So....Salty!

Last Week, the lectionary text was that funny little passage that goes something like this: 13"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:13-17, The Message)

What a funny text. Seriously, what's so great about salt? I mean, you can cook with it and preserve food with it. You could even put it on snails and watch them melt (not that I know this, of course!). Its chemical formula is NaCl (sodium chloride). And that, my friends, is all I know about salt.

But Jesus challenges us to be salt of the Earth. I love this translation, because it is put in a way that we can understand. "You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth." Hmmm...That I can relate to. When I cook, I know that just a tiny little bit of salt makes all the flavors I'm using come out. Even when I bake a cake from scratch, the recipe always calls for a pinch of salt, which will bring out the sweet flavors.

In chapel last Sunday, I challenged the kids to be salt of the Earth, and we talked about ways we could do that. And, just for kicks, we tried two experiments.
1. The Chain of Love. We discussed that one way we could be salt of the Earth is by either "Paying it Forward" (confused? You MUST see the movie "Pay it Forward"...we watched the clip in Chapel about the teacher challenging his students to change the world)or by making a "Chain of Love". (Like the country song. You know "If you really wanna pay me back, here's what you do. Don't let the chain of love end with you.") And so we started a chain of love with paper links. (Think back to your elementary school days, and making paper chain garlands for your pitiful classroom tree.) I did a random act of kindness from a young lady, and told her that she was to pass it on. I wrote my deed on a paper link, and when they came to church yesterday, I asked the young lady how she passed the chain of love on. And she did. She passed it to another young lady in her cottage, who passed it on to another young lady, and now the young lady will pass it on to others this week. My goal is to have a long chain by Pentecost (May 11), which will surely have a place in the service.

2. A Salt of the Earth Poster. I told the kids that I knew this is the time of year when they are just trying to "make it", but that the scriptures desire more of us. And so I told them that any time they helped show other people what a relationship with Christ is like that I wanted to know about it. And there is a poster on my door, that they're supposed to sign when they behave like salt of the Earth. (In the sense of "You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth"). And lo and behold, I brought the poster to chapel yesterday, and they remembered and told me about the ways that they had helped to care for other people. I told them it was my hope to see that poster positively full by the end of school.

Maybe they'll change the world. It's possible, you know.