#can't believe my highly specific vision has been created

[firstumcschenectady]

“Interconnected” based on James 1:17-27

Welcome to the book of James. It is one of my favorites, despite the fact that it takes away one of my best preaching tools. That is, I usually spend a lot of time explaining context and making sense of a scripture in the time and place it was written. But James is almost a form of wisdom literature. It is universal. So, we're able to spend our time on the ideas in the book directly.

James is written to the followers of Jesus in the diaspora – that is, those who lived outside of the Holy Land. The ones who had been DISPERSED from the land of their ancestors in faith. This feels relevant right now too. I don't know any church members at FUMC Schenectady who would claim modern Palestine or Israel as their native land, but I think that all of us are displaced from the “land” we once knew, and have not yet settled into the “land” we'll live in eventually. The Pandemic has displaced us all (although not all the same amount.)

In this opening chapter of the book of James, we are urged to LIVE our faith. James wants faith in ACTION. He urges people not to just listen to preachers ;) but to LIVE their faith, and he gets rather specific about it. James believes that people who are followers of Jesus should be acting out different values than the world's.

The crux of the advice from today's passage is “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.” For James, this is integral in what it means to be “religious” - right up there with caring about God's beloveds who the world doesn't value (“widows and orphans.”)

As far as I can figure it out, the work of Christians is to build the kindom of God. The kindom, sometimes called the beloved community, is God's vision for the world. We will know it is here when the power of love overcomes the love of power; when the abundant resources of the world are used for the good of all people; when kin-ship connections cross all boundaries; when the poorest and most vulnerable people have enough to survive and thrive; when no one has to teach anyone about God because God is known by all. The kindom is God's long term plan for us, and our work to get there happens in two broad ways: first, by creating Christian communities where we practice kin-dom values and treat each other like we're already there and second by working with God to share love, to seek mercy, and advocate for justice so that the world is healed.

One of the parts of kindom building that can be hard sometimes is that it requires seeing clearly what the world is like now. We have to do this so we can hold it in tension with how God would have the world be in the kindom, but often the aching pain of the world as it is can be hard to let ourselves see clearly. For instance, we can't work towards a world without rape and violence unless we admit that we live in a world with rape and violence, and that there are barriers to changing it. So, we seek to see clearly. We seek to see how things are AND how God wants them to be.

Now, I don't want to shock you or anything, but the United States is a highly individualistic society. (The kindom is not.) We in the US have proven to the world how terribly individualism works – time and time again. Including in our responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

You might think that if you were looking at this pandemic with clear eyes that you would see that none of us can be well unless all of us are well- that we are collectively only as healthy as the least healthy among us – that every act of protection and prevention has enormous ripple effects. However, if we had learned this lesson, we'd be spending as much as possible to make it feasible to vaccinate every willing person in the world as soon as possible. We'd even do this before triple vaccinating our own population, because slowing down the spread of the virus is the most important way to keep everyone safe, healthy, and alive. The well being of all and the well being of the USA actually align! Yet, we miss the mark.

The book of James has an interesting perspective on the relationship that Christians have to the world. In the face of the injustices of the Roman Empire, the wealth inequality, the slavery, the power imbalances, the death rates of the poor, James urges the faithful … not to get angry.

I find that my first instinct is to argue with this a little bit. “Are you sure?” “What about when...?” Yet, even as I argue, I am convicted by this passage.

Society is rife with anger. Anger is pulling us apart at the seams. Some of the anger, I'd argue, is “righteous.” It is a response to injustice that needs to be seen, acknowledged, named, and addressed. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Most of the anger is misplaced. The anger is being used to create groups of “us” that stand against “them,” and those distinctions dismiss that everyone in both groups are beloveds of God. The anger is being used to provoke fear, sell products, pass unjust laws, and elect politicians. The anger is being USED.

And James points out directly that the people who want others to get angry are selling them on the idea that if they get angry enough, they will provoke God to action. James says it won't work though. God will act when God will act, and furthermore, prayer is a better way to go about it. Anger serves the people promoting it, not God.

But what about righteous anger? As I've been saying recently, anger is a “secondary” emotion. That is, it exists like a red flag to mark a place where something that is held precious is being violated. It lets us know when our values are attacked, and underneath that is another emotion. Most often anger is there to act as the bodyguard to sadness or the diversion to fear.

Sadness and fear are sufficient. They can guide us to good action, they can show us the ways of compassion, they can help us grow together. They are wise enough, that once we find them, we can let go of the anger that guided us to them.

Which means that the way to be “slow to anger” is often to identify anger, and then sit with it and find out what is underneath it. It means that we sometimes need to listen – to ourselves and our tender emotions. God is there, with us when we listen, with us when we feel, with us when we discover what is under our anger. This is, even, a form of God's healing, God's salve in our lives.

Of course, “be slow to anger” is the third piece of advice we're given in today's passage. The first two are to be quick to listen and slow to speak. It seems clear that James' advice is aimed at faith COMMUNITIES, because his advice is aimed at deepening and maintaining good relationships among the followers of Jesus.

For the past several years, I have participated in “listening circles.” These intentional spaces have careful guidelines that are aimed at making sure there is holy and sacred space for listening – and speaking. At times there have been 20 or 30 people in these circles, and you might think that there would be a lot more speaking than listening. But, there isn't. Often there are prolonged silences between speakers, and they feel like time to absorb the wisdom one beloved of God has offered. When the obligation to have a response is taken away, along with the tendency toward chit-chat, there is spaciousness for silence and listening.

When I hear James say, “be quick to listen, slow to speak” I think of how healing those circles have been in my life. I love being freed from having to have a response to something someone says, and instead just listen to them and receive their wisdom. And, when I do speak into such a space, I am astounded at the power that comes with being heard with love.

As much as I have loved these experiences though, it isn't clear to me how to live “be quick to listen, slow to speak” ALL the time. Really listening to another of God's beloveds takes energy and attention, and … let's be honest dear ones, those are finite resources!!! We will drain ourselves if we try to listen WELL all the time. (I've tried.)

That said, there is a being who is capable of listening with complete attention, and full energy, with love and compassion, with care and support – all day, every day, to all of us. God, the creator, sustainer, redeemer has gifted us with life, and God is with us breathing new life into us day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and even second by second. When we seek God in prayer and meditation, we find that God is close at hand, ready and able to offer us healing. When all we have to offer are sighs too deep for words, God knows what we mean. When we are full of words, God listens until we have exhausted them. When we are able to be with the Divine in holy silence, God meets us there. And, of course, when what we offer God is our listening, …

well, that's when things really start to happen ;)

James encourages us to an active faith – not just to worship God once a week, but to live out faith in every day. He reminds us that the very people the world dismisses (the “widows and orphans”) are the ones that followers of Christ take care of. James doesn't hate the world – though he isn't impressed with it either - but he doesn't think being angry with it is going to change it. James encourages the people of faith to act differently. Take care of the struggling and vulnerable, listen deeply, speak with intention, slow down anger and learn its lessons instead of acting it out. Don't replicate the brokenness of the world – change it.

So, dear ones of God, I invite you to God's restoration, God's healing of the world, God's work of the Kindom: be quick to listen; be slow to speak; be slow to anger. With such “simple” acts as these, we can heal the world. May God help us. 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

September 5, 2021

#Thinking Church #Progressive Christianity #book of james #doersoftheword #Slow to anger #Slow to speak #Quick to listen #Parker Palmer #Circles of Trust #Kindom building #Seeing clearly #FUMC Schenectady #UMC #schenectady #Sorry about the umc #Rev Sara E Baron #Pandemic Preaching #What is under anger?

[musictatertot]

Walking a mile in their shoes

The latest rwby episode was so fantastic and sad in so many ways. Roosterteeth, Crwby, Monty (rest in peace friend), and every person involved in this show are so talented and this is one of the very few rare times I have no complaints over story telling devices and holes in the story. Typically I always have one or two either towards plot line concienences or, my main focus, character development. So many times there have been characters that reacted, well, out of character simply for the purpose of pushing the plot where the creator wants it to go. Which is fine! It's their creation and I still love the worlds they have built, but if the development isn't realistic to the character I feel a little dissapointed.

Rwby has not done that, at least from my pint of view (small issue about Hazel's motives being pushed to the side until we can learn more about how that all went down). This is kind gonna get long, so if you're not interest slip away friends! Just wanted a place to rant and rave about a beautiful show to show my appreciation!

I have... a lot of thoughts. And there is a text limit... T-T for this post I will be just talking about Ruby. Next one will be Yang, then Blake, then Weiss. Definitely Oscar, Ozpin, and Qrow! Let me know if you guys are interested on hearing my thoughts a out any one else. These are really just to show my appreciation to the show!

Ruby Rose

I've always loved Ruby, and not just because she's a scythe weilding badass with a heart of gold! She reminds me a heck of a lot of my baby sister. Sweet, caring, and always wanting to do the right thing for the right reasons. Also like my sister she can be sad, pensive, and unsure. Specifically in volume five and the episodes so far on volume six. The world is literally falling apart around her and now she has learned it has always been falling apart. She just hadn't known it.

I especially love Ruby because, even with all the trials, changes, and losses she has faced her main goal has never changed.

She wants to help people.

The ways she helps them, and the ways she views the world has been constantly changing but that key aspect of her character remains unchanged.

I had a lot of mixed feelings about the most recent episode but Ruby stuck to her beliefs and actions through and through. Her one question to Ozpin reflected her own internal struggle perfectly.

Does Ozpin have a plan to stop Salem?

The answer, sadly but truthfully, was no. And now I think Ruby is going to have to face, for the first time, a disconnect between her goals and her feelings.

I base this belief on her mother, Summer Rose, Pyrrha, and Penny (with a heavier focus on Summer).

Previous mentions of Summer have showcased the love Ruby has for her. She still visits her mother's grave to tell her about what has happened in her life so far. She seems a little awkward, a little hesitant, but she was very young when Summer died and even with beloved family members it is entirely possible to feel a little like strangers. That doesn't make the love you feel for them any less, it just makes it harder to express.

In the Red Like Roses soundtracks we see the other side of losing a loved one. Grief. A feeling of deep, deep loss. Bitterness. Guilt.

Ruby is not a bitter person, no. However, death leaves such and unbearably heavy mark on a person's heart that it creates new feelings, ones almost impossible to name sometimes, that have never been experienced before. Those who have lost loved ones can deeply empathize with this, and those who have yet to experience this can empathize on a lighter level, but I think we can all agree that it is a difficult thing to process.

And it never really goes away.

You can move on, certainly, and find happiness in other parts of your life. You can go days without being struck by the overwhelming pain of them not being there.

You can also be doing something completely mundane and something, perhaps a flash of color in you peripheral vision, or certain smell or sound, will remind you of them. Remind you that they are not there and suddenly it is like you lost them all over again.

I believe this will be the case for Ruby.

Things have been hectic in her life. Beacon, Haven, her team breaking apart before coming back together, the train.

Pyrrha. Penny.

Two more losses, far more fresh in her mind.

With the crash and the high tension I doubt much was on her mind except what was happening right in front of her.

Now though. Now when they are at a monetary laps in action, holed away in a farm and everyone needing their own space. Now I doubt her mind will let her think of anything else.

Why did her mother, Pyrrha, and Penny have to die?

Originally it was:

Summer- To do the right thing and protect people that needed her.

Pyrrah- In a fight she new she couldn't win, because it was the right thing to do.

Penny- to make a statement.

Ruby was able to cope with these three deaths because she could have hope that they would not be in vain. And now she has learned there is no plan. There was never a plan. They died... for nothing.

Pyrrha clearly knew none of this. Penny, highly doubtful. Did her mother? Had her mother known she was fighting a battle she couldn't win as well?

If she did know then did she choose an unwinnable battle over Ruby?

If she had not known, would the knowledge have made her pick Ruby just like Ruby had always wished she had?

I am am sure she has a strong sense of empathy towards Ozpin after watching his past, but that empathy will war with her long lasting feelings towards those that have died. I don't think she will lash out at Ozpin when he eventually (hopefully) returns but I'm expecting some heavy emotional talks. (I'm expecting to learn how Summer died damn it! Is that one crazy fan theory right?! Is Summer actually Zwei?! I need to know!)

Whether the show chooses to showcase those thoughts is up to the writers, there is only so much time in an episode after all, but I hope that we might get a new song that delves into that if they are unable to fully get around to it.

I trust Ruby's core. Who she is, through and through. She is a good person who just wants to help. Her emotions and the actions of those around her, however, will determine how she chooses to help, and I can't wait to see what the writers have in store for us there!

#rwby #rwby volume 6 #so that's how it is #ruby rose #Summer Rose #ozpin #pyrrha nikos #penny polendina #rwby jinn #salem rwby #rwby thoughts