"You are the salt of the earth..."
Jesus
The images on television are frightening. Riots occurring in the streets. Video cameras and cell phones capture everything, the bloodied heads, the screams, a man beating another man with an iron bar. Fires and tanks in the streets. Egypt is erupting before our very eyes.
Our bishop received a letter from the Anglican bishop in Egypt. His name is Bishop Mouneer Anis. He thanked the churches of America for our concern. He said that he feels that the Lord is very present with them in this time. And thus far, none of the churches in Cairo have been destroyed.
The Bishop's letter was a great example of Anglicanism. He expresses the complexity of the situation in Egypt and he talks about prayer. He writes about the fact that both Christians and Muslims are taking to the streets to protect buildings, but the Bishop is afraid that the escalation of violence will lead to radical Islamic groups taking over. It is a time of fear for them and they are praying for a peaceful transition. He writes of how the Christians are gathering in the churches and, when they pray, a sense of God's presence and of peace overcomes them.
His letter is thought-provoking. It tells of a rare branch of Christianity called Anglicanism that embraces faith in Jesus Christ and also teaches that the same God who brought Jesus to us also gave us minds to think. The Bishop invites us to bring our thoughts and questions and struggles to Jesus. Don’t check your brain at the door. Bishop Anis speaks of young Muslims who are protecting the churches in the streets and other more radical Muslims who are escalating the violence. He lives in the ambiguity and uncertainty of the moment, without all the answers. He lives the questions.
We are entering an age of rising fundamentalism world-wide. Due in large part to the development of technology and the internet, our world is changing rapidly. Alongside this rapid change, there are those who would clamp down and hold their religious beliefs like they are weapons, demanding that God would have them convert everyone or kill them. This is a day of radical extremes. Few religious bodies embrace the Mystery of God the way that we do. Few religious bodies have the courage to admit that they do not have all the answers. The Anglican church is vital today, more vital than ever.
I like to call us the unfundamentalist church. We embrace the Mystery of God. We know that Jesus is our Lord, but we do not claim to understand God in all of the Divine majesty. We are a people who remain faithful in the midst of all this change, admitting that we do not have all the answers, but trusting the God will guide us. In this day of fast production and easy answers, we are a voice of patience and prayer, reminding the world that God is much bigger than we are. And that there is much that we do not know about God.
My friend Sue is a long-time Southern girl. She loves grits. She would eat them morning, noon and night if need be. And, as a Southerner, she knows how to cook grits.
You have to put the salt in the grits when you are cooking them. If you add the salt later, as an after-thought at the dinner table, it does not taste as good. There is a world of difference. You must put the salt in the mix as the grits are cooking. There is no other option for true, Southern grits.
Sue has been to those restaurants where they tell you that their grits are heart-healthy. They cook with little or no salt. And the grits taste like cardboard. They are dead tasting. They aren’t even in the same vicinity as real Southern grits.
Jesus talks about salt this morning. He uses the most common, familiar things to teach us about our relationship with God. And what he says is rich. It is rich.
Jesus says that we are salt. We are the stuff that brings out the flavor in this world. We are an essential ingredient in the grits of God’s creation. Without us, the world just doesn’t taste right.
Salt is incredibly valuable. You know the phrase, he’s worth his salt. Where do you think that comes from? In the age before refrigeration, salt was what kept meat from going bad. Salt was essential for life. Salt was incredibly valuable in Jesus’ time, just as you are incredibly valuable.
Salt is also curative. People with sore throats need to gargle salt. You all know that swimming in the salt water of the sea has great results. Cuts and scrapes heal faster.
Salt has always been with us and we cannot imagine our world without it. We all have salt shakers on the table at home. Those little salt shakers are useless unless they are mixed in with our food. They are nothing if they just stand alone. And when they hit the food they seem to disappear, but they make all the difference in the world.
We cannot live without salt. It is a vital part of our bodies. When we get dehydrated, we don’t just need water, we need to replenish our salt. It is an essential ingredient of life.
I find that Episcopalians are shy about their faith. They are reticent to offend, or to explain that their Dean is a woman and they can have a beer. When people ask them if they go to church, they will say yes, but, on the whole, they will not shout about it for fear of offending. And I say, that has to end.
The world has a need for the unfundamentalist church. We love God and embrace the mystery that is God’s creation. We freely admit that we do not have all the answers but that Jesus gave us everything that we need to know. We must stand up and be the salt that God calls us to be. God needs us to show the world that you can be radically faithful while not being radically violent. That you can respect the dignity of every human being, love God and embrace the Mystery of God-all at the same time.
We are Christians. We are Anglicans. We are Episcopalians.
I know, the word Episcopalian is too long, too academic, too unwieldy. It’s almost like we knew that we wanted to stump the listener from the beginning. Our title almost says, I’m too smart for you. I have a name that you are going to need to spell, a name that you will not remember how to pronounce. Anglicans living in The United States came up with this name during the Revolution, because we were patriots and did not want to be known as the Church of England. So we are Episcopalians and we are Anglicans. It is complicated. I can't tell you how many times I am asked to spell the word Episcopalian. But live with it. It is who we are.
This coming Tuesday morning, we will do something that is very Anglican. It is like salt for this city, light for us to see by. We will be hosting the second Leadership Breakfast here at the Cathedral. It is on the subject of education here in Jacksonville. We all know that with 40% of the children of this city not graduating from high school that we have a problem. The head of the KIP school will be with us. Tracey Tousey will be with us. And the superintendent of schools just called. He wants to be on the panel too.
We will be openly talking about why things aren’t working. And exploring if there may be some kind of answers out there for us all, for our children.
I think about our brothers and sisters in Egypt, praying and trying to stop the violence. I think about us here, trying to initiate a dialogue about the state of our children, and I am proud to be Anglican. I am proud to be Episcopalian. I want to be the salt that gets in the mix before the dish is done, when I can make the most difference, even if I get burned and broken in the process.
Yes, things are sometimes a mess in the Episcopal Church. Mess comes naturally when you allow people to think for themselves. You see, people who think for themselves are bound to disagree. But getting in the mix is all that Jesus asks us to do.
You are the salt of the earth, he says. Just get in the mix.
The world is rapidly changing. Radical Fundamentalism is on the rise.
Don’t be afraid to stand up and be who you are.
