Gospel: Matthew 5.13-20
Salt and Light
13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
S SERMON: “Tasty Salt & Bright Light.”
Salt and light is what we need.
Salt and light is what we need to be.
It is February.
February is the second month of the year in our modern-day Gregorian calendar. It is the year's shortest month with only 28 days in common years and 29 days in leap years.
February might be the shortest month but nevertheless a very long month for many Danes. Because the 28 days of February are so dark and dreary. Because the sun hardly is seen. Because it rains or snows most of the time. Because you long for Spring.
So, February is a short but heavy month that feels longer than it is.
I feel blessed every February to live here – even if February too in California might be darker, rainier and, colder than usual. But we Californians cherish the rain and the snow as we know we need it – on the other hand, Danes only sigh and know that they got plenty of rain and can look forward to even more!
So Danes sing about February and many Danes sigh with the winterly depression because of lack the of light and sun. Yes, light and salt.
“Det er hvidt herude.” The Prelude for this service was a beloved Winter Song by the danish poet St. St. Blicher from 1838 and with a beautiful melody by Thomas Laub, who indeed graced us with so many of our most beloved hymn melodies.
The song is called Det er Hvidt herude/ All is white, and it is a beautiful poetic painting of a Danish Winter landscape during a long cold winter. When all is white or grey. When all seems completely quiet. When all is completely barren.
Det er hvidt herude
All is white or whiter.
Winter’s knot gets even tighter.
Candlemass with frost is here.
Clad in down all branches sighing.
White is falling, white is lying.
In the woods and very near.
The poem describes Kyndelmisse/ Candlemass.
The time of winter when winter is at its highest and coldest. Mid-winter. The Poem is part of this wonderful little Book Trækfuglene./ The Migrating Birds.
February 2 is Candlemass. And it is also Sorens Birthday! February 2 is considered the coldest day of the year.
Candlemas was originally a Catholic Feast of the Candles in celebration of Marias’ purification and Jesus’ presentation in the temple. Kyndelmesse is the Danish translation of the Latin word Candelarum Missa.
But according to old Danish traditions, Candlemass was also the time, when you took notice of nature to predict, how the year would be. It was said that if the winds were so strong that 18 angry women could not hold the 19th angry woman to the ground, then spring was on its way!
Candlemass marks the day when half of the winter is gone.
So Candlemass was both a Celebration of Jesus as the Light in the world and the hope for the light of Spring in the Winter darkness. And as always it was a fine excuse for a good party, good food and beer. Midwinter was often celebrated with plenty of beer, snaps, and coffee as the custom is for any good Danish Celebration.
As a curious little note the famous Conditor/bakery La Glace in Copenhagen makes and serves Marzipan Apples on Candlemass as an old sayings said that if you could find a good apple in your storage during winter, you would stay healthy all year.
The Old song ends.
How I yearn for gardens
It’s too early – winter hardens.
Winds have swung too north around.
Come southwestern, first defying.
Come with misty wings, come flying.
Come release the frozen ground.
Inderlig jeg længes efter vår,
men vinteren strænges
Atter vinden om til nord
Kom sydvest, som frosten tvinger
Som med dine tågevinger
Kom og løs den frosne jord.
Come Release the Frozen ground.
This is every Danes prayer in February.
Come bring release, bring spring, bring sprouts, bring light, bring hope… so we can be hopeful and resourceful.
From St. St. Blichers Danish winter poem we easily merge into Saint Matthew Sermon on the Mountain.
You are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of the world.
Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall. We need salt and light. We need tasty salt and bright light.
Salt and light is what we need.
Salt and light are what we need to be
You are the salt, and you are the light. It sounds wonderful that we already are salt and light, but are we always as salty and as bright as we should or could be? Do we always dare or choose to be salty and bright?
Isn’t Jesus’ call to us a call to dare and to commit to being salt, not to lose its taste and power?
Isn’t Jesus’ call to us a call to dare to be the light on the hill, the beacon on the top, not hiding under a bushel?
This quote from Matthew is one of the most beloved Confirmation Words when the confirmands get to choose the word for their Confirmation.
And it is always so meaningful to read it to the confirmand and remind him or her that you are salt and light of the world. You matter. Your presence matters. Your life matters. Your voice matters. Your choices matter.
You are salt and light. You have salt and light to share in the world.
There are so many things that can trample our salt and extinguish our light: hardship, mockery, illness, depression, sadness, lack of confidence and lack of hope.
Maybe we lose our tastiness and saltiness due to conformity, laziness, and compliance, because of fear, shyness or, lack of hope.
Maybe we put our lights under a bushel to hide and be safe, in order not to get attention or limelight, in order to blend in and be part of the quiet majority?
Jesus calls us salt and light – and he calls us to be salt and light in the world where saltiness and light is needed as darkness is roaming.
We must stand up and speak up with saltiness and light.
We have to dare to show what we believe in, and what we believe in truth and justice. We must dare to be Salty, Tasty, Risky, courageous, compassionate, and committed Christians.
By speaking up against Police Violence as we witnessed in Memphis.
By supporting the brave women of Iran fighting for freedom and education.
By speaking up against any abuse of power or position.
By speaking up against racism, hatred, violence, and abuse, by daring to shed our light on all the things that roam in the dark corners.
Remember true salt, salt that has not lost its taste, disappears into food to make the food tastier. Jesus disciples transform the world by disappearing in humble service….
Likewise, light that is not bound by obstructions dissipates over miles, like the ripples of self-giving service. Life in a world so enlightened is liberated from the darkness.
Brian Maas, the bishop of the Nebraska Synod of ELCA, wrote:
The problem however is that we are only humans. We are humans and hesitant to give ourselves away so fully, to dissolve or dissipate completely. We like to hold back a little or gather with like-minded people so that we can complement one another on our saltiness and brightness without really salting or lighting anything.
Here in the United States at least, we who call ourselves Christian have for some time tended to cluster our salt and concentrate our light to the exclusion of others and to the benefit of none. Trading humility for hubris, we have salted our culture will nigh to death with notions utterly foreign to the Sermon of the Mount. We speak of Christian Values, Christian Policies, Christian Economics, Christian Candidates, Christian Plumbers, and Christian Internet Plans, We lament being persecuted Christians, overlooked Christians, insulted and mocked Christians, even Christians deprived of the phrase: Merry Christmas” too good for this world.
Called simply to bear the savor, taste and light of our savior, we bear instead the bitterness of our betterness. Too much salt is thrown out and trampled underfoot. …. Ultimately to be salt and light, to be used by God as God intends, is to dissolve and to dissipate, and in the process to flavor and enlighten.”
We bear the bitterness of our betterness.
That is as far from the Sermon of the Mountain and the teachings of Christ.
We should bear the compassion of our faith.
Come release the frozen ground, we sing in the Danish winter song.
Our prayer today in the light of the Mountain on the Sermon and the call to be salt and light in a world desperately in need of salt and light, - is equally to release our bitterness, our conformity, our shyness, our fear, and be salt and light.
In the Spanish hymn by Cesareo Gabaráin, “ You are the Seed.” We will sing and pray:
There is no place for a city to hide,
there is no mountain.
that can cover its might.
Let your light shine.
so that your loving works
give honor and glory to God.
You are the salt and the light of the earth.
Go, and be the tasty salt and the bright light that you can be.
We are the salt of the earth, and we bring light to the world.
We are not too young or too old,
we are not too rich or too needy.
to bring good news to the impoverished,
to give a hand to the broken-hearted,
and to live out freedom and pardon
through the gifts, we have been given.
So, remember to pack peace in our toolbox,
hope in our briefcase,
love in our lunch box,
and may integrity, honesty, and joy be our designer wear of choice.
Do not be frightened, for we are never alone.
The God in whose image we are made.
will walk with us and guide us today, tomorrow, and every day. AMEN