Sermon from Sunday, February 5, 2017

Reading:  Matthew 5:13-20

This week instead of one big sermon-and-a-song, three little sermonettes-and-pieces-of-a-song.

Loving and holy God both within and beyond us all, may the words of my mouth, the wonderings and wanderings of all our hearts, and the wisdom of our song be pleasing and acceptable to you, our salt and our light.  Amen.

Sermonette 1: Ordinary people.

“You are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.”

Do we believe it?  Do we believe that in the common, ordinary round of relations that make up our lives, of family and friends, neighbours and strangers, acquaintances and foes – that as little people in the world who listen to, and respond to the news, without making the news ourselves – that not in spite of, but precisely in the midst of our common ordinariness, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world?

How many of the people of Galilee who heard Jesus say it to them, really believed it and took it to heart? 

At the moment Jesus says this, he is not speaking to the movers and shakers of the world – to the king and his court in Jerusalem, to the lawyers and lawmakers of the day, to the stars and celebrities and larger-than-life heroes we are always tempted to look to, and trust and follow just because they’re in the spotlight, in the news and in our faces all the time.

He is talking to fishermen and farmers, tax collectors and bureaucrats, shepherds and carpenters, to gypsies, tramps and thieves, beggars and lepers, hired hands and small businesspeople, housewives and parents and grandparents, village doctors and village elders and village idiots.

“You are the salt of the earth,” he says.  It is you who make life good and delightful rather than evil and distasteful, or not.  “You are the light of the world.”  It is you who brighten and enlighten others, and show how good God intends the world to be or all, or not.

They really are the salt of the earth and the light of the world as they leave their daily lives for the moment, to gather around Jesus to be touched by a holy grace, be opened to a meaning beyond themselves, be healed of their illness and disorders, of their needs and fears and anger, so when they return to their day-in-day-out lives, they are free and able to live out and live in the common life of the world in a new way and with a new and right spirit.

As are we.  But do we believe it?  That like them we are touched by grace, opened to a meaning beyond ourselves, healed of our diseases and disorders, and that without needing to be anything or anywhere other than what and where we are, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, without which the world cannot be well or do well?  Do we believe it?

Song:  Jesus Bids Us Shine (v.1)

Jesus bids us shine with a pure, clear light,

Like a little candle burning in the night;

In this world of darkness, so let us shine,

You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Sermonette 2:  Gathered together

“You in your small corner, and I in mine.”  That’s true enough – that each of us in our own little way and in whatever relations make up our life, is salt and light.

But we are also salt and light together in ways we cannot be alone.  Just think of the response this week across Canada and in different parts of the world to the attack on Muslims at prayer in the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City – and the indelible images we now carry of the thousands upon thousands from all walks of life and all religious traditions gathering together in so many cities and towns to hold candles against the darkness in quiet vigil against the violence set loose in our world.  How important it was at that moment to be gathered, and to be salt and light together in a bigger way than we are just by ourselves. 

Do you remember almost 40 years ago in the crisis of the Vietnamese boat people, what a witness it was the world and how the world at that time was changed for the better when communities and congregations – like Fifty and so many others, gathered their faith, their love and their resources to reach out and sponsor families in need of a safe place to be?  And how we do the same thing again now in response to the crisis of Syrian refugees.  As individuals we can do so little; even our congregation cannot really do much to make a difference – even light one little light.  But with four other churches as part of United to Help Syrians, we can and we are.

In 2011 after the attack on a Hindu temple here in Hamilton, the Women of Fifty as a group did something no one of them could have done alone; they donated $500 to the temple to help with rebuilding.  As a church we also invited Manny Deonarin, one of their teachers, to come and join us – even lead us in worship, to establish a more personal tie.  And what did he talk about the Sunday he was here?  Enlightenment … how individually and together the purpose of being human is to be enlightened, to find the way beyond darkness and ignorance.

I regret to say we didn’t follow up on that connection, beyond that one Sunday.  I wonder if I was afraid, or unpracticed maybe, in going too far beyond my own small corner, beyond the cover of my own little basket. 

And the question is still there today – are we ready to be salt and light together and together with others, in ways we cannot be just on our own? 

This past week, the message went up on our church sign – “Prayers of sorrow and solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters”.  I also posted something on the church Facebook page.  Both of which were noticed and appreciated by others, and helped encourage even more light of compassion and love to be shared. 

But I don’t even know where the nearest mosque is, to express sorrow and solidarity in relationship.  At a Council meeting just two weeks ago, we discussed the $5000 grants that the Hamilton Community Foundation is making available to local groups planning sesquicentennial projects that emphasize and help nurture the inclusive nature of Canadian society, and we talked about maybe helping organize a Canada Day multi-faith celebration of all the different traditions and cultures of Winona today.  But I have no idea what different traditions and cultures really are here, where their small corners may be, and how to be in touch with people in them.

If anyone has any interest in, or ideas about being salt and light these days together with others, in ways we cannot be just by ourselves, I’d be glad to hear it.

Song:  Jesus Bids Us Shine (v.2)

Jesus bids us shine, first of all for Him;
Well He sees and knows it if our light grows dim;
Jesus walks beside us to help us shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Sermonette 3: Not the usual suspects

This week we begin City Kidz Miracle Month, to explore and expand the ways we are able to support City Kidz – one of the ways we are salt and light in the City of Hamilton along with others.  Begin with a 3 ½- minute video …

So who is Hope York?  And if we saw her on the street hanging out with her friends in east Hamilton, would we recognize as salt of the earth and light of the world?

The people who gathered around Jesus and who he called salt and light in their time were not the kinds of people normally regarded as the ones to carry the message and make the difference for good in the life of the world.  Mostly they were seen as the ones who needed to hear the message, who needed to be helped and healed, who needed to be made better and different than they were.

I wonder if we still tend to see and divide people in the same way?  Between those who are the light and bring the light, and those who are in the dark and need the light to be brought to them? 

But when we support City Kidz with donations, sponsorships, volunteer support and prayers, we are supporting is the light that they are – all of them – staff, volunteers, kids and families alike and all together – the light that they are even without us – and that they can be even better with our support.  It’s they who are the light in that part of the city, and it’s we who get to share in it when we offer what support we can. 

The good news is that the light of God is not just ours to carry into the world.  It’s beyond us all, and shows up burning bright in the darnedest places and through the darnedest people – not at all just the usual suspects.  And as we share in it by doing what we can to support it and keep it burning, it becomes part of us as well.  We ourselves grow brighter when we love and support the light of God wherever we see it shining.

Song: Jesus Bids Us Shine (v. 3)

Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around,

Many kinds of darkness in the world are found:

Sin, and want, and sorrow, so we must shine,

You in your small corner, and I in mine.