We eat on average three teaspoons of it every day, but the American Heart Association says we should only consume one of those three teaspoons. So we should avoid crackers, dips, pates, meatballs, most cheeses, mayo based salads, creamy dressings, all soup, ham, sausage, breaded or fried dishes, stuffing rice, paf, cottage cheese, biscuits, muffins, cornbread, faccia, breadsticks, olives, pickles, ketchup, Dijon, mustard, gravy, most sauces, pies, pastries, gingerbread, cheesecake, angel food, and layered or frosted cakes.
I'm not sure what that leaves, but we're gonna have a miserable cookies and lemonade afterwards.
I'm talking about salt. And I don't wish to belittle the serious health warnings or the potentially harmful consequences of consuming too much. It is a real thing, but I'm British and without salts, I don't know what I do. The British have many faults, but making appetizing food is not one of them. I remember the first time, uh, my children and I went to an American supermarket and standing bewildered as we beheld 85 different kinds of breakfast cereal.
Why? We asked would anyone want want brown sugar in their baked beans or cheese in a can? Now, when it comes to food, the British are truly the bland, leading the bland.
We get around this by heaping salt onto our uninspiring dinners. Salt you see, can cover over a multitude of mediocrity. Gordon Ramsey won't tell you this and you won't see it on the great British off. But for regular British cooks, salt is essential. Other condiments have their place. You know, sauce and dressings are useful.
Uh, these additions add to the flavor. And of course, all Brits listen to the wisdom of Mary Poppins, that a spoonful of sugar does help the medicine go down. But sauces, gravy and sugars are not salt. Salt is different. It brings out the flavor of the food. It doesn't mask it. Take it away, minimize it, add to it, or disguise it the way sources do.
Salt finds the deliciousness in the food that's hiding in your lunch and drags it out to dance on your taste buds.
In the ancient world, salt was extremely valuable. For the Greeks, it was a medium of exchange. People traded things using salt, including human beings. You know that phrase, she's worth her salt. Well, that's where it comes from. A slave was worth the salt you paid for him in Rome two, they knew the importance of salt.
The Latin word for it forms the basis of our word salary. And as you guess from this fun fact, part of a Roman soldier's wages was paid in salt without enough of it. Muscles don't contract, blood won't circulate, food won't digest, and the heart won't beat. Yes, too much of it is harmful. But without it, you die.
And Jesus says to his followers, in today's gospel lesson, you are the salt of the earth. Note, you are the salt of the earth. A statement of fact. Not try to be the salt of the earth, but you are the salt of the earth. Without you. This place is lost. Hear the word of the Lord. Get out of the salt shaker and into the world it needs you.
A couple of weeks ago we read Jesus calling his disciples to fish. Now he's calling us to be salt to season this world that is often bland and frequently tasteless to bring out the good that is there. You are seasoning in your workplace, your school, your social circles, your online communities. Get out of the salt shaker and into the world.
This, of course doesn't mean gaslighting. You know, pretending that the world is doing just fine and turning a blind eye to things that are bad or wrong or sinful, it just means that rather than just focusing on the negative, we look for the good and we draw it out, be sought. That's hard, isn't it? It takes one very important skill, seeing people and situations the way God sees them.
It means seeing every human being as made in God's image. And this is perhaps even harder, seeing every human activity as a search for the beauty, the joy, the perfection that we know is God, even if the authors of the project don't realize it. Yes, of course human beings are fatally flawed, and yes, all human enterprises are shot through with mixed motives.
All human endeavors are marbled with sin. We see it every day in ourselves and it hurts. We don't need to be told it. We weep over it. But because this is still God's universe and humans are still made in his likeness, even though the whole order of things is messed up, there is still goodness in there.
In every woman, man, girl, and boy, get out of the salt shaker, says Jesus, and bring out the goodness, spot the holy, the just the good. In people's words, actions and motives. Sprinkle the salt, encourage and coax out the good things that lie in all humanity. How much better would the reputation of the Christian Church be if we brought out the good from people and institutions rather than simply condemning the bad?
Jesus did not tell us we were the flame throwers of the earth. The grenade chuckers, the judges and critics and chaos moners of the earth, but the salt. I don't want to be judged by my worst moments, and so I shouldn't judge others by theirs. I am more than my sins and so is my neighbor. I want people to assume good motives in what I do, even if they can't immediately see that.
So I should mirror that wish. On your best days, you are a child of God and on your worst days, you are a child of God. Sometimes even the person I dislike most in the world is doing something virtuous. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
So how about being sought on social media? According to divorce attorney Howard Eken, 30 to 40% of people filing to for divorce cite their spouse's behavior on Facebook as a factor in their filing. I can't think there's anybody here with a Facebook account who has not been offended, hurt, or enraged by a post they have read.
With great power comes great responsibility, and social media gives us all a powerful platform to communicate things that will cause suffering and foster false beliefs. Before you speak, wait, WAIT, it's an acronym. It stands for. Why am I talking?
Is it because my opinions are so magnificent that the world must hear them? Or because I want recognition from the group or because I want to signal my virtue on some important topic. And also, wait, why am I posting? Is it to slander someone to sow suspicion or misunderstanding of a person I disagree with?
Is it to echo whatever your political tribe is saying? Even if that is untrue or unbalanced, you are the salt of the earth, whether you are in person or online. Salt seasons get out of the salt shaker and season your online community.
Salt also preserves things. It used to be rubbed into meat to keep out insects and bacteria. Salt literally stops the rots. So Jesus is calling his followers to preserve the world we find ourselves in. Get out of the salt shaker and stop the rot. Leonardo DaVinci got it in his painting, the Last Supper.
He depicts the 12 disciples sitting around the table with Jesus in the middle. But there's one little detail that casual viewers of the masterpiece can overlook there on the table by the arm of Judas is a salt cellar and overturned salt cellar. With its contents cascading onto the table, Leonardo is telling us a deep truth.
Judas had the power to preserve the life of Jesus, but carelessly negligently, he knocked over the salt cellar and wasted his power.
Get out of the salt shaker and stop the rot. Businessman Michael Claydon writes about the pressure to go along with the rot in the workplace. He says, being sought involves a constant struggle to maintain standards of honesty and integrity. In an environment where lies and deceit are commonplace, what do you do?
For example, when a customer pays an invoice twice in error. And your company decides to say nothing or when a supplier demands payment on an overdue account and your cashflow means he won't be paid for some time yet, tell him the check is in the post. Issues like these are commonplace. He says, for many of us, and they are not often that clear cut, a steadfast refusal to get involved with office politics has been a further issue that I have had to address.
I know several Christians whose careers have suffered because they have abstained from such activities.
Get out of the salt shaker and season your online community. Get out of the salt shaker and stop the rot. And third, get out of the salt shaker and heal the hurting. We all know that Salt heals wounds. Our call to be the salt of the earth is to be part of God's cleansing and of wounds. It is likely that this week you will encounter the wounded, the brokenhearted, the crushed here, the call of Christ to the rejected Show, acceptance to the defeated.
Give consolation to the broken child of God who is weighed down by loss of any kind. Be the harbinger of comfort. Get out of the salt shaker and heal.
There is of course, a fourth quality of salt, but this one's a bit of a cheat on my part. Jesus definitely did not have this one in mind when he spoke the words of the gospel lesson, but it is one that we, even in tropical Alabama have experienced in the last few weeks. Salt melts ice, and even though Jesus never had to sprinkle it on his driveway, I hope he'll excuse me for taking liberties by reading into his words something that he did not intend.
So, get out of the salt shaker and be the warmth that that thaws the hearts of icy people. Love transforms. All it takes is one person to make a difference, just one voice that will forgive or will defend the weak or promote justice or speak out for what is right. I see atmospheres gently melt when you and I take the love of Christ with us into a situation of hurt or conflict.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth. May God give us the courage to get out of the salt shaker, to bring out the good, to stop the rot, to heal the hurting, and to thaw the ice. Amen.