Salt and Light

A friend reminded me recently that even more important than “going to church,” is “being the church.” After all, Jesus said we are to be the “salt and light” of the world.

Theologian George McCleod once wrote: “I am for recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on the town garbage heap, at a place so cosmopolitan, they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, soldiers gamble and thieves curse; because that is where Christ died, and that is what Christ died about, and that is where church people ought to be, and what church people should be about.”

Salt and light not just in the church, but in the world.

As I read that, I thought about a group from our Presbytery that for a while started a theology discussion class that met in a bar. They called it “Theology on Tap.”

I also thought about my friend Robert McCary. Robert is the full-time youth director at Community Presbyterian Church out in Atlantic Beach. He spends at least a portion of his time each week out surfing at the break behind the church. He claims it is in his job description. When I used to work there, I learned pretty quickly that he knows every lifeguard. He knows most of the surfers in the water – young and old – many of whom do not go to his church or any church. And I have seen that often he’ll have people want to talk to him, to share their problems with him, even ask him for advice – not only because he is a leader in their community – but also because Robert has a reputation for being a good father; a good husband; and a man of deep faith. It is clear that he truly loves and cares for people.

I also thought about some in my congregation who have mentoring high school students who are homeless. And others who go out in the elementary schools to pack backpacks full of food; others still who visit the elderly, or who sing or play bells in nursing homes at Christmas. I could go on.

Today, I pray that you would reflect for just a few moments on the ways in which you, are the salt and light – not just in the church but out in the world.

Let us pray: Draw us closer to you, O God, that we would commit our very lives to walk in your ways; that our actions and our very lives would make a difference – that they would indeed bring light and hope; in Jesus’ name. Amen.