Sunday, February 9, 2020

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time; 5^th Sunday after Epiphany

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Second Reading: I Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:13-20

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

Salt.  We think of salt in terms of salt and pepper.  Of that shaker on the table.  But salt is bigger than that.  Salt is essential to life.  Without salt the body cannot live.  It is essential element and part of our lifeblood.  Oh sure, listen to the heart commercials—too much is bad, but were there to be a way of taking in no salt at all—life would stop.  You would die.

Who are we Christians?  We are the salt of the earth.  Does that mean that without us—the salt—the earth would cease to live?  Sounds kind of dramatic…until you think about it. 

What is the most important thing you know?  The most important thing you know—the most important news you have ever learned is that God loves you.  That you—YOU—are important to God.  You are so important that Jesus, very God of very God, would go to the cross and give up his life.

God holds your life—even beyond this physical life.  God promises you hope and a future.  God, in Christ, has chosen YOU!  That is the most important new you have ever learned.

And it is you—salt of the earth YOU—that is to share that same good news with the rest of the world.  You keep life going—when you share the story that God is love.  When you share that with your friends, and your children, and your neighbors, and the strangers, and the world—you keep life going and the earth living…

You are the salt of the earth.  That’s who you are.

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk