{"id":4506,"date":"2022-10-02T16:50:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T16:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/10\/02\/bread-of-life-based-on-psalm-371-9-habakkuk\/"},"modified":"2022-10-02T16:50:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T16:50:56","slug":"bread-of-life-based-on-psalm-371-9-habakkuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/10\/02\/bread-of-life-based-on-psalm-371-9-habakkuk\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBread of Life\u201d based on\tPsalm 37:1-9, Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Sometimes I hear people say that they’re angry with God,
\nbut are afraid to let themselves feel it, or express it. \u00a0To those
\npeople, I often suggest Biblical reading. \u00a0The Bible has no problem
\nbeing angry with God nor expressing it. \u00a0Habakkuh does a great job
\nwith this.<\/p>\n

\n

\nHow long, O God! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\nHow long shall I cry for help without getting help?<\/p>\n

\nHow long will I tell you of the violence I’m living
\nwithout you intervening?<\/p>\n

\nWhy help me see what’s wrong, without helping me change
\nit?<\/p>\n

\nWhy is trouble all I see?<\/p>\n

\nWhy is destruction all around me?<\/p>\n

\nWhy is there never justice?<\/p>\n

\nWhy are your laws ignored?<\/p>\n

\nWhy is everything getting WORSE?<\/p>\n

\nI’m listening God.<\/p>\n

\nI’m standing here, watching and listening, to hear your
\nresponse,<\/p>\n

\nwaiting for you to acknowledge my complaints.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nRight? \u00a0Excellent work Habakkuk.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, way to speak the universal even though you were
\nspeaking to a specific context. \u00a0It feels like Habakkuh holds today’s
\npaper in his hands as he writes!<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nNow, as much as I like the truth of his words, and as
\nmuch as I appreciate him finding words when I can’t always do it, the
\ngreat part for me in this reading is that God DOES respond.<\/p>\n

\nGod says:<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tWrite down my vision.<\/p>\n

\n\tWrite it so big someone running by will be able to read
\nit.<\/p>\n

\n\tI still have a vision for justice.<\/p>\n

\n\tI’m still working for good.<\/p>\n

\n\tMy visions are not a lie.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf it seems too slow, be patient.<\/p>\n

\n\tJustice is coming.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt will not always be true that injustice wins, or that
\nthose who do harm prosper.<\/p>\n

\n\tKeep your eyes on my vision.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat’s what we’re doing here. \u00a0We see, we acknowledge,
\nwe name the injustices of the world. \u00a0We bemoan them. \u00a0We advocate
\nfor change, and we are required to see what’s wrong in order to
\nchange it. \u00a0BUT we also have to see what could be in order to change
\nit. \u00a0And we don’t stay with the injustice forever. \u00a0We keep our focus
\non God’s visions.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWe keep our focus on the transformational power of love.<\/p>\n

\nWe keep our focus on God’s dreams of a just world.<\/p>\n

\nWe keep our focus on hope of what is possible.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWe don’t believe the injustices of the world are the
\nfinal answer. \u00a0We believe God wins, and that love wins.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd that’s the table we gather at together. \u00a0The one of
\nhope, the one of EVERYONE, the one that brings us together to work
\nfor God’s vision. \u00a0People in different countries, people in different
\ndenominations, people speaking different languages, people with
\ndifferent bodies in , people with different theological
\nunderstandings of sacrament. \u00a0United by vision. \u00a0Being fed by the
\nbread of life so we can be for the world a gift of love. \u00a0Receiving
\nthe gifts of God’s love so we can share it. \u00a0Remembering hope, so we
\ncan live it. \u00a0Expanding the table, because that’s an imperative part
\nof the vision itself.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWe receive the bread of life.<\/p>\n

\nWe are the bread of life.<\/p>\n

\n
Thanks be to God. Amen <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

October 2, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I hear people say that they’re angry with God, but are afraid to let themselves feel it, or express … Continue reading \u201cBread of Life\u201d based on\tPsalm 37:1-9, Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,38,28,39,1559,1554,1265,1557,1558,1561,1555,56,1556,57,1560,124],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-bread-that-is-hard-to-break","tag-communion-preaching","tag-first-umc-schenectady","tag-habakkuk","tag-how-do-you-say-that","tag-justice-is-coming","tag-liturgy-also-preached","tag-schenectady","tag-short-sermon","tag-sorry-about-the-umc","tag-vision-in-big-letters","tag-world-communion-sunday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}