22^nd February 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday O6 February 2011

Lessons -- Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 112:4-9; Matthew 5:13-16

In the Covenant Service we are reminded of what it is to belong to the Christian community. The two short and familiar sayings of Jesus about salt and light can help us to understand what it means to be his disciples
-- provided we do not let their familiarity blind us to our Christian vocation.

We often speak of folk who are hard working, down-to-earth, practical and reliable as 'salt of the earth'. And we tell friends not to 'hide their light under a bushel' so that they get credit for their good deeds.
Unfortunately, the two sayings have become separated from Jesus and are now widely thought to be bits of general advice to encourage us to make a contribution to society.

However, they cannot be separated from him without altering their meaning.
In reality they are descriptions of the specifically Christian life. Jesus says to those who have left their secular jobs: *You* who have already responded to my invitation to follow me by leaving your securities *are* salt and light. He is not talking about good, community-minded people (like those in flood and cyclone affected areas) who pitch in to help others -- welcome as such actions are!

There is nothing wrong with that and we should be grateful for what such people do, but it is not what Jesus means here. He is not praising them for their good deeds. In fact, he is encouraging them to act without thought for their own goodness. Simply be what you are: grateful recipients of God's grace and people who delight to glorify him in a straightforward, unselfconscious manner.

If we look carefully at the way Matthew arranges his story, then we can see that Jesus is calling the Church to a way of life 'in the world' which is neither arrogant nor introspective, but outgoing and self-forgetful. He has not just called disciples 'out of the world' to join an otherworldly cult (4: 18-22). In the Sermon on the Mount (Chapters 5 - 7) they are called the 'salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world': people who gladly respond to God's love for them by bearing one another's sorrows, seeking righteousness, showing mercy and even suffering persecution, without considering their own religious and moral goodness.

Jesus is not very politically correct to choose salt to describe this life! Salt used to be indispensable for seasoning and preserving food.
Meat was salted so that it did not go bad and life itself could be sustained for long periods. Without it people died either for lack of food or by eating rotten food. Jesus uses the image to remind disciples that they exist to 'preserve' the life of the earth. They are simply there to invite others to 'taste and see that the Lord is good' and to expose what is tasteless or rotten in the world.

The covenant community is to be a visible presence in a broken world. It is to be like 'a city set on a hill' or a 'lamp placed on a stand in a room'. Without congregations to glorify God, nobody (including you and me)
would come to know the costly grace of Christ 'for the world'.

The Christian Church is not a private faith or a religious or social club which exists for its own benefit. We are not to isolate ourselves from the real world nor merge in with it, but give ourselves for others in the midst of the world. We are to be what we are in the company of Jesus:
'beacons of hope' in a dark world.

Of course we all want the Church to be relevant. We warm to the images of 'salt' and 'light' because we like to think of ourselves as being helpful, decent and community-minded. In fact they summon us to costly service in the world while also warning us against self-righteousness.

Salt preserves food most effectively when it is not obvious. Food is spoiled when there is too much or too little salt. Similarly with light.
It is most helpful when it shines in the dark without intruding. We usually become aware of it only when it is too strong or too weak. Salt and light perform their respective functions best when we (and others) are not conscious of their presence.

Therefore being members of the covenant community -- 'salt of the earth'
and 'light to the world' -- means being a community that carries out its calling in a definite but unselfconscious manner. We are not meant to draw attention to ourselves but to Jesus Christ so that the world might 'give glory to His Father' (5:16b). The Church's preserving and illuminating task is truly done when we are so taken up by Christ's mission in the world that we forget about ourselves and our own reputation.

The Church's calling to be such a community is not natural. We are summoned by the God who, in Christ, has revealed his self-giving love for our broken world. It is only by God's incomprehensible grace that we share Christ's work of preserving the world from becoming tasteless or 'going bad' and shedding the light of grace and righteousness into its many dark corners. We are called to celebrate God's redeeming love in worship and service which is marked by gratitude and action that is whole-hearted, outgoing and centred on Jesus Christ alone!

The specific ways this calling is carried out must be worked out in each situation. But some definite pointers are found in the Sermon on the Mount (that follows these sayings). The covenant community is called to share in the 'new righteousness' embodied in Christ who said: 'I have come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them (5:17).'

There we find clues to a way of life that challenges our tendency to be self-righteous or self-indulgent in relation to our fellow men and women.
At the same time we are warned not to treat God's grace lightly but to practise a 'better righteousness'. We are called to forgive enemies, to love the earth, to uphold the sanctity of marriage, to defend human dignity, to seek justice and to stand firm against persecution.

Because our task is to illuminate Jesus Christ, we are to be visible in the world but not be self-important in our own world. Also, because our task is to enable others to 'taste and see that the Lord is good', we are to preserve the world but not to seek self-preservation.

How can we act like this when by nature we are prone to be focused on ourselves? We are called to exercise this vocation under the umbrella of God's transforming grace. In Christ, God shatters our pride and engages our minds and hearts so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we can delight to seek and to do God's good and gracious will for all humanity. In ourselves we cannot preserve and illuminate the world by being 'righteous' in this way. But, through the transforming power of Christ, we may 'exceed the splendid obedience of scribes and Pharisees'
(v20).

There is so much that is 'tasteless' in our 'dark' world! Too often in communities and churches around the globe human dignity is trampled by brutal tyrants and selfish individuals. Life is cheap. Truth is despised.
God is mocked. Christian faith is held in contempt. The world urgently needs to hear about the transforming grace of God embodied in Christ's self-giving love for all humanity.

On this Covenant Sunday, we renew the covenant that God, in his sheer grace, has made with us through Christ in fulfilment of his covenant with the Hebrew people, so that the nations will rejoice.

So may we become what we are: 'salt of the earth' to preserve all that is good in our common life, and 'light to the world' to shine the light of truth in the darkest corners.

Furthermore, may our own hearts-and-minds be preserved and illuminated by Jesus Christ, in whom the Gospel of Life which has been embodied as the word of hope for all people in the midst of a 'culture of death'. So may we be given courage to do what is necessary to bear witness to the Gospel of Life in these very testing times.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.