Salt and Light

You are the salt of earth. ... 
You are the light of the world.

From Matthew 5: 13-16

The Scripture lesson from one of Pastor Kim's Sunday sermons has been on repeat for me. Even though it's been almost two weeks since that particular sermon, snapshots of my daily life keep bringing the words back to mind. 

In the pasture, the cows gravitate toward the salt blocks that we provide. Just like we humans, the bovines seem to want to flavor their diets with a bit of salt. As a child, I remember going with my dad on salt block deliveries. A little residue from the salt cube was left behind on my fingertips, and I couldn't resist a secret taste.

The cows also seem to crave the mineral Randy stocks in the pastures and lots. (I don't think the two calves were partaking, but they were cute models anyway.)

I certainly prefer my food with a sprinkling of salt, too, even though my doctor would recommend I limit my sodium intake. 

 

And LIGHT! From the time the morning creases the night's darkness ...

 

... until the setting sun ...

 

... we are reminded of the value and power of light.

Feeding hay at sunrise

Then, as if I needed more confirmation, last week's message on Transfiguration Sunday also centered around light - or, more appropriately Light. 

As I watch the sunrises and the sunsets from my country roads, I'm often reminded of that Sunday School song I learned in the Byers United Methodist Church basement, "This Little Light of Mine." I later taught it to my kids and others in my Joyful Noise choir at Stafford. Though the message is designed as a catchy children's tune with cute actions, it's just as relevant in my adult life - if only I take time to think about it.

Sunset scene looking south

In the song and in Matthew 5, Jesus tells his listeners that they are the to be the light of the world. They cannot be hidden.

We, too, are called to influence what is around us. Our faith shouldn't just remain inside. It should overflow and provide the seasoning and reflect God's light in the world around us.

Shine, people of God, shine!

Do not hide your light....

Take your worship out of these doors.

Be gracious, merciful, and righteous.

You are the light of the world. Shine! 

From our church's benediction 2 weeks ago

Ash Wednesday began our Lenten journey yesterday. While Facebook these days often seems to divide rather than unite, I saw this graphic on several of my friends' Facebook pages:

To me, fasting from these things will make more of a difference in my life than giving up a little chocolate. 

Jesus, allow my faith to flavor and illuminate every­thing I do and say every day. Amen.

Light of the World

 Matthew 5:13-16  New International Version

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Salt and light:  The Bible tells us we should be both. Many churches follow the lectionary for their Scripture readings from week to week, and, most weeks, our church does, too. This week, the Gospel lesson was from the book of Matthew, chapter 5.

 

Our pastor actually chose the Old Testament reading (Isaiah 58:1-12) and the Epistle (1 Corinthians 2:1-16) for the week. Usually, I  look for Sunday School materials for my adult Sunday School class that correspond to the Scriptures Pastor Nate is using. But this time, there was a Sunday School lesson which related the Gospel Bible passage to the Super Bowl, so I chose it instead. (And it turned out to be a fortuitous thing, since our pastor was ill, and my friend, Tami, and I ended up cobbling together a service based on the "salt and light" passage.)

Super Bowl weekend provides plenty of possibilities for salty snacks. One of the Sunday School lessons suggested buying a bag of low-salt chips and another bag of the salt-laden variety and seeing which tastes the best.

Salt makes things taste good (if you don't have to worry about things like blood pressure and such). Back in the pioneer days, salt was used as a preservative. It played an important role in sustaining the people.

And light? You know I'm a big fan of sunrises and sunsets. So maybe my attraction to the Matthew 5 lesson was natural. I did have several sunrise and sunset photos that I hadn't yet shared on the blog or Facebook. But I hope it was more than that.

I continue to be troubled by my Facebook feed. I suppose I should just quit signing in. But then I'd have to also ignore the evening news and newspapers. Being a hermit doesn't sound like a bad plan, I suppose. But, on the other hand, it's hard to be "salt and light" to the world if you're hiding under your fleece blanket at home.

It's so hard to know what to do: Do I keep my fingers idle instead of furiously pounding my keyboard with a heated response? Do I keep my mouth shut in a group where there are differing opinions - even my own Sunday School room?

For Christmas, Jill and Eric gave me a book of prayers written by the pastor of their Omaha church, Craig Finnestad. After my Bible readings in the morning, I've been using some of the prayers found in Prayers from The Water's Edge.

I also decided to follow his blog. Finnestad shared these observations this week: (Click on this link for the entire list and the blog post.)

• We look most like Jesus when we serve, give, and forgive. Doing these is a blessing to others and ourselves. Do these things.
• The world is made up of imperfect people so I am not going to expect perfection from anybody anymore. Excellence, yes. Perfection, no.
• We can’t change other people. I’m doing my best to change my reaction to people. Less judging and arguing. More loving and listening.
• I have so much to learn, and I need God.

There's a lot of ugliness in the world, but I don't want to contribute to it. Maybe those lessons can help me be "salt and light" this week. That's the plan anyway.

I'd also encourage you to check out his chart called The Effects of Political Posting on Social Media and Friendship. He has that particular blog post marked as "humor." But it's the truth.