full of flavour

General News – Friday, September 19th, 2014

So we are thinking about salt and saltiness this week.

Salt and Light

Matthew 5, Jesus says ‘You are the salt of the earth’

I had to work out what this really means, so i did a bit of research. Salt was very precious, in the middle ages it was known as White Gold and up to the 20th century it was the main basic currency in what is now Ethiopia.

So salt is precious.

Salt is also pretty hard to come by, you have to mine for it or sift it from salt water. You have to look for it.

Salt is precious and difficult to get hold of.

It brings flavor to food that might otherwise be bland, makes it better, more interesting, gives it more options.

So how can we be the salt of the earth?

I think if can approach life as Jesus did then we will find that life will be

full of flavor,

more interesting

and full of options.

We can follow Jesus who welcomed the stranger, touched the leaper and spoke to the outcast. To the Leaper (Matt 8) He said ‘I am willing’

Am I willing? Are we willing.

Hospitality and welcoming people is a big part of my job, but I have the choice every day, a choice that we all have to make every day. I can offer people a cup of coffee, a chair and a say ‘hi’,

hospitality done,

box ticked.

or I can give them my time

Am I wiling?

To look for flavor, to mine and sift for salt.

to find redemption and  salvation through shared experiences and through listening to each others stories and confessions.

To look for those moments where we can say ‘me too’ or ‘i understand’ those tiny words that make us feel less alone and weird and different in the world.

 

I think that is part of the salt that Jesus is talking about.

This is how Jesus lived and how we are called.

to be the salt but also to mine for it as we encounter and welcome the stranger.

 

salt