If I offered you a container of pure salt as a snack, would you enjoy it? No, probably not. What if I offered you salted potato chips instead? That’s more like it. Salt only tastes good when it’s seasoning something else. It’s not very good by itself.
The thing about salt is that it is only useful because of the effect it has on other things. Salt is useful because it seasons food, melts ice, and preserves meat.
Jesus has a lot to say about salt in today’s New Testament reading. He says, “You are the salt of the earth.” This morning, we’re going to focus on that phrase
You
But first, we should clarify just who it is that we’re talking about. Who is the salt of the earth? Jesus says that it’s “you.” Who exactly is he talking about? On the most general…
It’s undeniable that there is a mindful revolution going on, and that more people than ever before are embracing the well-documented physical and mental health benefits of meditation. But unfortunately, a homogenous representation of mindfulness practices isn’t uncommon in the media — especially in the case of yoga, which is often depicted by a thin white woman with a “Gwyneth Paltrow body.” But the image of the serene, young white woman closing her eyes and breathing deeply doesn’t come close to telling the whole story of how mindfulness is beginning to transform lives.
I love Sojourners! An excellent article by Benjamin Corey reblogged from their website:
Our jails are overflowing, people are receiving life sentences for minor crimes under three strikes laws, racial disparities leave minority populations disproportionately represented in the incarcerated population, and we’re so obsessed with killing that we’re now using untested concoctions of drugs that recently took a condemned inmate more than 20 minutes to finally die.
Our system isn’t working.
It might surprise you however, to understand how we arrived at such a broken justice system.
From a homily by St. John Chrysostom (4th century)
Hast thou not heard Paul saying, “He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly”?265 Wherefore then dost thou spare? What, is the act an outlay? is it an expense? Nay, it is gain and good merchandise. Where there is merchandise, there is also increase; where there is sowing, there is also reaping. But thou, if thou hadst to till a rich and deep soil, and capable of receiving much seed, wouldest both spend what thou hadst, and wouldest borrow of other men, accounting parsimony in such cases to be loss; but, when it is Heaven which thou art to cultivate, which is exposed to no variation of weather, and will surely repay thine outlay with abundant increase, thou art slow and backward, and considerest not that it is possible by sparing to lose, and by not sparing to gain.
9. Disperse therefore, that thou mayest not lose; keep not, that thou mayest keep; lay out, that thou mayest save; spend, that thou mayest gain. If thy treasures are to be hoarded, do not thou hoard them, for thou wilt surely cast them away; but entrust them to God, for thence no man makes spoil of them. Do not thou traffic, for thou knowest not at all how to gain; but lend unto Him who gives an interest greater than the principal. Lend, where is no envy, no accusation, nor evil design, nor fear. Lend unto Him who wants nothing, yet hath need for thy sake; who feeds all men, yet is an hungered, that thou mayest not suffer famine; who is poor, that thou mayest be rich. Lend there, where thy return cannot be death, but life instead of death. For this usury is the harbinger of a kingdom, that, of hell; the one coming of covetousness, the other of self-denial; the one of cruelty, the other of humanity. What excuse then will be ours, when having the power to receive more, and that with security, and in due season, and in great freedom, without either reproaches, or fears, or dangers, we let go these gains, and follow after that other sort, base and vile as they are, insecure and perishable, and greatly aggravating the furnace for us? For nothing, nothing is baser than the usury of this world, nothing more cruel. Why, other persons’ calamities are such a man’s traffic; he makes himself gain of the distress of another, and demands wages for kindness, as though he were afraid to seem merciful, and under the cloak of kindness he digs the pitfall deeper, by the act of help galling a man’s poverty, and in the act of stretching out the hand thrusting him down, and when receiving him as in harbor, involving him in shipwreck, as on a rock, or shoal, or reef.
“But what dost thou require?” saith one; “that I should give another for his use that money which I have got together, and which is to me useful, and demand no recompense?” Far from it: I say not this: yea, I earnestly desire that thou shouldest have a recompense; not however a mean nor small one, but far greater; for in return for gold, I would that thou shouldest receive Heaven for usury. Why then shut thyself up in poverty, crawling about the earth, and demanding little for great? Nay, this is the part of one who knows not how to be rich. For when God in return for a little money is promising thee 34 the good things that are in Heaven, and thou sayest, “Give me not Heaven, but instead of Heaven the gold that perisheth,” this is for one who wishes to continue in poverty. Even as he surely who desires wealth and abundance will choose things abiding rather than things perishing; the inexhaustible, rather than such as waste away; much rather than little, the incorruptible rather than the corruptible. For so the other sort too will follow. For as he who seeks earth before Heaven, will surely lose earth also, so he that prefers Heaven to earth, shall enjoy both in great excellency. And that this may be the case with us, let us despise all things here, and choose the good things to come. For thus shall we obtain both the one and the other, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.
What would you say are the marks of a successful church?
Here are some of my ideas for North Church:
We’re going to court some billionaire investors. Not donors, but investors. We want to incentivize their giving by promising a lucrative return. Once we have their money, we’re going to make use of it.
First of all, because we need to keep them happy (so they’ll keep sending us money), we’re going to turn our upstairs balcony into a skybox where our wealthiest members can observe the service in comfort, with leather recliners and a full wait staff serving champagne and caviar.
For our music ministry, we’re going to hire a full-time, paid, professionally trained choir (we already have the best organist in Michigan, so we won’t need a new one of those). Our contemporary worship team will get brand new, state-of-the-art AV equipment.
We’re going to get TV cameras so our service can be broadcast live via satellite around the world.
We’ll get paid endorsements from celebrities like Derek Jeter (add Christina Hendricks and George Clooney for sex appeal), who will tell everybody how great North Church is.
And finally, we’ll need to protect all this new stuff, so we’ll need to get a security force to guard the church. And I’m not thinking just some smiling, helpful rentacops either… I’m talking about SWAT team gear with assault rifles: I want such an overwhelming display of power that nobody will even THINK about messing with our church.
If we had all of those things (i.e. money, fame, and power), we would be a successful church, right? Wrong.
Blessedness
Jesus’ definition of the word success is different from the one accepted by the rest of the world. The world has a very self-centered definition of success, but Jesus presents us with a God-centered definition of success. The word he uses is blessed, which can also mean successful or lucky when you take away the spiritual side of it. That word blessed, by the way, comes from the Latin beatus and is where we get get the word Beatitude from. Blessedness, from the God-centered perspective of Jesus, is quite different from the world’s self-centered idea of success.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The world sees wealth as a sign of success: the Armani tux, the Vera Wang dress, the Italian sports car, the yacht, and the mansion. The world looks at people who have those things and calls them successful/lucky.But Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdoms of this world (governments, corporations, institutions) cater to the desires of the haves, but the kingdom of heaven (Jesus’ vision of an ideal society) will serve the needs of the have-nots. On the day when God’s dream for this world comes true, no more will Senators and CEOs vote to give themselves raises and go on vacation while the people whose jobs they cut sleep in shelters and line up outside soup kitchens. That’s not going to happen anymore.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
The world looks at people who seem to be happy and calls them “successful.” Today is Super Bowl Sunday, the one day a year when people watch TV just as much for the commercials as they watch it for the program. How many people plugging products in those commercials will be average-looking folks, looking bored, and saying, “Meh, I guess this product is okay…”? Not very many, I think. TV commercials are full of beautiful, smiling people who are excited to tell you all about how a particular cleaning solution changed their lives forever. They want us to believe that we’ll be as beautiful and happy as they are if only we buy what they’re selling. The world says that happy people are successful people, but Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus invites us to not buy into that “cult of happiness.” Jesus doesn’t want us to turn away from the pain of this world, he wants us to look at it and do something about it. That’s what compassion is: Showing up with food or clothes, visiting the shelter, the drop-in, the hospital bed, the courtroom, and the prison cell. That’s the kind of love Jesus showed us and it’s the kind of love he wants us to show others. Wherever there’s pain, there’s Jesus, so that’s where we should be too.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
The world says that successful people are tough-minded alpha-dogs who stand their ground and don’t compromise. Those are the big-shots who end up in running the show. The world puts them in charge of things. But Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek (i.e. gentle, flexible), for they will inherit the earth.” I like this one because I read a book by a couple of biologists last year that talks about how competition is not the only driving force behind evolution. They make the case that cooperation plays just as big a role in the ongoing development of life. When God’s dream for this world comes true, the ones in charge will be the ones who know how to work well with others and value relationships more than ideologies.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
The world believes that truly successful people lack for nothing. They have everything they could ever want. They benefit from the way things are. Insulated by wealth and power, they don’t sense the urgency of the situation or feel the need to challenge the system. But Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (i.e. justice, fairness), for they will be filled.” That last part is especially ominous because history has shown, time and again, that poor people will not stay quiet and submissive forever. If the leaders will not change the system, the people will change the leaders. Jesus has been proven right more than once: “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
The world says that successful people know how to give as good as they get. If you hit them, they hit you back. They make an example of you so that others know not to mess with them. That’s the politics of power. But Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Real power, according to Jesus, comes from knowing that you could rip your enemies to shreds but choosing not to. What’s more is that mercy is contagious: it comes back to you. It stops the cycle of violence from going around and around and escalating until the situation is out of control. The United States and the Soviet Union spend the latter half of the twentieth century with nuclear missiles pointed at each other in the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). But then the Cold War ended, not with a mushroom cloud, but with a party: people singing and dancing as the Berlin Wall came down. The doctrine of MAD-ness did neither side any good in the end.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
The world says that successful people are savvy: they know how to read between the lines and close the deal. They’re street-smart; they have guile. Successful people know how the game is played and stay two steps ahead of the competition. These savvy, successful people are sure to see great big dividends on their investments. But Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Savvy, street-smart people see the world for what they can get out of it, but they’re missing a whole other dimension of reality. Those who see the world like Jesus does get to see the hand of God at work in creation. These blessed folks know that they’re not alone and that life has meaning. I like to compare this one to the scene in Star Wars when Han Solo is laughing at Luke Skywalker as he trains to be a Jedi Knight. Luke says, “You don’t believe in the Force, do you?” Han replies, “Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen *anything* to make me believe that there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything. ‘Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.” Han is savvy but Luke is pure in heart. Luke is learning how to see the world through a different set of eyes and so, as Obi-Wan Kenobi said about him, he’s taking his “first steps into a larger world.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
The world defines success by winning. Whether it’s trophies on the shelf or notches on the bedpost, the world wants to know about your conquests. This was especially true in ancient Rome, where the empire was built on the doctrine of Pax Romana: world peace through global conquest. They believed that Roman order would prevail over the barbarians of the world by the mighty hand of Caesar. And Caesar himself was worshiped and given a very special title: “The Son of God,” Sol Invictus, “the Unconquerable Sun.” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers (not the conquerors), for they will be called children (lit. ‘sons’) of God.”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Finally, the world says that respect is a measure of success. They say a good name is as good as gold. If people listen to what you say, you’re successful. If you get invited to the White House to advise the President on a matter, you’re successful. The world says it’s good to be admired and respected. Those who possess the kingdoms of this world are accorded respect, whether they deserve it or not. But Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Notice the parallel with the first beatitude. God’s ideal world belongs to the have-nots, the disrespected, the ones without a voice, and those who suffer and die for standing up and speaking out for what’s right. When God’s dream for this world comes true, these are the people we’ll be listening to, not the flattering bootlickers who only tell powerful leaders what they want to hear. We need people of conscience who will “speak the truth in love” to the powerful ones in charge. That’s what prophets do, but they’re almost never listened to or given the respect they deserve. Nevertheless, Jesus calls them “blessed” and commands us to keep doing it.
Conclusion
Jesus redefines success. He takes the world’s self-centered idea of success and replaces it with his own God-centered idea of blessedness. In the mind of Christ, success is not a blessing and blessing does not look like success. God’s blessing is upon the poor and oppressed peoples of this world, the ones without a voice, the ones who weep in the night, and the ones who are literally starving for change. God’s blessing is upon the gentle, the compassionate, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.God’s blessing is upon those who face the pain of this world and do what they can to make a difference. God’s blessing is upon those who are a blessing. And so it is that I say to you:
May God bless you and make you a blessing, this day and every day. AMEN.
By Joseph A. Horne [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Pete Seeger is dead. I’ve been telling myself for years that I ought to write him a letter, telling him what his music has meant to me and my family, but I never did. Now it’s too late. This is what I wanted to say:
Thank you. Thank you for bringing light and joy into a world that often seems so dark and grim. Something about the way you put notes and words together has kept faith, hope, and love alive in us for over half a century. What’s more: you weren’t content to simply entertain us; you invited us to enter into the song ourselves. When we hear your songs, we hear them in our own voices. They have become ours because you gave them away. We will keep the faith by keeping the songs. We will teach them to our children. We will write our own. We will lift up our hearts and voices until the Beloved Community has become a reality on this earth. And in the end, when that day comes, you will be there and your voice will be heard in ours. So long, Pete. You leave us as you found us: singing, singing, singing…
Repent is one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian religious vocabulary. The sound of it typically conjures up images of wild-eyed, Bible-thumping preachers screaming about hellfire and damnation from atop a soapbox on a street corner. Even those who know better still tend to associate repentance with feelings of guilt and shame over past failures.
Jesus uses that word in this morning’s gospel reading when he says to the people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” I don’t think he was trying to lay a guilt-trip on his listeners, nor was he trying to frighten them into becoming disciples.
When Jesus uses that word, repent, he is inviting his listeners into an experience of expanded consciousness. The word repent in Greek (the language in which the New Testament was written) is metanoia. It literally means “to change one’s mind.” Jesus is trying to get his listeners to think differently, think bigger, think outside the box. Specifically, Jesus is inviting us to change the way we think about three things: God, ourselves, and the world.
First, Jesus is inviting his listeners to think bigger, think differently about God. In the world of first century Judaism, people thought of God as being far away. Moreover, they thought there were certain things that people needed to do or think in order to get God’s attention. They thought God had to be appeased by certain rituals or impressed with good moral behavior and theological belief. This is what groups like the Pharisees and Sadducees did with their time: they worked hard to get God’s attention/approval.
All of this is pretty consistent with what I call the human religious instinct. In just about every human culture, on every continent, in every part of history, people have had some kind of belief in a Higher Power (e.g. God(s), Brahman, Tao, etc.). Likewise, they have also had some kind of system in place for contacting, relating to, garnering favor with, or even controlling their Higher Power(s). This is how religions are born. Some scientists have even done studies that indicate our brains might be hardwired for forming religious beliefs and rituals.
One of the really interesting things about Jesus is that he takes this whole human religious enterprise and turns it on its head. All religions present us with a way to find God, but Jesus presents us with a God who finds us.
He says in today’s reading, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Other English translations read, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Think about that: at hand. Hold your hand out in front of you and look at it. Think about those words: “The kingdom of heaven/God (i.e. the place where God lives) is at hand.” Later on, Jesus would take this idea even further and say, “The kingdom of God is within you.”
This is a radical, prophetic, and mystical shift. If it doesn’t blow your mind, then you weren’t really paying attention. This turns the whole human idea of religion upside down. God is not far away, God is close. How close? At hand. Within you. Taking a hint from Jesus, St. Augustine of Hippo says that God is closer to you than your own heart.
The other part of this is that there is nothing we have to do (or can do) to get God’s attention or gain God’s approval because we already have it. Theologically speaking, this is called grace. Grace is the unmerited favor, or unconditional love, of God. Grace is God’s basic orientation toward the world. It can’t be earned any more than a baby can earn the milk that comes from its mother’s breast. It’s just there, free for the taking, because that’s just who God is in relation to the world.
This is how Jesus changes the way we think about God: he turns the whole human religious enterprise on its head by presenting us with a God who is close by and accepts us as we are. The importance of this shift cannot be overstated.
As one might imagine, this change in the way we think about God would naturally have a profound effect on the way we think about ourselves and the world.
Under the systems and institutions created by our own human religious instinct, membership in the community of faith is intentionally kept exclusive. There are certain things one has to do, think, or say in order to be let into “the club.” The privileges of membership are reserved for the few who prove themselves worthy. There is always an us and a them, insiders and outsiders, the saved and the damned. This is the way that our human religious instinct has trained us to think, but it’s not the way that Jesus thinks. To him, there is only us, there are no outsiders, no one is damned, and all are destined for salvation. This is the good news that Jesus preaches.
And he doesn’t just preach it, either; he practices what he preaches. For Jesus, the community of faith is not exclusive but radically inclusive. They literally let anyone through the door of this party.
Jesus demonstrates this first of all in his ministry of table fellowship. Sharing a home-cooked meal with someone in the ancient near east was a powerful thing. It meant that you accepted this person as is, with no strings attached. So, it was quite the village scandal when Jesus gathered a reputation for eating with “tax collectors and sinners” in the towns where he traveled. The religious leaders of his time were constantly up in arms over the bad example he was setting by his willingness to accept and love all people unconditionally (even the losers, rejects, ne’er do wells, freaks, geeks, and criminals).
Another way that Jesus demonstrates the inclusive nature of his ministry is in the calling of his first disciples, which was also part of today’s gospel reading. Look at this text with me, if you will. What kinds of professional or spiritual qualifications does the text say that Andrew, Simon, James, and John had before Jesus was willing to call them to be his disciples? Does it say anything about an interview process? Do they have to attend classes first? Does the text of Matthew’s gospel say anything about how often they went to synagogue, prayed, or studied their Torah? No, it doesn’t. Jesus just calls them and something within them responds, feels drawn to this person. As I once heard someone else say, “Jesus doesn’t choose the qualified; he qualifies the chosen.” That certainly seems to be the case here, even when it came to Christ’s apostles.
In the centuries since then, the Christian Church (in its better moments, anyway) has tried to embody the same kind of open inclusivity in its community that Jesus demonstrated in his. In the early days of the Church, the big controversy was over the question of whether or not to let Gentiles (non-Jewish people) join the Church. This might not seem like such a big deal to us, but I assure you that it was to Christians in the first century. The debate got so heated that it almost split the Church. They fought about it for a long time, but eventually landed on the side of inclusivity, saying that their faith would be a global faith with room for “every tribe, language, people, and nation.”
In more recent times, we’ve seen Christians reach out in the name of our inclusive faith to bridge the gap between denominations and religions. We’ve worked hard to make room in our congregations for people from every race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, and disability.
Right now, at this divided and polarized point in our nation’s history, when the spirit of community seems to be breaking down at all levels, the inclusive gospel of grace is one that people particularly need to hear. In spite of the fact that people in our age are more electronically connected than ever, we have never been more spiritually isolated from one another. We, the people of Christ, have been called to carry his subversive, disarming gospel to the nations.
We are called by Christ to repent (metanoia – “change the way we think”) about God, the world, and ourselves. The gospel of Christ calls us to let go of our efforts to get God’s attention by doing, thinking, and saying the right things. Christ calls us to rise up out of our polarized, divisive, and tribal consciousness shaped by the human religious instinct. We are called to be a light to the world and show them by our gracious living that there is another way to be human. We are called to lift up every voice and preach the good news of salvation: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This is an interesting article that I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I am fully with the author in her call for a radical, committed, active, counter-cultural, and fully liberal practice of faith. Those of us who go by this label absolutely have to get away from the idea of diluted civil religion that only serves as the chaplain to the dominant society. We have to get away from defining ourselves by what we don’t believe. We have to re-engage with our traditions, our sacred texts, regular spiritual practice, and active involvement in our faith communities.
On the other hand, the author seems to be calling for the kind of rigid legalism that caused many of us to flee from more conservative expressions of faith. Am I to believe that liberal religion should now mean pulpit-pounding, rule-making, and fear-mongering over issues environmental rather than pelvic? No thank you. As one who has endured the guilt and fear within fundamentalism, I can testify that it doesn’t work. It creates self-righteous, Pharisaical bigots. We would become the mirror image of the fundamentalisms we judge: compromising compassion and integrity for the sake of our own narrow-minded agenda.
What’s more is that the author’s stated end for these means is the increase of “political power” and “butts in the pews”. I don’t share these goals. An increase in attendance might be a by-product of a community’s spiritual growth, but it should never be an end in itself. The loss of political dominance in society is a blessing, in my opinion. It seems that almost all religious communities tend to be at their worst when they are on top of the heap. That’s when they tend to stagnate, persecute others, and generally sow the seeds of their own destruction. The marginalization of liberal religion has placed us in a position to actualize James Luther Adams’ vision of “the prophethood of all believers.” Small, committed communities of believers working in solidarity with each other have the power to change the world at the grassroots level.
What we need, in my opinion, is a fundamentally different way of relating to the Sacred. We must start from the place of radical grace and acceptance that extends from the inside out to include all beings (even fundamentalists). This, I believe, is the good news of liberal religion that has the power to transform and liberate.
That being said, the author’s core point is one that I’m on-board with. This article is very much worth the read, even where one disagrees with it.
Reblogged from Huffington Post:
by Rev. Ana Levy-Lyons
If you look at any of the traditional markers of religiosity, we religious liberals are less religious than the conservative or orthodox. Liberal Jews tend to not keep kosher; liberal Muslims tend to not pray five times a day; liberal Christians have been known to have premarital sex. As religions have liberalized and modernized over the years, communal religious practices have fallen away and religious fervor has cooled. This may seem obvious and inevitable, but when you think about it, there is no necessary correlation between the substance of a person’s theology and the amplitude of her religiosity. We religious liberals have erroneously forged this correlation and, beyond just making us the butt of jokes, this has really cost us.
By New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: DeMarsico, Dick, photographer. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Reblogged from Huffington Post
By Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch
To understand the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. one should first look to his Christian faith, which gave him the language, spiritual strength and community to fuel and sustain his singular efforts for justice, peace and freedom.
Faith was at the center of his life.
However, as we honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. it is worthwhile to consider the kind of faith King embodied. Because there isn’t just one kind of Christian; and not all faith leaders lead towards freedom.
![By Visitor7 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://hoppinghadrianswall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/repent-1.jpg)
Hopping Hadrian's Wall 