The people
sought freedom, and sometimes they got it.

Eventually the Romans came to
power, and 30 or so years later, Jesus was born.

Matthew says that Jesus’s family
fled to Egypt to protect him from death, and resettled in Nazareth
after they returned.

Nazarenes knew destruction and
its power, but Rome didn’t yet know the power of the stories of the
Jews, who knew their God to be one who overcame oppression time and
time again.

Jesus’ ministry was most often
with people who were poor and had been displaced from their families’
lands. His was a ministry in motion – homeless and dependent on
the hospitality of strangers. He sent his disciples off with nothing
but the clothes on their back and trust in God.

Our faith says that our
ancestors have known displacement in all of its forms. Our faith is
the faith of slaves, of immigrants, of refugees – people who have
had nothing but hope in God, who has proven faithful time and time
again. The fact that God is with and for displaced people is
particularly important as our world has more displaced people than
ever.¹

Today in 2019 there are known to
be 70.8 million people²
who have forcibly displaced from their homes, and that number is
likely lower than reality. Of those, this year the USA says it will
welcome at most 30,000 (and likely only half that).³
In this country we hear horror stories about people trying to enter
our country – but we often don’t hear about how small the numbers
are compared to the global crisis.

In the USA, the stories we hear
are of concentration camps at our Southern Border, children being
torn from their parents, and atrocious conditions for people who are
simply trying to survive after being displaced from their own homes
and countries. These situations are worthy of our strongest
condemnation and protest. Tthe situation in our own southern border
is AN ATROCITY and, because the USA is welcoming so few of the
displaced people in the world we must also look beyond our country to
see the extend of the problems.

For me, step one in wrapping my
head around the experiences of people who are displaced is simply an
act of empathy. What would it be like? While I have spent most of
my life in the United States, there are two exceptions: 2 months in
Ecuador when I was a teenager and 3 months in England when I was a
college student. My brain simply can’t wrap itself around what it
would be like to have to leave this country and never come back. I
know from my time in Ecuador how HARD it is to be in a place where my
brain struggles with the language, and how disconcerting it is to
have intelligent thoughts in my head and no way to communicate them
so that other people know they exist. I know how much I can yearn
for familiar things – food I know, using water directing from the
tap, the plants and terrain that feels familiar. But I don’t know
what it is like to leave those things behind and NEVER be able to
come home again. Nor can I wrap my head around the atrocities being
committed at our Southern Border to people who have already been
displaced, who have already had to show resilience, who have left
their homes and their communities, their people and their dreams in
order to (hopefully) live– only to be dehumanized again by our
government.

While things feels stable, to
me, here, the world is noticeably destabilized. There are twice as
many displaced persons as there were FIVE years ago, and the trend is
only upward. Half of displaced people are children. Less than 3% of
those who have been forced to leave their countries are able to
return there.⁴
It is important to stretch our imaginations, our empathy, and our
LISTENING to those who are refugees, because from their stories we
can learn how to be allies to those who are struggling.

The book of Exodus, in our
reading today, gives us a great example of the challenges of being
displaced. The people, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, are
in the midst of their wanderings in the desert before they settle
into the Promised Land. The people are displaced, all that is
familiar has been stripped from their lives, and even though the
familiar was awful, it was the familiar and the unfamiliar is
overwhelming. The people were whining, and grumbling, and
threatening Moses. God took mercy on them and their fear, and
provided for them when they needed affirmation that they would
survive.

It is a powerful reminder that
it is hard to leave home EVEN when home is AWFUL, and that even when
where you are going is GOOD, it is still new and different. Worse,
for many displaced people, a new home isn’t on the horizon yet.

Our faith tradition, the one
that KNOWS the reality of displacement, also knows that we can forget
or ignore the pain of those around us. In 1 Corinthians, Paul names
that at the early communion table some were eating and drinking too
much while others had nothing at all, and he says that the table is
to be SHARED. Those who have plenty share with those who have
nothing. This is the earliest teaching we have in Christianity about
communion.

There are those in this
community who have plenty, and there are those who don’t have enough.
Together, though, we have this table. It isn’t something we tend to
pay a lot of attention to, but a table, in a shared community of
faith, is something many of God’s displaced people no longer have
access to. For us, today, this table is extended, and we seek to
share it with God’s people who are displaced around the world,
including at our own southern border. We know God’s table is big
enough for all people, and we ask God to extend our hearts until they
are grow as large as God’s table. May the blessings of God’s table
be with all who need them, and may we who receive of these gifts be
mindful of those who can’t access them today. Amen

1 https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/10-infographics-that-show-the-insane-scale-of-the-global-displacement-crisis/

2 https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html

3 https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-u-s-refugee-resettlement/

4 https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2018/

October 6, 2019

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

Sermons

“Come, Weary People, and Rest” based on 1 Corinthians 11:23-26…

October 7, 2018February 15, 2020
by Sara Baron

I adore World Communion Sunday. It fills my head with images of tables, laden with the communion elements, the tables change shape, size, structure, and composition as they are set around the world. I love the idea that people in so many varied parts of the Body of Christ share together today – Roman Catholics and many different Orthodox traditions, along with the mainline Protestant denominations and many who are unaffiliated. I love the diversity people with varieties of of ages, races, ethnicities, languages, sexual orientations, gender identities, and abilities that will fill the tables. I just love that God’s table is found in so many forms, feeding so many people.

I love that we get to be a part of it, and that it extends our table into places we’ve never even been. Honestly, I get misty-eyed as well as mystical about this. The communion table has an inherent timelessness about it, when we remember one meal from 2000 years ago, but it also connects us to the many remembrances of that meal from the intervening 2000 years, and are reminded that our meals at God’s table become a part of this long history that will be in the shared tradition long after our lives have passed.

World Communion takes us around the world, and backwards and forwards in time, connecting us as the Body of Christ, feeding us so we can be healed and whole for the work of building the kindom of God.

With all that being said, my brain isn’t super good at generic. I can’t manage to feel connected to all the peoples of the world all at once, much less all the people who ever have or ever will live. So, I have encourage us to pick one part of the world, to truly hear and connect to the people of that place, as a way of expanding outward from our table into the world. Therefore, please indulge me in a history lesson. I promise it does connect, but it isn’t short.

This year, we’re intentionally expanding our table to Puerto Rico, a part of the United States, with a Methodist Church that became autonomous from the United Methodist Church in 1992. Until that point, the then United Methodists in Puerto Rico were considered part of the Northeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. Our sibling in Christ relationship with Christians in Puerto Rico is a tighter bond than with much of the rest of the world, and yet, it feels entirely deserving of our attention.

To get my head and heart aligned with Puerto Rico, I did some basic research on Puerto Rico’s history, and I’d like to share it with you. Because, until we know a person or a people’s story, we can’t really be in solidarity with them.

It is believed that Puerto Rico was first settled about 1000 years ago by people who called themselves Taíno and called the island Borikén.^¹ There were about 30,000 people living on the island when Christopher Columbus landed on it in 1493. He claimed it for Spain, named it San Juan Bautista, and left 2 days later, ^²thus making it one of the world’s oldest colonies. The colonization was passive for 15 years, but in 1508 the Spanish started building a military base and began forced labor of the indigenous people. By the 1530 census, only 1148 Taíno people still lived.^³

In order to maintain the island as a military and economic force, the Spaniards intentionally brought Africans to the Island as slaves starting in 1513, and slavery continued for 360 years until 1873.^⁴ The population was rebuilt by immigration from Spain and forced migration of people from other West Indies islands.

In 1898 the United States annexed the colony from Spain. The island’s economy was dominated by a considerable wealth-generating plantation system, cultivating sugarcane, tobacco, and coffee.”^⁵ The US mainland mostly wanted it for a military base, but it took the economic benefits as well. Because of pressure exerted by Puerto Ricans on the island, they became US citizens in 1917, and Puerto Rico became a U.S. commonwealth in 1952, although many argue it is still functionally a colony.^⁶ Debates are still prominent over whether Puerto Ricans want to maintain its status quo, become a state, or become independent.

There was a large increase in manufacturing in the late 1970s and 1980s because of a intention, effective, tax loophole. Then, in 1996 Congress, without representation from Puerto Rico and against their desire, acted to close the loophole. Rolling Stone Magazine summarizes,

“The pharmaceutical companies fled. The economy tanked. Tax revenues collapsed. In May 2006, much of the government, including all the public schools, was temporarily shut down. But rather than cut spending to make up for lost tax revenue, the Puerto Rican government went the other way. It started borrowing money. Two years later, when the global financial crisis hit, it borrowed even more. Broke and desperate, it turned to high-risk capital appreciation bonds and other financial instruments with astronomical interest rates. A 2016 report on Puerto Rico’s debt describes these loans as “the municipal version of a payday loan…. Instead of jump-starting the economy, it pushed the island deeper into joblessness, recession and bankruptcy. In 2015, then-Gov. Alejandro García Padilla warned that the debt was not payable.’… A consequence of this decade-long financial decline was little investment in infrastructure — the roads, highways, bridges, water and sewage systems, and electric grid were all more or less abandoned.”^⁷

The attempt to pull Puerto Rico out of debt felt to many like a return to deeper colonization. The U.S. Congress created the economic collapse, and Congress rejected repeated requests for economic help, choosing the economic interests of Puerto Rico’s creditors over the human interests of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico themselves. As a result, last year before the hurricane, Puerto Rico had 3.3 million citizens, the poverty rate was 43.5% and more than 10 percent of the workforce was unemployed.^⁸Then came Hurricane Maria. National Geographic describes the status of the island after the 155 mile per hour winds had come:

“The result was the longest major power outage in U.S. history, and many communities on the island were left without running water for months. Toilets couldn’t flush; there was no water for showers, baths, or washing clothes. People had to rely on bottled water, but supplies were limited. Useless electric stoves had to be replaced with propane ones. Without refrigeration, food rotted and vital medicines spoiled. Only those with gas-powered generators could ward off darkness after dusk—for a few brief hours. Forget about air conditioners to relieve the sweltering heat. All the modern conveniences we take for granted were left behind.”^⁹

Rolling Stone summarizes the impact in a different vein:

“Hurricane Maria was the third-costliest storm in U.S. history. It damaged or destroyed more than 300,000 homes, left 3 million people without power and caused about $100 billion in damage. … It’s also powerful and tragic evidence that climate change will hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. … Three months after the storm, 1.5 million people were still without power. It took nearly a year for electricity to be restored on the island, making it the second-largest blackout in history. It contributed to thousands of deaths because of everything from failed air-conditioning systems to hospitals that couldn’t power dialysis machines.“^¹⁰

The Puerto Rican government has now adopted the figure of 2,975 dead based on recent studies that have calculated not only the number that died during the immediate devastation of the hurricane but also those who died in the 6 months that followed, the “excess” deaths above those over the same period during the previous year. This method of calculation accounts for the people who died as a result of the hurricane’s devastation of the island and its services over and above those who died of natural causes.^¹¹

The devastation isn’t over yet. The failing infrastructure from before the storm didn’t just make it hard to fix it. FEMA rules says you can’t use its funds to build better than what you had before! Thus most of the rebuilding that can be done with relief funds will not improve matters and will not be able to create infrastructure that will be sustainable against the next storms. In the midst of this, all those small-scale coffee farmers in rural areas have been forced to abandon their land entirely, knowing that no help is going to come.

I believe it is to Puerto Rico, and others in the world whose circumstances are similar, that Jesus’ words in the gospel are aimed. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The burden has been SO heavy for SO long, and the end is not in sight. People continue to walk by faith, not by sight. People rebuild by faith, and not by sight. The people of God in Puerto Rico need a lightened load, and a good, long rest.

It may be that some of us might be able to lighten that load. Some of us may still have energy to call or write to our representatives to ask them to do all that they can to help the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico. Some of us may be able to donate to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, better known as UMCOR, which continues to be present in Puerto Rico assisting in the long-term rebuilding efforts. UMCOR doesn’t have restrictions on rebuilding better! We can pray for the people of Puerto Rico. We can reach out to the Puerto Ricans we know – those who live on the Island and those who live on the mainland – and check to see how they and their loved ones are doing. Some are feeling lost or forgotten. There may also be creative ways that we can help lighten the burden of our siblings in Christ in Puerto Rico.

Today, our table extends from Schenectady, NY to Puerto Rico – to San Juan and to the rural farmlands. Our table is one of feeding the hungry, of uplifting souls, of giving thanks even in brokenness, of unity in the Body of Christ. May this holy day be a day of connection, a day of rest, a day of laying down heavy burdens, and a day of shared yokes. Amen

1Russell Schimmer, Yale University Genocide Studies Program, “Puerto Rico”https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/colonial-genocides-project/puerto-rico, accessed 10/4/18

2Schimmer.

3Schimmer

4Schimmer

5Schimmer

6Smithsonian “Puerto Rico – History and Heritage”https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/puerto-rico-history-and-heritage-13990189/written November 6, 2007, accessed 10/6/18.

7Jeff Goodell “The Perfect Storm: How Climate Change and Wall Street Almost Killed Puerto Rico” in Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-damage-722570/ published on 9/12/18 at 12:17PM ET, accessed on 10/6/18,

8Goodell.

9David Brindly, “Months After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Still Struggling” in National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/03/puerto-rico-after-hurricane-maria-dispatches/ published in the July 2018 issue, updated 8/30/18 with new death toll. Accessed 10/6/18.

10Goodell.

11 BBC News “Puerto Rico increases Hurricane Maria death toll to 2,975”https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45338080 published August 29, 2018. Accessed 10/6/18.

–

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

October 7, 2018

Sermons

“Enough” based on Exodus 17:1-7 and Philippians 2:1-5

October 1, 2017February 15, 2020
by Sara Baron

Not
to give the answer away or anything, but I think both of these
passages try to prod us toward trust; trust in God and trust in each
other. Exodus tells of God giving the people what they need,
Philippians instructs people to take care of each other (which is a
way of ensuring everyone’s needs are met, if it is done well). When
people are paying attention to each other, and to the ones who are
most vulnerable, God’s abundant creation is able to care for all. I
suspect that trusting in God requires two things of us: trusting in
each other, and being trust worthy for each other. Let’s take a
deeper look.

The
Exodus story is about the people of God being quarrelsome, whiny, and
unfaithful. Or, at least, it seems to be. I’ve never quite
understood this passage though, because they’re said by the text
itself to be quarrelsome, whiny, and unfaithful BECAUSE they want
access to water, and are afraid that they are about to die of thirst.
Just as a reminder, they are wandering around a desert. In fact, in
the Bible, the words desert and wilderness are functionally
interchangeable, and they both indicate that the land is not capable
of sustaining human life without God’s help.

The
people are in the desert without water, and they ask for water, and
that’s unfaithful? I don’t follow. It doesn’t seem unfaithful that
the people in Puerto Rico are asking for water, water is necessary
for life, and they don’t have water. They need more than water, but
they desperately need water. Just like the people in the desert. In
both cases, asking for water doesn’t make them whiny, or quarrelsome.
It makes them alive, and wanting to stay alive! Being without water
is dangerous to life! Articulating that it is a problem and asking
for help finding a solution is reasonable, rational, and wise.

Regarding
Exodus, I don’t think the people misbehave nearly as much as Moses
does. The people notice there isn’t water and ask for water. Now,
if we want to defend Moses we can say that they don’t ask terribly
politely (“Give us water to drink.”) but within the story itself
Moses has preformed a heck of a lot of miracles already and has
claimed to be leading the people. They don’t know why he hasn’t
dealt with this already. If the leader isn’t taking care of the
people’s needs, the people need not be POLITE in demanding what they
need to live.

Moses
responds poorly. He takes their request personally. He asks why
they are quarreling with him and why they are testing God. Clearly
we can now see whose perspective is dominating the interpretation of
the story! (Maybe this is why the tradition has said Moses wrote
this book… 😉 ) His angry response and accusation quiet the people
momentarily, but they are still thirsty. They still need water, for
life. So they can’t be silenced. The second time they ask for water
with significantly more drama, perhaps hoping that it will elicit a
different response. They are desperate, indicating that dying of
dehydration in the desert is worse than slavery in Egypt.

Moses,
again, mishears them. He turns to God, but not to advocate for the
people, to advocate for himself! He prays, crying out that he
doesn’t know how to handle the people and they’re so angry with him
he is afraid for his life. #MissingThePoint The story says that God
does NOT miss the point though, and responds with a way to provide
water. Moses does as he’s told, and the people get water. However,
the narrative ends with Moses naming the place “Quarreling” and
“Testing” as his interpretation of how the people behaved.

According
to Deuteronomy, the entire story of the people wandering in the
desert is said to be so that they can learn to depend on God, and not
on their own capacities. Deuteronomy, in fact, spends a lot of time
worrying that once the people enter the land and have milk and honey
in abundance they will think this is because of their hard work,
rather than God’s good grace. Thus, the Exodus narratives are meant
to teach that God can be depended on.

This
is both an imperative lesson for all people of faith, and a dangerous
one. God can be depended on, this I believe. Creation is abundant,
and there is enough food, water, shelter, and love for everyone.
However, I haven’t found human societies to be as dependable as God,
and while there is enough in the world, there is not enough if it is
hoarded, or wasted. Abundant clean water is being destroyed by
fracking, sources of it are drying up with global climate change, and
various companies are seeking to glean profit from limiting people’s
water access except through their sales. Analysis I’ve read about
the humanitarian crisis in Syria that has created a refugee crisis
around the world suggests that it started with years of drought that
kept people from being able to grow crops and sustain themselves.
Furthermore, our sisters, brothers, and siblings in Puerto Rico and
other Caribbean islands don’t have clean water, and that reality is
life threatening.

God
created enough, but that doesn’t mean people have access to enough.
Simply claiming that God will take care of the vulnerable and thirsty
doesn’t do them any good if the mechanisms of human society prevent
them from having access to life giving water.

And
yet God created enough, and works with us and through us to
connect resources to people in need. In this church we seek to
connect food, water, coffee, soap, toilet paper, diapers, hygiene
products, home furnishings, flood buckets, hygiene kits, beauty,
music, and knowledge to those who need them! (To name a few.) We
are part of the work of redistributing so that God’s abundance can be
known. We are seeking to live out the instructions in Philippians 2.

Did
any of the computer geeks notice that the Philippians text is
basically written in if/then code? Just me? That’s OK. IF there is
any encouragement in Christ (implication here seems to be that anyone
hearing this would say “YES! Of course there is), IF there is any
consolation in love (almost everyone would agree with this), IF there
is any sharing in the Spirit, IF you have experienced any compassion
and sympathy (so most people by this time are yearning to say yes),
THEN “make my joy complete.” OK, how?

With
connection. Use your lives to take care of each other. Let go of
ambition that is only about you and work towards helping others. Be
together in love. Actually, it says a lot more, but I think the
church and the world both abuse the idea of “unity” as a means of
controlling the vulnerable: that is they claim that those who call
for justice for all are disturbing the peace and should be silenced
in the name of unity. This makes me squirm and I want to to skip
over the “same mind, same love” part. However, I think more
nuance is called for! (#whenindoubtmorenuance)

In
an article I read this week on NPR, they
talked about the form of Russian influence on US public opinion
saying, “Moscow’s
intelligence agencies not only used secret cyberattacks to steal and
leak information, as the U.S. intelligence community concluded. The
Russians also openly bought ads on Facebook aimed at amplifying the
most controversial issues in American political life — including
abortion, guns and LGBT issues — and used fake accounts to spread
disinformation and even organize real-life
rallies.”¹

While
I have many strong opinions, most certainly including on the issues
that Russia is trying to use our society, I’m really struck by this
story. Another country thinks that the best way to destabilize our
society and gain influence is by keeping us fighting with each other.
It is likely a great strategy, it leads to deep divisions, and could
even lead to the destruction of our country. When issues divide us,
we can end up not seeing or hearing each other as people at all! So,
while I don’t much like the instruction to be of the “same mind”
(ok, fine, I still hate it), I think perhaps it needs to be taken
very seriously. We must work to humanize each other, even across
differences.

To
return to the stories, God created and created with abundance. When
we trust in each other and are trustworthy for each other, there is
enough. On this World Communion Sunday, where we are reminded that
God’s table extends around our globe, may we savor the abundance of
creation and seek to be people of trust in that “enough-ness.”
Amen

1 Philip
Ewing “As
Scrutiny Of Social Networks Grows, Influence Attacks Continue In
Real Time” published September
28, 2017 at 5:01AM ET
http://www.npr.org/2017/09/28/554024047/as-scrutiny-of-social-networks-grows-influence-attacks-continue-in-real-time

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

October 1, 2017