June 9, 2002
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| Favored,
Flavored and Fully Savored Love-filled God, past all explanation or deserving, we have received from you grace upon grace upon grace. Though many come disguised, each one blesses, challenges, bewilders, supports, stretches, comforts us, though none protect us from the struggles of life and that, too, is cause for thanksgiving, for neither do they quarantine us from courage, compassion, creativity, and our consciousness of deep communion in our life together. So we ask you to bless us and all our gifts, keeping us in your fierce love as we strive for your kingdom and receive from you the things we need, knowing that you are able to provide for us far beyond what we can think or ask. Receive this prayer in the name of Jesus, our savior. Amen. (Adapted from “Keep Us In Your Fierce Love” My Heart in My Mouth, by Ted Loder, 2000, Innisfree Press. www.InnisfreePress.com) God’s blessing and love for us are fierce. But the truth is, even for people in Christ, those blessings and that love are not always evident to us. There are days when it is not at all clear to us that God wills good for us. The good news is that God does will good for us and that will is worked out by God as we are blessed in our lives to be in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, and with each other. We have the favor of God. In those relationships there are incredible blessings. One day Jesus discovered that their lay before him a teachable moment, an instant when he was able to let his disciples know what it means to be blessed, to be seasoning for the world, and to be that which gives light to the world. I imagine that he looks at the crowd slightly below him. He sees how different they are, and how needful they are, and he sees how blessed they are. He knows they don’t all feel blessed or even that they deserve to be blessed, but he knows that they are. I want you to know today that we are in that crowd that Jesus sees and addresses. We are among those who stand on tiptoe as he teaches his disciples, hoping to hear a bit of what Jesus is saying. We hear something about blessing. He is talking about how we have the favor of God. “Blessed, are the poor in spirit?” What kind of blessing is that? When my spirit and soul are downcast, I do not feel blessed. All I feel is depressed, unsure, insecure. We’ve all been there. Some of us may be there now. When we are seized by poverty of the spirit, there is no joy, and no hope. Instead there is bitterness, and hurt, and an angry spot on the soul. How is that a blessing? What else is he saying? Blessed are the those who mourn. But all I feel in my grief and loss is devastation. Jesus is not done, he goes on, “Blessed are the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who want to do what is right. Blessed are some others too, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and the reviled. You will be blessed.” “Jesus”, we say. “What are you talking about? Where is the blessing in these things? Let me tell you how I feel when what you are calling blessings are all around. I do not feel blessed, I feel besieged.” My meekness is mistaken for weakness, and I am disrespected; “wimp” is a frequently heard word. I want to do what is right, but I find myself lured into bad decision making. Hear us when we describe to you how when we try to act with mercy, somebody is always waiting to take advantage of us. When we try to act with a pure heart, we are called naïve.” Last week a group of people held a peace rally; they were denounced as unpatriotic. The persecuted get beat up, and the reviled, those who live with lies told about them, those who don’t fit in, whatever in is, those who make us uncomfortable and afraid find themselves alienated, alone, rejected and confused. What kind of favor is God showing us; where is the blessing in that? Jesus lets us know that the blessing is in the fulfillment of the promise that accompanies it. The promise is the same when we are persecuted and reviled for our faith, as it is for the poor in spirit, the kingdom, the realm of God is yours. When you take a stand for peace, know that in that moment, you are part of the beloved offspring of God. When you act in integrity and with purity of heart, God will show up. Doing acts of mercy? Such acts will be done for you. Hungering to do right, you will be filled with the strength and courage to act with integrity. Living with meekness and humility, the whole earth is yours. Mourning a deep loss of a loved one, of hope, facing more change than you think you can handle, comfort is here. It will not always be easy. We will not always have smooth sailing, some days the seas are rough. But Jesus has given us some blessings, and some promises, and we can receive the blessings and trust the promises, the song says we stand on the promises now. The blessing and the promise of God helps us to see who we are. We have God’s favor, and we have flavor. There is a rhythm, a style, a way of moving, a way of being, a way of doing things that makes us who we are. Jesus thinks about those who follow him, and says to us, “you flavor the world, you are the salt of the earth.” All of us know that people suffering from high blood pressure need to watch their salt intake, however, we really are partially salt. You may remember learning that the “human body contains about four ounces of salt. Without enough salt in our bodies, muscles won’t contract, blood won’t circulate, food won’t digest, and the heart won’t beat.” (www.smithosonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/jan99/salt.html) We are the salt of the earth. Without the salty flavor we give to the world, there would be no grace, no Christian perseverance, no assurance of the presence of God, or the risen Christ, nor the Holy Spirit in our lives or in the world. You are the salt of the earth, Jesus says. We are blessed, we have favor. We are the salt of the earth. We have flavor. But is salt really what we want to be? We know the negative stories about salt. We have heard the biblical story of Lot’s wife (Genesis 19.26). She disobeyed God, and looked back instead of moving into the future that was ready for her, and when she did she became a pillar of salt. Salt was sometimes used as a curse (Deuteronomy 29.3), as when it was when it was combined with sulfur and spread onto the land to punish the people for their disobedience. Then there was no planting, not sprouting, no vegetation of any kind. Jesus says, “you are the salt of the earth.” You are not for destruction, but for blessing, not for disobedience, but faithfulness. You are the salt of the earth. The kind of salt that was used in making incense for worship (Genesis 30.35), the kind that was used in services in which our covenant with God was recalled (Leviticus 2.13). It is the kind that King Ataxerxes gave to Ezra so he would have all that he needed to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 7.22). What is Jesus saying? He is telling us that we have value. I have told you before that the salt and salary have the same root, and of how Roman soldiers were often paid in salt. Salt preserves, it made food and life better. He is telling us that we have staying power and that the world is a better place because his church is part of it. We are invited by Jesus to flavor the world, which we can only do if we value the flavor in ourselves. One of the unique things about salt is that it does not mask the flavor of food, rather, salt brings out the flavor that is already in there, and it is in every thing that it touches. Salt is always salt. It cannot really lose its flavor. If you dilute it, it’s taste is still there. If you let a pot of salty water dry out, the residue of salt will still be there. You cannot get rid of the salt that is in you, so claim it, embrace it, pour it out like the Morton Salt girl. Be the salt that God has created you to be. Remember, salt is always salt just as we are always daughters and sons of God. We are not ready to be trampled under anyone’s feet, our call is to flavor the world. One writer translates the words this way: “You are red hot pepper for the whole earth…you must add zest to the life of the whole world. “ (Interpretation series Matthew. Douglas RA Hare. Louisville. JKP, 1993, p. 44) When we add our zesty saltiness to the world, we will be fully savored. To be savory is to have a specific taste or smell. It is to have a distinctive quality, it is to appreciate fully, it is to enjoy and relish. That which has savor is attractive, it draws people to it. Have you ever walked into a place, and smelled hot, fresh popcorn? You didn’t think you were hungry, but the savoriness gets to you and you just had to buy a bag? We can be that way to the world, so attractive, so giving, so distinctive, so inviting that people will want to be here too. You are blessed, you are salt, you are light, you are a city on a hill. With all that said, there will be days when you still don’t feel the blessing, the favor of God. Sometimes you have to live until you do. The Psalm that was read today invites us to wait for the Lord and to be courageous. The blessing will be revealed and the promise will be fulfilled. Someone has said that even when we do not feel like it, there are days when we have to dress up anyway. Sometimes we have to fake it till we feel it. We have to speak, live, and pray our all that God has for us into our awareness. When it comes, and I trust that it will - when we value who we are in the God who created us, our savoriness, our aroma, our essence will rise up like a city on a hill. Jesus says we are a city high up and which cannot be hid. Here we are, a city on a hill at the corner of 21st and Broad acting like we have a canopy over us. The good news is that we cannot be hid. You are blessed, you are salt and light and a city on a hill. Light the lamp of this church and raise it high, do it for the ones we dedicated today, and for the ones we have dedicated and received here before. Show them who we are and why we praise God for creating this place for us to work and worship. Invite them in and let them see that in this place, there is the stuff we talk about at advent, there is hope, peace, joy, and love. Even when it feels like we are overwhelmed by despair, conflict, sorrow, and hatred, that is not what our salt and light are about. They are about seeing in ourselves and in others, compassion, justice, and commitment. The love of Christ for his disciples led him to teach them words which we continue to strain to hear and believe. We have favor, flavor and are highly savored, and we want the world to know that God loves us, each of us, not only us, but God loves you and me completely, unreservedly, and unconditionally. God loves us no matter our age, our race, our looks, our gender, our orientation, without regard to our achievements or accomplishments, no matter our faults and failings. I believe that God wants each of us to feel blessed - to be salt, and light, raised up so people will see our faithfulness, all to the glory of God. I want you to believe that about this church, and I want you to believe it about yourself. So say to yourself some time today, we are blessed. We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city on a hill. And then says to yourself about yourself, I am blessed. I am the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city on a hill, and give praise to the God who has created you, and will love you forever. Thanks be to God, who blesses us and who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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