Uniquely Salty

"You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13

I've been using a book of meditations recently* and came across one about salt. We are probably

well used to thinking about mission in terms of being salt and light to the world, but this particular meditation made me think about what being salt means more deeply.

What do you think of when you hear the phrase 'You are salt'?

I usually think of the traditional uses for salt - preserving & flavouring, and apply them to mission by looking for ways to add to or enhance what God is already doing. Or by thinking about ways I can preserve the Gospel in the mission context I'm in. If I'm really honest I usually think that being salt = being an evangelist. Apparently however, less than 5% of the world's salt production is used in flavouring and, most astoundingly, there are an estimated 14,000 uses for salt.

14,000! I don't think I could think of 14! This book listed a few other uses for salt, such as being used in solution to administer medicines, as an antiseptic, as a water softener, making soap and glass, making paper whiter, melting ice from roads, and a host of other historical and cultural uses, including being used as a symbol of honor, hospitality, friendship and purity.

All this got me thinking about how individual we are. Jesus says "You are the salt of the earth", and I don't think He was trying to make us conform into one of a very few ways of expressing that, or trying to make us feel guilty that we're not 'being salt' in the traditional ways we might think of or feel a pressure to be.

Knowing that there are so many uses for salt releases us from having to conform or be like anyone else in the ways we express our 'saltiness'. We are each free to express and live our calling uniquely, in the ways that God creates us to be. We may function in one or more of the Ephesians 4 roles of pastor, teacher, apostle, evangelist and prophet, but we are completely free to express those in a vast multitude of ways.

Salt has many distinct purposes and effects. Likewise the ways God has so uniquely created, equipped, called and em-passioned us are beyond counting. Jesus says we already ARE salt - there's no point in trying to be salt, we already are this way; the question is simply one of HOW.

"Salt does not exist for itself. Its purpose is to penetrate and affect that with which it comes in contact." *

So...

• How are you made to be salt? How are you affecting that with which you come into contact? In whatever way?

• How are the people in your Missional Community being freed to be salt in their own unique ways? Are you releasing and acknowledging all the multitude of ways in which this can happen?

• How is your Missional Community as a whole being salt to your chosen mission context? What are the unique things your community can do and be to the people around you, as distinct or complimentary to other MCs?

* "Named by God - 50 Meditations. Discovering the power of God's names for you." Mary Foxwell Loeks

A new covenant

Last week, I spent time at a big church planting conference in Germany. Bishop Steven Croft of Sheffield and Bishop Graham Cray, who leads the Fresh Expressions team, were there and gave excellent and inspiring talks. (You can watch them here.)

Something Bishop Graham said and which was echoed by others stuck with me:
Christology before Missiology before Ecclesiology.

We're often very good at remembering that mission should shape church and not the other way round - we call them missional communities, after all. But sometimes we forget that actually it all starts with encountering Jesus.

When we encounter Jesus, when we really spend time getting to know him, when we delve deep into who he is, then we begin to know what he's inviting us into.

Jesus is inviting us into covenant with the living and eternal God. It happened with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, with the whole people of Israel. These stories give us a wonderful picture of what it means to be in covenant with God. But it's a new covenant in his blood that we're part of. This new covenant means that we are made one with Christ - we are hidden with him in God.

Being hidden in God means we are called into relationship with him. The three-in-one God is relationship and communion and he draws us into that. We need to spend time there, nurturing and developing the relationship.

We need to know God the Father - the Father who lovingly knit us together before we were born and who loves us tenderly and fiercely. The Father who does not wait until we fall on our knees before him but gathers up his robes and runs to meet us on the road. The Father who throws a lavish party and delights in our faltering steps towards him, even when we are still covered in the muck and stink of the pig-sty.

We need to know God the Son - the Son who holds nothing back of his inheritance but generously shares it with us. The Son who laid aside his riches and became God made flesh - who came and dwelt amongst us and was fully human and knows what it is to be tempted and to suffer and to be scorned and to be abandoned and to die. The Son who fought and fights to overcome the power of death and sin and who gives this victory to us as a gift.

We need to know God the Spirit - the Spirit who is ruach or pneuma - breath. We are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us, like breath, like air. We cannot escape him and we cannot live without him because the Spirit is the very embodiment of God-with-us today, given to be our constant companion once Christ had left the earth. The Spirit living in us shows us that God is always there and opens our eyes and ears to see him and hear his voice, drawing us ever deeper into relationship.

Before we discover our mission call to join in God's kingdom work, before we explore what it means to be the body and bride of Christ, we must first know Him and know that we are of Him and in Him.

To finish with paraphrased words of Paul:

"May the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of the Father and the intimate fellowship of the Spirit be with you all."

In opposition

Remember the main point I tried to make last time? It went like this:
If you want to experience the joy and depth of community, you’ve gotta work on unity.
One of the questions I asked specifically was
Where can I make a start pursuing unity?

Let’s start talking about some of the hindrances I’ve encountered on that pursuit and also some hopefully useful suggestions for overcoming them.

When hitting against things like jealousy or prejudice the question I’ve asked myself was: how can I tackle this “in the opposite spirit”…Now, is that another one of those nice little Christian phrases? Maybe, but so much more than that, as I've come to believe. I think it’s at the heart of the message of the cross as Jesus has lived it out for us to learn from. And that it’s to do with living the life of the Spirit rather than giving in to our foolish appetites. I also think that it’s a really good way of learning to become mature children of God, who, whether we like it or not, does discipline us for that purpose.

And all time favourite apostle Paul sums it up nicely when trying to persuade us to “live in accordance with the Spirit” and have our “minds set on what the Spirit desires as the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace”, This is in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6.

Let me illustrate what it might look like practically – bearing in mind the context we’re focusing on is to do with building unity into our relationships.

Hindrance No 1: being deceived by jealousy
Have you ever found it hard when someone you’re beginning to form meaningful relationship with is seeing success in an area you’ve so far only experienced failure in? Maybe thought they don’t really deserve it? Or contemplated backing off the relationship because it’s just too painful?

A massive killer, isn’t it, to living in unity with them, cause what’s happening is that you’re bound to interpret at least part of your relationship through that lens of feeling jealous. Worse even, you might look at them through it, too. Essentially, what you’ve got is a crack in your relationship, even though you may not be in outright conflict with them.

Well, here’s for some opposite spirit remedy if this is something you’ve ever felt your soul has suffered from:
No 1: Remember, remember, remember and speak out thanks for
all the good things God has invested in you, like your family, your job, your creativity, your athletic ability, your health, your language skills, whatever it may be.
No 2: Invest what’s been invested in you, go out there, be a giver. I promise it’s a soul saver that, as it’s living out of the faith that comes from recognizing God’s blessing and turning that into action. Plus, there’s always the bonus of a double whopper promise made by God (look up Luke 19 or Matthew 25 for the rather fascinating context); that “whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance”.

Apart from that, my strong assumption is this; you’ll start being able to not have to focus on that which your brother or sister (cause that’s what they are!) has or does, but on how you can bless them with what God’s given you.

If jealousy is something you have long tackled in your life, be looking forward to the strategies for hindrances no 2 and 3 ☺