I recently read of a couple of researchers who have been conducting experiments on salt. We North Americans consume huge quantities of the stuff in small amounts (I consume it in larger amounts…I love those chip wagons!)  The researchers want to know why. Of course, the most immediate answer is that salt makes food taste good. It seems to bring out the flavor. But why? They report that salt actually obscures many flavors of food. And yet we love it. One of their theories is that salt makes food taste so much better because it masks some of the bitterness of some of our foods. And yet they don't know why. Some of you who have been restricted to salt-free diets can probably testify that it is amazing what a difference a little salt makes.

At the Bishop’s Spiritual retreat last week, we recalled Jesus telling his followers (and telling us!)  that they (that we) are "the salt of the earth;" that they (that we) are the "light of the world" - a little thing like salt, a fragile quality like light. I find it interesting that when Jesus speaks of the difference his people make in the world, he uses two rather small, often unnoticed, seemingly insignificant substances - salt and light.

Isn't it interesting that when Jesus spoke of us, seizing upon some metaphor to characterize who we were, he didn't say, "You are a great army marching into the world." He didn't say, "You are a loudspeaker put up in the marketplace to shout my message out loud to everybody." Rather, he said that we were "salt" and "light." Small, fragile, and yet both of these substances go a long way. They can make all the difference.

I have seen you do this. You arrive at the elementary school in the morning, you don't show up in a gold chariot with the word "Christian" emblazoned on the side. You slip in quietly. You do your work. You don't look that different from anyone else. However, from that moment when you stuck up for that wayward child whom everyone else had given up hope for; that time when you told a fellow teacher who was experiencing a tough time in her marriage, that you were there for her, and that you would be glad to give of yourself and your resources for her, that was when you became salt and light. You became that substance which savored a world which for another had become tasteless and dull, not worth living. You became that light shining in the darkness.

Jesus has put a great deal of trust in us, making us his salt and his light. Odd. You might think that here he might say I am the light of the world. I am the salt of the earth. Of course, that may be implied. The amazing thing is that he turns to ordinary, unspectacular people like us and says "you are light. You are salt." And by the grace of God, you are.

It was a tense, very difficult meeting, growing more difficult. The committee had been dealing with the problem of an employee who had committed a theft.

"This business cannot function with people who are thieves," said one of the members of the committee. There was widespread agreement in the group. None of them wanted to work where people could not be trusted. 

"I think a rule is a rule," said the manager. "All of the employees will be watching us to see if we enforce the rules."

"We must make an example of her as a warning to everyone," said another.

"As I see it, this is a cut-and-dried case. No need for agony over this one. She admitted that she stole the money. She knows that it is wrong. It's as simple as that," chimed in a third.

At length, someone spoke up, a rather quiet person not known for her leadership. "I think our company ought to be the sort of place where people are more important even than good rules. As you say, she has admitted her guilt. There are mitigating circumstances - her marriage situation, her two children. None of that excuses this. But I don't think she is asking to be excused. I think she is asking us to give her another chance. I would like all of our employees to know that this is the sort of company where someone can make a terrible, tragic mistake, do wrong, and yet be given a second chance."

And in that tension filled, darkened room, light shown. Some might say, in that light, there appeared a vision of the reign of God, the presence, even there, of the very body of Christ.

peace,
Pastor Mark