Epiphany 5A

St. John's Episcopal Church in Tallahassee has been standing in downtown Tallahassee since 1829.

After wonderful years of active history,

unfortunately their membership and active lay leadership started lagging.

They were still living their faith in Jesus and being a presence in downtown Tallahassee,

but people were not coming to church as they used to.

People were not connecting to the real life and gifts of the community.

That is, until they started learning about the principals of Invite Welcome Connect

and started rethinking their hospitality and community connections.

The rector of St. John's Tallahassee, the Rev. David Killeen, wrote in the Invite Welcome Connect book,

"Connect is a particular area on which we needed to concentrate.

I personally witnessed many of our newcomers leaving the party through the back door.

They would be active for six months and then disappear.

Through Invite Welcome Connect,

we are much more intentional about connecting new people to other members and ministries.

At the same time, we realize people connect at their own paces.

I've witnessed newcomers joining the choir on their very first day with us,

and others who need to sit in the back of the church for a year before they get involved with anything."

When introducing the Invite Welcome Connect program to newcomers at his church, he says,

"I frame it like this:

Every Sunday, Jesus throws a party at church.

He is the host, we're all guests, but in our case, we are guests who have already experienced Jesus' welcome.

Now, we are to share it with others."

Has it worked for St. John's Tallahassee?

He reports, three years ago, St. John's Tallahassee

"welcomed more than 100 new members, all of whom have become meaningfully connected to the St. John's community."

100 new members!

How encouraging to hear! 

There is growth and new life for the Episcopal Church!

What great news!

Encouraging news seems to be so few and far between in the world today.

We hear stories of wars and shooters.

We have politicians ripping each other apart.

And much general decline in faith and humanity in the social political realm. 

Yet, Jesus encourages us in the calling we have to the world.

To be light and salt,

to remind others of God's love in the world.

Encouragement is the name of the game today. 

In this chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, 

Jesus switches from blessing the crowds to encouraging them to share what they have with others. 

He tells them that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. 

Jesus tells the crowds that they are following him through the laws and beyond. 

What he does not tell him, but what is implicit in what he does say, is that they are worth it. 

That they are able to make a difference. 

"You are the salt of the earth. You can make a difference. 

You are the light of the world. Let your light shine. 

You can make a difference."

So very encouraging!

Maybe you aren't buying it. 

Why would being the salt of the earth be a good thing? 

Salt was a very precious commodity in the ancient world. 

Salt had to be gathered and purified. 

Salt was used to preserve food so that it didn't have to be eaten immediately. 

Salt also has healing and cleaning properties. 

In Jewish tradition, and later Christian tradition, 

salt was blessed and used in exorcisms and baptisms and blessing places.  

Salt really doesn't have too much of its own flavor. 

Garlic, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, all of these spices definitely have their own flavor. 

Salt, though is really only used to enhance the flavor of something else. 

Its kind of like a magnifying glass. 

It makes what is already present harder, better, faster, stronger.

The funny thing about salt is that it is like honey. 

Left by themselves, honey and salt never go bad. 

Salt is a stable chemical compound. 

Unless it gets wet, it will stay salt and salty for a very very very long time. 

The analogy then is that when we act like salt of the earth, 

we do not call attention to ourselves. 

Instead, we enhance what is already present. 

We bring out the good flavor of what is already going on. 

We make things better. 

Salt's mission in this world is not to promote salt, 

but to make everything else better. 

We are not called to promote ourselves, but God.

So after Jesus blesses the crowds with the beatitudes, 

he encourages them by telling them that they are the salt of the earth. 

They are imminently good. And necessary. 

The crowds that Jesus was talking to were the lowly country people. 

They were not the high and mighty, not the celebrities. 

And yet, Jesus tells them they are the ones giving flavor to this world. 

They are the ones that can make life better for other people.

In the same manner, Jesus tells the crowd that they are the light of the world. 

Human beings need light to be able to see. 

We are created that way. 

And in order for other people to see God, they have to have the right kind of light. 

The people who are in darkness can't see God, because there isn't any light. 

Light does also normally follow Newtonian physics. 

Which means that unless something stops it, it will shine everywhere it can reach. 

Jesus tells his followers that they are the light, 

and that unless they stop themselves for some reason, 

they can shine the light of God everywhere. 

Being light can be a burden, a responsibility, but it is also an honor. 

We are the light. 

Only we can show others what it is to see God in this world.

We follow in the footsteps of those in the crowds that day. 

We are the salt of the earth. 

We give flavor to this world. 

We are the light of the world. 

We can shine light on what it means to see God in this world.

We can invite others in to see what God is doing here and now.

We can welcome those who come here,

to share the light we have with them.

We can help others connect to God and the community,

so that they can let their light shine,

so that they can be salt in other communities,

continuing to light the world.

So, I encourage you. 

Be salt and be light. 

I encourage you to try something new out this week. 

Invite someone to church.

Bring up God's love in a conversation with someone who is down.

Build connections to new people in our community.

I encourage you to write down all the ways in which God has worked through you to help someone else. 

I encourage you to shine, to sparkle, to add flavor to another person's life. 

I encourage you to love, love deeply, love widely, 

love even in the midst of the hard moments and difficult emotions. 

I encourage you to be salt and light. 

I encourage you to trust God and follow Jesus in this dark world,

shining your light.

Amen.