For St. Andrew Deanery Day
Sunday, February 9, 2020
SERMON Text: Matthew 5: 14-16\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus says: \u201cYou are the light of the world. \nA city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. In the same way your light must shine in\npeople\u2019s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your\nfather in heaven\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am told that the Christian missionary E.\nStanley Jones once asked Mahatma Gandhi: \u201cMr. Gandhi, though you quote the\nwords of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject\nbecoming his follower (Christian)\u201d? The latter\u2019s reply was clear: \u201cOh, I don\u2019t\nreject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you\nChristians are so unlike <\/strong>your\nChrist\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is necessary to have faith to be saved,\nbut following Christ cannot be theoretical. It must be shown in action and in\ndeeds. Jesus had warned in Mt 7: 21-23 that: \u201cNot everyone who says to me,\n`Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my\nFather who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we\nnot prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty\nworks in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart\nfrom me, you evildoers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest threat to Christianity is not\nother religions; it’s not atheism, or secularism. The greatest threat to\nChristianity is Christians trying to sneak into heaven incognito without ever\nliving their faith, without ever living out the Christian life, without ever\nbecoming involved in the most significant work God is doing in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is exactly the problem Jesus was trying to remedy with his Sermon on the Mount, the prelude to today\u2019s Gospel. The question is, are we taking seriously the moral dilemma we have found ourselves in as a nation?\u00a0 Think about the crowd to whom Jesus was speaking. It was a group of common people living ordinary lives. They were under occupation; they couldn’t make their own laws; they couldn’t plan their own futures; they couldn’t determine their own destinies. Yet Jesus said to them, “You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.”\u00a0 You may think you are insignificant, but I can tell you if you are a Christian you can make an incredible difference in this world.\u00a0 But we have to first believe it, because as Jesus puts it if salt becomes tasteless, how can we salt the world with it.\u00a0 That message seems especially true today.\u00a0 For if we no longer believe the Gospel, if we no longer believe in reconciliation as God\u2019s gift to a hurting world, then who is going to preserve the moral and ethical values that sustain the social order?\u00a0 We\u2019re supposed to be the leaven of the world, yet if we no longer believe what we proclaim week after week, what hope do we have of offering anything new to our community and nation? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Until the Church, that is you and me, believes its own message, there is no point in going out and telling other people to be Christian.\u00a0 There is no new narrative to point them to if we are not living the life.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 conclusion is rather pessimistic.\u00a0 He says, \u201cIf salt has lost its zing, it\u2019s good for nothing but to be thrown out and be trampled underfoot\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Now let me say something that is often missed. By calling his disciples salt of the earth, Jesus is not saying they are the saved ones.\u00a0 He is, in fact, saying; \u201cso long as people are prepared to live by the upside-down wisdom of the gospel, it will be enough to flavour the whole meal of life\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nare salt and we are light. But just what does this mean? Why does Jesus insist\nthat we need to “salt-ti-fy the earth and turn on the light?” How are\nwe to do that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nfirst<\/strong> thing I want to say to you this morning\nis that when Jesus says in our gospel; “You are the salt of the\nearth” (v.13a), he is not speaking to everyone. He is addressing the same small group whom he\ncalled the happy ones in the Beatitudes. \nWhen you can weep, when you can identify with the little ones, when you\ncan make peace, when you can be persecuted and still be joyful; then you will\nbe like salt to the earth, adding flavour. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salt itself is a miracle. As you know, it\nis chemically composed of sodium and chloride. \nIn a world that is decaying it is our job as salt to preserve the\nholiness of God, and the goodness of Jesus as much as we can. As bad as things\nare, can you imagine how bad things would be if there were no churches? How bad\nwould things be if there were no Christians living exemplary lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, we need to be salt, but there’s a\ndanger. Jesus goes on to say, “…if the salt loses its flavour, how shall\nit be seasoned?” (v.13b) <\/p>\n\n\n\n I must admit I only came across your theme\na couple days ago; \u201cDisciples on the move…. Praising, Praying, Sharing\u201d.\nWhile I would agree that this speaks to much of what we are about, the one word\nthat\u2019s missing is \u201clistening\u201d. Later\nthis year we will gather as a Diocese to begin our year-long commemoration of\n150 Years of Disestablishment. Of course,\nthe Anglican Church has been around for over 300 years. However, it wasn\u2019t until 150 years ago that\nwe became a self-Governing body, setting our own policies and directing our\ncourse for mission. Amidst our vast\ndecline in recent decades and an increasing number of Jamaicans still ignorant\nabout who or what an Anglican is, we are bound to ask; have we lost our\nrelevance to the larger society? <\/p>\n\n\n\n That question has bothered me for decades\nand so I returned to my thesis which I wrote 17 years ago. In fact, I spent\nmost of Thursday night reading it again. My task then was to explore ways\nwhereby a church, once perceived as complicit in a people\u2019s oppression might\nnow become agents of reconciliation and transformation. This, of course, sounds odd to our ears, but\nthat is largely how we are perceived by others. \nTo become a truly witnessing Church, we must learn how to be a listening\nChurch. Anglicans seem not to have\nrecognized that often it is the people outside the \u201cchurch of the status quo\u201d\nwho have already perceived the possibility of their own emancipation. And we\nignore them to our own demise. Bear with me while I quote a paragraph from my thesis, Redemption Song, A New Hermeneutics for Social Transformation<\/strong>: \u201cThose outside the status quo, those often considered to be on the margins, are the very ones who ask the most penetrating questions; questions like: \u2018Why has God not liberated us?\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Why is the Church so silent on issues of injustice?\u2019\u00a0 \u2018In whose interest does democracy serve?\u2019\u00a0 These questions invite the church into new areas of social and theological engagement and demand a reassessment of the way we can assist an \u2018alienated community\u2019 to hear the liberating voice of scripture\u201d.\u00a0 The challenge, I suggested is not for the Church to produce more theologies from the top; there are already many of these in existence.\u00a0 The challenge is to re-examine the way the Bible has been read and interpreted in the past and to open up a new discourse to include those voices of resistance that have felt excluded from the historic hermeneutical process. “…if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second<\/strong>\nthing Jesus Says in our gospel is that we must shine the Light to a darkened world\nfor “You are the light of the world.”(v.14a) The difference between salt and light, is that\nsalt relates to our character while light relates to our conduct. Salt speaks\nto what we are; light sheds light on what we do. The quality and integrity of\nour lives serve to attract others outside the Church to join with us in\nChristian fellowship. Attracting\nremember, is different from proselytizing, which often involves criticizing\nothers. When people are drawn to join in\nthe life of a Christian community not because of argument or debate, but rather\nbecause of its Christ-like quality, our witness will, undoubtedly, lead to\npersonal transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When light appears it chases darkness away\nand reveals what was in the shadows. This is good! But in dealing with others\nwe must understand that people can only endure so much light. We have no right\nto drag people kicking and screaming out of darkness. We must never do violence\nto a person\u2019s God-given freedom. And that is why it is so challenging to\npractice discipleship as an Anglican, because Anglicans respect people\u2019s\nfreedom. We echo Richard Rohr\u2019s warning; \u201cthat we must not force those who\ndwell in shadow into the light prematurely\u201d. We must invite not coerce. When love, and not coercion, becomes our\nprimary reason for discipleship, then accepting people as they are and where\nthey are, must be our primary concern. \nWith humility, we believe that it is God who knows what must be done in\ntheir lives and through us will accomplish it. \nAs C.S. Lewis once wrote, \u201cGod has an eternity to spend with each of us\nalone.\u201d It is for us to offer a hand and walk together with those God brings\ninto our lives without judgment or condition. It is only for us to love, we\nmust leave it to God to transform. We\nare not the light, for as John\u2019s Gospel says of Jesus, we can only bear witness\nto the true light which enlightens everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am reminded of the story about a little\nboy that was taken by his mother to see a famous cathedral. As he was watching\nthe sunbeams shining through the stained-glass windows, he asked his mother,\n“Who are those people on the windows?” She said, “They’re\nsaints.” The little boy looked at the windows and said, “Well, now I\nknow what saints are. They are people who let the light shine through.”\nThat little boy got it right. That’s what a saint is – someone who lets the\nlight of Jesus shine through his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally,<\/strong>\nJesus is saying to us this morning, share\nthe Truth to a morally dying World<\/strong> \u2013 Salt can easily lose its capacity to\nseason and light can be hidden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And so Jesus concludes by saying this:\n“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and\nglorify your Father in heaven.” How do you know if you’re being salt and\nlight? How do you know if you’re adding flavour, and how do you know if you’re\nshining the light? Well, here is the test; if\n“People see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you begin to live your life in such a\nway that people are attracted to Jesus Christ, and want to glorify your Father\nin heaven, you will know that your salt is tasty and your light is bright.\nSomeone has said, “The real mark of a saint is that he makes it easier for\nothers to believe in God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each one of us was created by God as a\nstory waiting to be told – and each of us has to find a way to tell that\nstory. Telling God\u2019s story as your story\nhas tremendous power in itself. We\nAnglicans need to learn how to do that. \nIt is very easy for us to get involved in doing everything \u201cright\u201d that\nwe sometimes forget to walk in the mystery of the story. We claim to know the gospel story, but we\ndon\u2019t know how to tell it anymore because the story is not really our own. It is not who we are. It is a story that others have told to us,\nand we merely repeat it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That is what is often reflected in the way we worship and witness to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We do it as if it is someone else\u2019s experience we are communicating.\u00a0 There is no fire, no joy, no freedom in our voice and action.\u00a0 And where there is no joy, no freedom and no fire, there can be no commitment to telling the Good News of the Gospel as if it is our story.\u00a0 If nothing is done to stimulate Christian witness; if the people of God are not empowered through prayer and study to discern the Word of God, and if we do not find a new theological language to interpret our lives and the life of the community, in not too long from now, our church buildings will be nothing more than museums of former memories.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometime ago, I read a story about a duck\nwho broke his wing during the flight home for the winter. A sympathetic farmer\nretrieved the fallen duck and took him home. The farmer’s children adopted the\nduck as their pet and began to feed him from the table and take him along as\nthey performed their daily chores. By next fall, the children were heartbroken\nas they watched the duck look at the other ducks that were flying south for the\nwinter, but his wing still wasn’t strong enough for the flight. Every time a\nflock flew south, the duck would look longingly into the sky and then return to\nplay with the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, the second year the duck’s wing had\ngrown much stronger, but the children had fed the duck so well that when he\nattempted to take off he was too fat to get off the ground. After one or two\nattempts he gave up and returned to play with the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third-year the duck was completely healed. But as the other ducks quacked their call to go south, the duck never even looked up as they flew over. He had become so accustomed to the comfort of his new existence he had lost his focus on the true calling and meaning of his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n God has not called us to be fat ducks,\nsatisfied with a world that has lost its moral compass. God has given us good\nnews in human form and has even given us the grace to proclaim it, but part of\nour terrible freedom is the freedom to lose our voices, to forget where we were\ngoing and why. As Barbara Brown Taylor\nwrites; \u201cWhile that knowledge doesn\u2019t strike us as prophetic, it does keep us from\ntaking both our own ministry and that of the whole church for granted. If we do not attend to God\u2019s presence in our\nmidst and bring all our best gifts to serving that presence in the world, we\nmay find ourselves selling tickets to a museum\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We live in a world and at a time that is\nrestless and impatient, known for abandoning our saviours as quickly as we\nelect them, for not saving us soon or well or often enough; a world that gives\nus plenty of choices in our search for a meaning that eludes us. Believe it or not, we belong to that world,\nfickle and flawed. But we are more than\nthat, because we believe in a God who believes in us. God looks at us and sees the best; sees\nbeloved children; sees able allies<\/strong>\nand partners in His ongoing work of creation and calls us the very thing that\nour world needs. Light and salt! In\nfaith he calls us from this place of worship to claim these as our true\nidentity and to live into them, trusting God\u2019s vision of us more than we trust\nour own. This is the work God is seeking\nto renew in you today, not only for our own members, but for the sake of our\ncommunity and nation; work that is more important now than it has ever\nbeen. Go now and become what you are.\nSalt and Light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For St. Andrew Deanery DaySunday, February 9, 2020SERMON Text: Matthew 5: 14-16\u00a0 Jesus says: \u201cYou are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. In the same way your light must shine in people\u2019s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your father in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":19664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schools","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19665,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19663\/revisions\/19665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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