A few weeks ago, my daughter Chelsea and I were driving from Utah to California for my daughter Kaitlyn’s wedding, when we passed by the huge Bonneville Salt Flats west of Salt Lake City (aha—so that’s where the city got its name!) For miles and miles, the salt covered the earth like white snow. (The U.S. is third in global salt production—who knew?) Indeed, you can drive a car on the flats, and even camp out there! Salt, salt everywhere.
Now, how did Jesus begin his ministry? With words of praise and accolades for himself and his high mission, his holy purpose? No. He began with the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (oh, the beautiful mountains in Utah!) telling his disciples that they were blessed! Happy! (not holy or saved, happy) And he gave some sources for obtaining such happiness: comforting others who mourned, working for peace and hungering for justice, being meek to Divine prompts (obedient like a gentled horse is ‘meek’ and one with its master), simplifying one’s possessions or heart (poor in spirit) so one can be filled with God-power, Love-power!
And then Jesus continues by telling his disciples (us) what our essence is and how to use it properly and effectively for the kin-dom of God. I’m going to explore only one of them here: “You are the salt of the earth.” We are, already, this! We don’t have to earn or become the salt of the earth—it is our birthright!
And what was salt good for in the olden days (and still today)? First, it was a preservative, to keep meat from spoiling. So we each, like salt, have the capacity to keep things from spoiling: people, events, cities, schools, banks, etc. We are “preservatives”—not liberals or conservatives but those who keep the good and the necessary from spoiling, going bad. And this is an ongoing calling, for all meat will eventually spoil, even after being salted. So we must keep at it or as Jesus warns, we will never get our saltiness back if we lose it. We’ll only be good to be trampled underfoot (well, Jesus wanted to get our attention, so he’s a bit dramatic.)
Second, salt was used to enhance, bring out, the flavor of the food it is sprinkled upon. This too is our divine inheritance, our Godly DNA: to bring out the best in others. As Pastor Tracy Hausman of Park City Community Church reminds us: salt doesn’t draw attention to itself. For example, do we munch into a juicy ear of corn slathered with butter and salt, and exclaim, “Oh, that salt is delicious!” No (well, she admits she does.) Salt does its job pretty humbly and quietly. That’s who we as disciples should and can be.
Furthermore, it only takes a tiny bit, a teensy grain of salt, to have the powerful effect of enhancing, bringing out, everyone’s unique flavor! How inspiring to think that each of us doesn’t have to change our world for the better in a big way. I used to remind my small but vital and loving Living Waters Sanctuary congregation about this. While our culture, and even some churches, honors Big and demeans, scoffs at, the little, the tiny, Jesus tells us that tiny is good—it is powerful because its special quality resides in its essence, not its size.
So, my salty friends, let’s continue to be salt shakers for God, sprinkling a bit of Love everywhere we go, on everyone we meet!
