Be These

(Uriel Presbyterian Church )
Communion Meditation

“Be These”
6 February, 2011
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, A


The savour is in the message

Hebrew Text:Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
1   Shout out, do not hold back!
          Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
     Announce to my people their rebellion,
          to the house of Jacob their sins.
2   Yet day after day they seek me
          and delight to know my ways,
     as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
          and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
     they ask of me righteous judgments,
          they delight to draw near to God.
3   “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
          Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
     Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
          and oppress all your workers.
4   Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
          and to strike with a wicked fist.
     Such fasting as you do today
          will not make your voice heard on high.
5   Is such the fast that I choose,
          a day to humble oneself?
     Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
          and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
     Will you call this a fast,
          a day acceptable to the LORD?
6   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?
7   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?
8   Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
          and your healing shall spring up quickly;
     your vindicator shall go before you,
          the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9   Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
          you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
     If you remove the yoke from among you,
          the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10  if you offer your food to the hungry
          and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
     then your light shall rise in the darkness
          and your gloom be like the noonday.
11  The LORD will guide you continually,
          and satisfy your needs in parched places,
          and make your bones strong;
     and you shall be like a watered garden,
          like a spring of water,
          whose waters never fail.
12  Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
          you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
     you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
          the restorer of streets to live in.


Gospel Text: MATTHEW 5:13-20
13“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.
14“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In 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.
17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We opened the bible last week to begin listening to what Christ had to say, sitting on a low mountainside that slides gently all the way down to the sea of Galilee. Matthew tells us  about Jesus’ teachings we call the beatitudes. Today  we're listening to  the second of five passages from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as recounted by Matthew. On this day that we ordain and install new elders, it’s so easy to hear Jesus' words as a requirement rather than a blessing, a command rather than a high commissioning. But take note: Jesus doesn't say, "If you want to become salt and light, do this...." Or, "before I'll call you salt and light, I'll need to see this from you...." Rather, he expresses both  ideas simply and directly, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." It’s the same thing with last week's Beatitudes, Jesus simply recognizes those around him  who are wonderfully poor in spirit, those who are doers of mercy and makers of peace. When Jesus says “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world it is sheer commendation straight from God  and bears blessing, affirmation, but also a  commissioning for service. All of this also makes it a wonderful passage as we give thanks for the work of elders of this church, most especially for Wendell Hinson and Bobby Beaty

I realize, of course, that he goes on to say that salt that has lost its saltiness is useless and that light wasn't made to be put under a bushel, which might imply for some that there is, indeed, a threat hiding amid this pronouncement. But I wonder. While salt really can lose its saltiness, is it ever really absolutely useless? It used to be in Jesus day that even poor quality salt was useful for making camel dung fires for cooking and heating...if you want the details, ask me after lunch...and then after it was used there, it was hard enough to still be used in road making.

And are candles ever put under bushel baskets? Wouldn't that snuff the flame or, worse, start a fire? but on the other hand,  it could make a nice romantic glow through the chinks and holes. Maybe Jesus is implying that one can lose one's status as quality salt and light. Or maybe he's just naming the absurdity of the possibility of losing one's essence as salt and light in order to underscore the reliability and resilience of the gift he bequeaths. "You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the world. That's the way it is and that's the way it will stay. Now go use it."

Even if you're inclined to suspect  that Jesus is trying to make  us into  be salt and light rather than calling us so – walk with me a little further to consider of what value it might be to think of this passage in a way that commends rather than commands us.

Think about how we humans are built. We are often pretty vulnerable. I read recently that child psychologists say that for every negative message elementary-aged children hear about themselves, they need to hear ten positive ones just to get their sense of self-esteem back to where it had been previously.  Truthfully, I don't know if anyone has studied this with other age groups, but I’ll bet that it must take 20 positive affirmations for teenagers and then MAYBE goes back to about 10-1 again for us adults!)

To put it another way, Children become what they are named. Keep calling a kid bad long enough, or stupid or silly and he or she will believe you and act bad. Call a child (or teen or adult for that matter) worthless or unlovable or shameful, and eventually he or she – all of us! – will live into the name we've been assigned. But it works in exactly the opposite direction too. In the same way, call us good or useful, dependable, helpful, or worthwhile, and we will try hard so hard to grow into that identity and behavior as well.

And so it is with us when we grow up too. We need to hear positive things from those we love and admire. From our friends, our spouses and partners, our mothers and fathers. Perhaps one of the reasons that I love coming to church is because everything: scriptures, hymns, the people I interact with tell me that God loves me, and that I am worth so much to God that God sent his only child to give me that message and proved it by loving me still even though I beat up and killed him to test his love. And if God loves me that much and still sees me as worthy and fruitful, then what do I care that there are those in  the world who want to wear me down to build themselves up? And I hope that you feel the same way. That you are important and worthy and gifted. So here it is: YOU, people of Uriel are salt and light. Jesus Christ is trusting you and recognizes you as a wonderful integral part of life. Salt is humble and easily overlooked, but without salt we can not function; light is so pervasive and common we forget what a blessing it is, that without light nothing can survive. You've been called to an extraordinary life in Christ Jesus. Give savour to the earth. Light the world. Glorify your Parent in heaven, giving thanks for your of your "rightness" in Christ Jesus. Amen.