Salt is part of the basis of our physical, creature-ly selves. We need it, we crave it, but it has to be in just the right balance. We need salt in our individual spiritual lives, and in our communal life as a church, too. What does that mean? People we call “salt of the earth” are stable, reliable, good-hearted. Those we call “salty” can push the edges with their directness, even be annoying! There’s a balance here, too. Jesus calls his followers to be a new kind of fearless seasoning for the world; to be unafraid to actually “feel something” which might be the divine moving in them, and to invite others to experience that, too. Frederick Buechner wrote:
Jesus calls us to … live this truth forth. Be the light of the world, be the salt of the earth. Bring out the true flavor of what it is to be alive. Be life-givers to others. Love each other; heal the sick; raise the dead; cleanse lepers; cast out demons. That is what loving each other means. If the church is doing things like that, then it is being what Jesus told it to be. If it is not doing things like that [those dangerous, edgy, salty things! –CB ], no matter how many other good and useful things it may be doing instead — then it is not being what Jesus told it to be. It is as simple as that.
Be blessed. Get salty.
Pastor Carol
Amen to that, my past life lost its saltiness. At times I would be up to the challenges of life, then Anxiety would kick in I would become depressed and lonely. I lived the majority of my life in fear, fear of height, fear of speaking before large crowds. I didn’t have no plans , or any hope to do nothing in life. Now that I surrender my life to God, I have the salt to be all that I can be as long as it’s Holy 2 Corinthians 5:17 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I didn’t say some things but all things, as long as it’s Holy. God wants us to be Holy. Amen