Posts Tagged light

Hear Jesus Speak; You are Salt and Light – Chautauqua Daily – 7-19-14

Mary Lee Talbot

A woman was checking out at the grocery store and the clerk told her, “Have a nice day.” The woman replied: “i have other plans.” “That [have a nice day] is not something Jesus would have said,” the rev. Daisy Machado said to begin her sermon, “You Are,” at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Friday. “He said ‘go and sin no more’ or ‘rise up and walk’ or ‘go and make Disciples.’ go be salt, be light. But lots of people say, ‘i have other plans.’ ” Her Scripture, Matthew 5:13-20, is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, she said, used salt, light and the law to teach the Dis- ciples who they were. Jesus, sitting out in the open but in a very intimate way, told his Disciples, “You are salt; you are light. not ‘i think you might be’ or ‘i want you to try really hard to be,’ or ‘You should have a committee to develop a mission plan,’ ” Machado said. “We think of these as commands but Jesus meant them as descriptions of who the disciples were.” She quoted the Talmud, which states that the world can exist without pepper but not without salt. Salt was valuable in biblical times; the word salary comes from the latin word for the portion of the wages that roman soldiers were paid in salt. Salt enhances flavor and it preserves meat. “Jesus was telling his followers that they should add zest to the lives of the people around them,” Machado said. “They should be an example for others, but this is the messy part — they have to interact with people, to get involved [in the world]. What good is salt if it never gets out of the shaker?” Salt is not useful to itself, so Jesus’ followers exist for others. They were not to be overbearing, she said, not browbeating people about their sins, but they should use the right amount to flavor a dish. “The Disciples should live with the blatant hope that god is in the world,” Machado said. Salt in biblical times was a compound of sodium chloride and other elements like gypsum. if the sodium fell out of the compound, the residual product was thrown into the road. “The salt compound lost its flavor; pure salt will not change,” she said. “We lose our distinctive character when

we can no longer be distinguished from the tasteless values around us. We lose our usefulness. We must remain faithful to who we are.” The Disciples were the light of the world because they received their light from Jesus, she said. “He called them not to see but to witness acts of justice. The cause of these actions is god in heaven.” According to Machado, some people don’t talk a lot about what difference the church can make in the world. “People are skeptical of the influence the church can have but Jesus did not share that point of view,” she said. “How- ever imperfect and human the Disciples were, and however imperfect and skeptical we are today, we can make a specific impact.” She continued: “The church was not important in the world when the gospels were written. Jesus was talking to the poor. Was it hyperbole to tell them they were the light of the world? How could nobodies be light? How could they make a differ- ence in the roman Empire? Yet the church grew and expand- ed. We have to realize that Jesus got it right — those who feel the world’s pain, who build bridges, who have mercy, are light to the world.” no one puts a light under a bushel after it is lit. “This bushel is a vessel big enough to cover a lamp. The lamp is not snuffed out but covered,” she said. “What are our bushels? Self-absorption, a life where religious endeavor is un- important. A light does not end up magically under a bushel; the only way to cover it is to put the bushel over it.” Jesus asked his followers to show up in the dark places and light them up.

“He was describing the here and now, not the future,” Machado said. “Jesus was talking about the Disciples in the here and now and he is talking about us here and now. The abundant life is the gift we give to others to make a difference for others. We have to dare to be singular, to be distinctive in how we use our money, our time, what we value.” The way we remain distinctive, she told the congregation, is to acknowledge that we are yoked with god, and Christ invites us to play a role in the mission to engage the world. Machado then added that Fred Craddock, the noted preacher, said that Christians have two tasks — witnessing and “benevolent intrusion into the world.” “We have to reject self-interest and self-protection,” she said. “We have to feel the pain of our neighbor.” Jesus told the Disciples that he came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it. He called them to live in the spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law. “Spiritual righteousness originates in the heart,” Machado said. “Jesus calls us to be transformed. We have made the world to be a certain way — full of violence, greed, corruption and inequality. There is little light and less flavor.” “Hear Jesus speak,” she continued. “We need to make a dif- ference because we can. ‘You are,’ he says to each of us. i want to remind you, sisters and brothers, that you are all of great value. You are all important for god’s design. You all have to get out of the shaker. You are called to be salt, be light. You are the ones called to expand the church beyond stained glass and stone walls.” The Rev. John Morgan presided. Bud Brown, the host at the Bap- tist House, read the Scripture. The Motet Choir sang “Come Down Angels,” a traditional spiri- tual arranged by Patti Drennan. Virginia Oram was the soloist. Jared Jacobsen, organist and worship coordinator, directed the choir. The choir sang “God is Here” by Glenn Wonacott as the introit all week. The Allison and Craig Marthinsen Endowment for the Depart- ment of Religion supported this week’s services. For those who would like more information about the 47,000 children at the borders, links provided by Machado can be found in the online version of this story at www.chqdaily.com.

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What Is Christian Civility?

            Christian civility is a conscious attempt to use language in such a way as to exemplify the teachings of Jesus. It is a way of bringing wholeness to our dialogue. It is not an attempt to gloss over differences or simply to utter shallow meaningless nothings. Christian civility is a means of letting the light of Christ shine in our every day encounters.

            Our words so often get in the way of our witness.  St. Francis echoed this when he said, “Preach the gospel always and if you have to, use words.” The psalmist recognized this when he wrote, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight Oh God my strength and my redeemer.” The value of the just right word is prized in, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver.” Words have power. They are expressions of who we are and what our values are.

            This approach to Christian communication carriers no hint or suggestion of forgetting who we are and whose we are. Rather it is a way of letting our Christianity shine through. In Colossians we are told, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Dr. Arthur Caliandro, former pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, said, “People may not always respond to me as I would like, but I can decide how I will respond to them.” We decide whether we take offense at some hurtful remark or give offense in return; however, we can also decide to respond as Christ would have us respond.

            Christian civility is not easy because we live in an uncivil world. We can do our best to turn down the hostile rhetoric and to speak peace to a troubled world. We can do our best to not add our voices to the chaos and to shine a light in the darkness. The ability to communicate is a great gift from our creator. As is true with all of his gifts, his desire is that we use it to glorify him. It is a formidable challenge.

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