(Scriptures: Isaiah 58:1-9a; I Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew
5:13-20)
Did everyone get through last week ok? The weather was something else – snow Monday,
ice Wednesday – and lots of folks in Bucks and Montgomery Counties still don’t
have power – and apparently no end in sight.
Before I go any further, I’d ask us all to keep our neighbors,
especially those in the suburbs suffering from power outages, in our prayers.
One thing that stressed me out a bit was that, with all the
ice and snow, places like Lowes and Home Depot ran out of salt – and as of
Friday, they were still out of salt. On
Friday, I got a hot tip that the Shop Rite on Aramingo Avenue had salt, and
bought two bags of salt for the church, some of which I used to try to make our
sidewalk on Fillmore Street walkable for this morning. Mission mostly
accomplished. But for a week or two
before Friday, all that the big box stores carried in place of rock salt were
big bags of water softener pellets that are normally used in dishwasher–
supposedly they can melt ice, but they look like big marbles, and I was afraid
that if I threw them on our sidewalk, if people didn’t slip on the ice, they’d
surely trip over the water softener pellets.
And so I was crossing my fingers and toes that nobody went down on our
sidewalk.
And, of course, as mentioned, many people in the
Philadelphia suburbs are without electricity, and therefore have no lights on
in their homes. We’ve become so
accustomed to the convenience of just flicking a switch and having our lights
come on – but it is a weird experience indeed to have to go for several days
without being able to turn on the lights.
You can compensate by going out to restaurants and malls and libraries,
assuming that you have money and they have power, but eventually you end up
going home to a cold, dark house or apartment.
Or you go to someone else’s home, if they’ve invited you, but even
though there’s warmth and light and food, it’s still not home. All of which is to say that, even in today’s
culture when we tend to take it for granted that salt and light will always be
available, when because of weather-related reasons or other causes we don’t
have salt or light, it really throws us off, and we realize how dependent our
lives are on these very basic things, salt and light.
How much more crucial were salt and light in Jesus’ culture! Without salt, in a hot middle-eastern
climate, meat would rot, and quickly. In
that culture, where there weren’t refrigerators or even old-fashioned iceboxes,
the only way to preserve meat for any length of time was to salt it. And, of course, salt as a seasoning brings
out the flavor of whatever food it’s sprinkled on. In some ancient cultures, people were paid in
salt; indeed, the word “salary” comes from salarium,
which is the Latin word for salt, and while the saying has gone out of use to
some extent, those of a certain age may remember when it was said of a diligent
worker that he or she was worth his salt. Similarly, in Jesus’ day, the availability of
light in the darkness was a big deal.
With no street lights or neon-lit store displays, after the sun sets, it
gets mighty dark. My experiences of this
were in Cuba, where, outside the tourist areas, there is little or nothing in
the way of street lighting. Public
buildings such as churches may have electric lighting , permitting evening
worship services – but private homes may or may not have electricity. After dark, in Cuba’s more rural areas, you
can see the moon and stars like you will never see them in the United States –
but without a flashlight or torch, you won’t see much else.
Salt and light – this is what Jesus compared his followers
to. In both cases, this is a high
compliment, as salt and light were highly prized in Jesus’ culture. But with the high compliment comes high
expectations. In Jesus’ culture, beyond
its use as a preservative, salt contrasted with the flavor of whatever was
being salted, in order to bring out the flavor.
That is to say, the importance of salt was its contrast with the food
being salted. And, of course, the
importance of light is that it contrasts with and dispels the darkness. Jesus remarked that, if salt has lost its savor,
what good is it? Similarly, if a light
is hidden under a bushel basket so that it’s not visible, it does no good. All of which is to say, part of our calling
as Christians is to stand out from our surroundings – to provide contrast, to
be visible, and, like salt preserving meat from rot and decay, we amid our
corrupt culture are called to preserve all that is good and holy. If our trust in Jesus makes no difference in
how we treat others and how we live in the world, then the salt has lost its
savor. Similarly, we are to bring the
light of Christ into the world – as the old saying goes, to light a candle
rather than curse the darkness.
I think the biggest challenge in all of this is to hold to
our baptismal identity as Christians – child of God, disciple of Christ, member
of Christ’s church - while living and working and shopping and playing in a
world that doesn’t share our values.
It’s easy to identify as a Christian here in the church, among other
professing Christians. But just as table
salt in a salt shaker or rock salt in a sealed bag doesn’t accomplish a whole
lot until it’s sprinkled on food or tossed on an icy sidewalk, we as the church will be most effective as
followers of Christ when we leave the church to return to our daily lives. Not that going to church is unimportant –
indeed, it’s crucially important that we gather to worship God and to support
one another. This is where we are fed,
where we are formed and strengthened to act as salt and light. And church is the first place nonbelievers
will look if they want to learn about Christ – just as a home supply store is
the first place I’ll look if I need a bag of salt for the sidewalks. But if I’m buying a bag of salt to bring to
the church, you can bet that the salt isn’t staying in the bag very long. Similarly, for us as Christians, it is out
there, beyond the church doors, among nonbelievers where our way of life will
contrast most with our surroundings, where the light we carry will most
effectively dispel the darkness.
Being salt and light doesn’t mean we have to make spectacles
of ourselves. Our actions will speak
louder than our words – and if our actions contradict our words, we may as well
save our breath. Religious hypocrites
who profess Christ with their lips but deny Christ with their actions are a
scandal, a stumbling block to nonbelievers and an embarrassment to sincere
believers. Indeed, this is the lesson
of our Old Testament reading, in which God condemns believers for coming into
worship to bow before God, only to leave worship to mistreat their
neighbors. As Isaiah wrote,
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Truly,
this is Isaiah’s picture of what it is to be salt and light in the world. Nonetheless, as St. Francis of Assisi
is quoted to have said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use
words” – and we will sometimes need words to explain our actions.
Especially in a small church like ours, we may despair of
being able to make any real difference.
Our society’s problems are so profound, and we feel so unable to make a
difference. When we feel like that, we
should remember this winter’s awful weather and reflect on how much a bunch of
tiny snowflakes can derail our plans – and remember that we, too, can derail
oppressive power and spiritual wickedness in high places. Likewise, we can remember that small grains of salt can melt ice, as we can melt the cold ice of indifference and hate.
A memorable example of a church acting as salt and light that
took place within the lifetimes of many of our members was the fall of the
Berlin wall, that at one time separated West Germany from Soviet controlled, and
officially communist and atheist East Germany.
The Berlin Wall not only separated the country, but separated families
and communities. In East Germany, citizens
were monitored by the Stasi, the East German secret police. Public religious expression was discouraged,
and while the churches remained open, government spies attended worship
services – and so pastors and worshippers knew that there would be consequences
if they didn’t toe the party line.
A news article in USA Today from November 2009[1]
tells of the role of the East German congregation St. Nicolai Evangelical
Lutheran Church and its pastor, the Rev. Christian Fuhrer, in bringing down the
Berlin Wall. In the early 1980’s, St.
Nicolai Church started holding weekly prayer services for peace. Every Monday, worshippers would gather – at
first just a few, and then more over time- to recite the Beatitudes and to
pray. Eventually from these prayer
services grew candle-light marches and vigils in the streets. In October, 1989, the government finally
cracked down, beating and arresting marchers.
The next week, some 70,000 people gathered at St. Nicholai to worship
and then march in the streets by candlelight.
A month after this massive demonstration, in November, 1989, the Berlin
Wall came down. East German officials
were famously quoted as saying, “We were prepared for anything, anything –
except for candles and prayer.”
Jesus said: ‘You are the
salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be
restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled
under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,
but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
May we at Emanuel Church be salt and light here in
Bridesburg, where God has planted us.
May our words and our actions give glory to God and bring health and
life to our neighbors. May it be so
among us. Amen.
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