\nKevin
\nand I have three cats, which is one more than we think we should
\nhave. \u00a0However, all three are very sweet, and unusually
\nhuman-centric. \u00a0It is difficult to walk in our house without a cat
\nunderfoot, and unusual to sit without a cat making space for
\nthemselves on one’s lap. \u00a0I cannot tell you how many sermons I’ve
\nwritten with a cat sitting on a wrist, although before you worry too
\nmuch, I’ve stopped allowing that out of fear of carpal tunnel. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Because
\nwe have three, sweet, human-centric cats, we experience a lot of
\npurring in our lives. \u00a0This is unconditionally a wonderful thing. \u00a0We
\nfall asleep to cat purrs. \u00a0We wake up to cat purrs. \u00a0Often, our cats
\nwill walk up to us, look at us, and start purring \u2013 expecting that
\nas soon as we see them, they will get petted. \u00a0(Yes, they are spoiled
\nrotten, we know.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It
\nis so easy, if you are noticing it, to hear a cat’s purr, or a
\nbrook’s gurgle, or the wind whispering in the trees as songs of
\npraise and contentedness to the God of Creation. \u00a0When listening to
\nthose sounds, it can feel like all is well in the world, and that as
\ncreation itself sings a love song to God, my soul is moved to join
\nin.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I
\nlove those moments when it feels like all is well in the world, and
\nthe majesty and wonder of God is visible and celebrated in creation.
\nI love it just as much as when I see unexpected grace and kindness
\nbetween people \u2013 which also seems like the majesty and wonderful
\nGod being visible and celebrated in creation.<\/p>\n
Those
\nsorts of moments used to come to me a lot. \u00a0After all, I have been
\nblessed to spend a lot of time in the beauty of creation and with
\nwonderful people who show grace in shockingly beautiful ways.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One
\nof the great honors of being a pastor is being allowed into the
\nvulnerable parts of people’s lives. \u00a0In moments of transition and
\nidentity shifting, to be welcomed in feels like a miracle. \u00a0I am
\nalways grateful when people are willing to let me be with them when
\nthings are at their hardest, and God feels particularly close when
\npeople are in their deepest needs. \u00a0God’s care meets people’s
\ntenderness, and I get to see it happen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over
\nthe course of years, cumulative patterns within people’s hardest
\ntimes have formed for me. \u00a0Some of the patterns are beautiful and
\nstriking \u2013 from God’s grace, to people’s capacities for strength,
\nto the ways we can build up each other’s resilience. \u00a0However, some
\nof the patterns have also been heartbreaking. \u00a0I am able to see the
\nimpact of poverty on people’s lives, the prevalence of family
\nviolence, the profound lack of effective mental health care for the
\nmost vulnerable, the enormous number of traumas in our society, the
\ndepth of the impact of the -isms on individual and communal life, and
\nthe myriad of ways the church itself has harmed God’s beloveds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some
\nof you wish that I was more comforting in the pulpit, that I could
\nease the anxieties of life and lead you to a higher plane of praise.
\nDear ones, I do too. \u00a0I would love to ease your lives, \u00a0as well as to
\noffer you comfort and hope for the future. \u00a0Those are reasonable
\ndesires, particularly when the world feels so heavy. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nchallenge is that the world feels heavy to me too. \u00a0Further, the
\nbrokenness I see in the world and the impact it has on wonderful
\npeople’s lives feels like a broken promise to me. \u00a0I know that many
\npeople were raised to see the brokenness, in large part because they
\ndidn’t have a choice not to, but I thought the world MOSTLY worked
\nand only OCCASSIONALLY didn’t, and when it didn’t all we had to do
\nwas work together to fix it. \u00a0And I believed this for a very long
\ntime. \u00a0And still, today, I notice in myself that I’m shocked every
\ntime something I thought worked fine actually doesn’t. \u00a0While my
\nmental and spiritual analysis of the world is \u2013 I think \u2013 largely
\nclear-sighted and aware of power and privilege, I’m still emotionally
\ndisquieted with every new piece of information about avoidable harm
\nthat is done.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While
\nthis may be appropriate human development in one’s 30s (or, I fear,
\none’s 20s \u2013 I may be behind based on how lucky I’ve been), many of
\nyou are well beyond it. \u00a0You’ve seen the brokenness, made peace with
\nit, and are ready to focus on the good stuff again. \u00a0And you have
\nevery right to be impatient with me while I struggle to catch up with
\nyou. \u00a0In the model Marcus Borg suggests, I’m still working out
\ncritical thinking about how the world and God work, while many of you
\nare already fully in post-critical naivete (which is a WONDERFUL idea
\nand place to be), ready to make meaning out of life \u2013 however
\nbeautiful and broken it may be.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’m
\npushing myself to try to catch up, but I’m not sure the pushing will
\nwork. \u00a0I’m pretty sure my only option is to be where I am, and try to
\nhold in tension that other’s aren’t in the same place. \u00a0I do want you
\nto know that I hear you, and I’m trying. \u00a0I am also open to learning
\nfrom you, how you moved beyond being aghast at what is wrong and into
\na fuller connection to life as it is.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There
\nis one trick I’ve found, and I think it might be useful to others, so
\nI’m going to share it. \u00a0I’ve been taught to see anger as a USEFUL
\nthing. \u00a0This was not immediately obvious to me. \u00a0My prior
\nrelationship with anger had been one of strict avoidance (in myself
\nas well as with others). \u00a0The teachings of Nonviolent Communication
\nsay that anger is a red flag \u2013 not the bad kind- that lets us know
\nthat something we really value is being violated. \u00a0Thus, when we feel
\nanger, we can know that something we care about is being harmed, and
\nwe can stop and find out what it is that we value so deeply. \u00a0That
\ngives us two incredibly important gifts: \u00a0first, knowing what we
\nvalue is always important to know (although it isn’t always obvious
\nto us), and secondly that now we have a potential productive path
\nforward. \u00a0Anger itself is rarely productive, other than as a way to
\npoint out that something is deeply wrong. \u00a0However, once we know what
\nwe value, we are a big step closer to finding out how we might
\nrespond to that value and ask others to join us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So,
\nfor example, there is a lot of anger in this church right now. \u00a0The
\nwork being done to attempt to balance the budget has arisen great
\npassion. \u00a0Almost everyone is upset, most are angry, and many of you
\nwant to stay home and avoid the whole mess. \u00a0However, there have been
\nsome amazing insights from the anger, already, even though no
\nresolution is in sight. \u00a0We are able to see clearly that MANY, MANY
\npeople care deeply about this church and are willing to show up to
\ncare for it. \u00a0Similarly, people are willing to sit through long and
\nuncomfortable meetings out of their love for this church. \u00a0I’m hoping
\nthat some of that care and passion might be shared in stories (like
\nthe HW you got two weeks ago to share your faith stories with another
\nmember of this congregation, just in case you didn’t do it yet…).
\nOne of the things I’ve heard most consistently, under the anger and
\nunder fear, is that people want this church to survive and continue
\nto be a gift from God to its communities for the long run \u2013 and
\nthus there is strong motivation not to make decisions that might harm
\nthe church’s long term well-being. \u00a0That’s a value on this community
\nand its positive impact in the world. \u00a0Thanks be to God that so many
\npeople care so much about this church and its impact!! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Similarly,
\nI hear a lot of anger about the possibility of changing the way that
\nwe do some of our ministries, making it clear that the ministries we
\ndo are of value in people’s lives and are worth taking very
\nseriously. \u00a0I’ve also heard a passionate desire to be just in our
\ndecisions and to be good and fair employers, values that we advocate
\nfor in the world and want to enact in our lives together. \u00a0So, yeah,
\nthere is a lot of GOOD that anger is a clue for, and anger can be
\nmined for many valuable insights. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That
\nis not to say that an obvious way forward has emerged from those
\npassions or values. \u00a0To some degree, they conflict, and other
\nconstraints exist. \u00a0However, as long as everyone’s passion comes out
\nof a love for this community and a desire for it to be well, we have
\na better starting place to hear the possible ways forward.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For
\nme, all of this is really about the gratitude we are encouraged
\ntowards in the Epistle reading which tells us to \u201crejoice in the
\nLord always, again I will say: Rejoice\u201d and \u201cwhatever is true,
\nwhatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever
\nis pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and
\nif there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It
\nis easy to tell people to be grateful, and it is easy to show
\nevidence that gratitude is a good spiritual gift that leads to
\nimproved lives. \u00a0I suspect that we all agree on gratitude being good.
\n However, that doesn’t make it easy. \u00a0Sometimes to get to gratitude
\nwe need to work through anger and notice what is actually wonderful
\nand valuable underneath. \u00a0Sometimes we have to slow down and smell
\nthose proverbial roses. \u00a0Sometimes we just need a moment to savor a
\ncat’s purr. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I
\ndo think that there is a whole lot more worth celebrating in life and
\nin the world around us than we could name if we spent the rest of our
\nlives naming things. \u00a0And I think spending a significant amount of
\nour time working on noticing and appreciating those things is
\nworthwhile. Even better, it think anytime we are getting angry, we
\nhave a clue about something we really care about \u2013 something we are
\nalready grateful for. \u00a0So, however you get there, may you find the
\nways to \u201crejoice in the Lord, always\u201d because God IS good and
\ncreation has innumerable wonders for which we can give thanks. \u00a0May
\nwe do so. \u00a0Amen<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rev. Sara E. Baron November 24, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n