"Salt"

Seventh Sunday of Pentecost

Sunday, 27 September, 2009

by Rev. Ian S. Wishart

Leviticus 19:1-4

Psalm 124

1 John 4:7-12

When I go grocery shopping I look at labels to note the sodium content: breakfast cereal, salad dressing, prepared dinners, barbeque sauce, crackers and chips. How many grams of sodium per serving are indicated. Don’t look at the percentage of daily intake that is listed, because that figure is highly suspect. Recently the Globe and Mail carried a feature article about what they called our salt crisis. There is an urgent need to combat Canadians’ excessive sodium intake.¹ There may be a salt crisis in the Christian Church, but if so it is of a different nature.

Our gospel lesson, the lectionary reading for this day, concludes with the words: "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." At the end of this chapter in Mark, Jesus has turned from addressing the crowd to speak to his disciples, to instruct them. Who is greatest? Who is allowed to act in Christ’s name. In Matthew Jesus spoke of his followers as the salt of the earth. John Calvin, commenting on that verse in the Sermon on the Mount, said "When Christ calls the apostles the salt of the earth, he means, that it is their office to salt the earth: because people have nothing in them but what is tasteless, till they have been seasoned with the salt of heavenly doctrine."2

Your minister has outspoken opinions on the life and witness of John Calvin. I respect his views, but as a minister myself I have to remember that all of us, in the pulpit and in the pew, are flawed in our Christian witness. In our modern world respected clergy have feet of clay. Martin Luther King was a shining light of the twentieth century American church, but his failings are well known. President Obama has acknowledged his debt to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but he has had to repudiate the preacher’s flamboyant rhetoric.

There is one short sentence by Calvin that I want never to forget. It is the answer to one of the questions in the catechism he wrote for the young people of Geneva. Some of us who are old enough will remember the Shorter Catechism.3 It begins with that magnificent question and answer:

The Shorter Catechism was based on Calvin’s Geneva Catechism4 which began this way:

ANS: To know God.

What is the method of honouring him duly?

ANS: To place our whole confidence in him.

How shall we do so?

ANS: When we know him to be almighty and perfectly good.

Is this enough?

ANS: Far from it.

How so?

ANS: That each of us should set down in our mind that God loves us.

It is that sentence which I want never to forget: "That each of us should set down in our mind that God loves us." There is no similar sentence in the Shorter Catechism, or in the Larger Catechism, or in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Our lesson this morning from the Letter of John is a lesson about love, but it’s not the kind of love that makes you kiss your significant other. It is God’s love, the love which is the very heart of Christianity. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us." And its consequence is that we should love. "Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:10f)

How often it is noted in Scripture. Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he answered:

It is this love which is the basis for Jesus’ words of encouragement in our gospel lesson for acts of mercy, and his warning to those whose deeds are stumbling blocks. It is this love which is the basis of Calvin’s comment that righteous service is service upholding any just cause, not simply service related to the church or the gospel. And it is this love which should show forth in the way we live, in the way we speak, in the way we give, in the way we serve. Augustine the great third century theologian and bishop noted that our loves are the true marks of our character:

The great lesson of the New Testament is that God loves us. God loves us, and God loves this world in which we live. Where else can you find that concept?

Not just that we should love our neighbours, not just that we should love God, but that God loves us. Where else will you find that concept? Where else will you hear those words? Only in church; only by reading the Bible; only in conversation among Christian people. That’s the only place in the world that you will hear that God loves us: in Church, among Christian people; beyond the church only where the Christian message is shown forth.

I am interested in words. I am concerned about words, what they mean and how they are used. And there are many words you will hear only in church. That is where they are used: not in the newspaper, not on the television, not on the soaps, not in Don Cherry’s commentary, and in our day not in the schools. Come to church, bring your friends to church, and hear the words, sing the words, pray the words. Sin and forgiveness; faith and hope; baptism and communion; salvation and holiness; pilgrimage and discipleship. And then there are many words which are in general use, but have a special meaning in the context of the church: mission and service; family and fellowship; worship and praise. Among them all is the word "love"; love, with its special reference to God’s love for his people, God’s love for you and me.

Twenty years ago the Presbyterian Church approved a new statement of faith, and it is now one of our constitutional documents, one of our subordinate standards. It is a little 30 page booklet, called Living Faith. Here is the start of the chapter on Love:

As some of you may know I am very proud of that document, having had a hand in its production, and now having a hand in seeing its publication in Korean translation. The Korean text was presented to the General Assembly in June, and is now in the hands of Presbyteries, and we are asking for commentary on the Korean document from whomever can read it and will respond. The statement is already in English and French, and I would like to see it other languages, in Chinese and Hungarian. It is a document of the Presbyterian Church, but it is a statement for all Christians, all readers of any church or any religion or no religion. It is an agreed exposition of the Christian faith at the end of the twentieth century. It is a salty document, some say not salty enough, others say too salty, which is what we intended. I do not think that the salt has lost its savor. Calvin said "people have nothing in them but what is tasteless, till they have been seasoned with the salt of heavenly doctrine." He also wrote that sentence which I would urge you to remember, "That each of us should set down in our mind that God loves us."

When I go grocery shopping I look at the nutrition tables, and chose those things with lower sodium content. When we go to church a higher level of salt is to be favoured. Our gospel lesson ended with Jesus’ words which are also my conclusion:

Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.