The Church as Salt

Rev Suzanne Stanton Director of Mission at Uniting

Warners Bay Uniting Church Sunday 29 September 2024

 

Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)

38 John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

39 But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.

40 Whoever is not against us is for us.

41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

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45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. ,

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47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,

48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

49 "For everyone will be salted with fire.

50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

 

Matthew 5:13-14 (NRSV)

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 under foot.

14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

 

Whenever I visit a Congregation to preach if I don’t already know them I try and spend a little time learning something about them, usually by looking at their website.

When I visited the website for this congregation I found a really rich place, and I ended up spending more time than I expected exploring it and this has given me some of the inspiration for this reflection today, so it was time well spent.

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Three items on the website really resonated with me and the work that I do as Director of Mission in Uniting, and the work of the Mission team within Uniting. These were a reflection by Brian Brown entitled “Called to Serve” that reflects on whom we are called to serve and how. Another by Brian with the title “On New and Risky Paths” explored the ethos of the Uniting Church. The third was a reflection from just a few months ago by Graham Hill, exploring “What is Mission?”

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Before looking at the website, when I was considering which text to use today I was also inspired to explore the metaphor of salt – which is contained in the Gospel reading from Mark.

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Not long after I started my role in Uniting, just over two years ago, I came across a book called “The Church as Salt”. In it Sally Douglas explores the metaphor of salt, in a very Uniting Church way, and with examples of ministry in “salty” Uniting church faith communities and congregations, and connected to the Uniting Church’s foundational document, the Basis of Union.

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When I saw the gospel text for today I was inspired to look at this book again. It is very much a book about the Uniting church seeking to understand its identity and purpose in a much-changed world from the days when many denominations and churches were larger, and far more visible, and where the church’s place in society was established and secure.

 

As the blurb on the back of the books says:

“The Jesus community is called to be the salt of the earth, a metaphor that contains rich and disruptive challenge. Salt is little. We weep salty tears and grow up in dark salty wombs. Salt preserves. Salt draws out taste and too much salt spoils everything.”

Douglas’ book calls those who read it to consider how we continue to be the Jesus community in this much changed world through considering the metaphor of church as salt.

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I don’t think I am the person to discern that for this community, what it might mean for you to be a “salty” community here, but today I do hope to leave you with some food for thought and encouragement as you continue in discernment and reflection on how to be the church in this time and place. This is a task that every church community I believe always has to be continually engaged in.

Today I’d like to share some reflections on the work of the team that I am a part of does, and how I understand us as a salty presence in the very large organisation that Uniting has grown to be.

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When I first read the Gospel text for today I was put off by the strong language and the tone of condemnation – I do not usually resonate with texts that feel threatening and angry, whoever they might be directed at. However, when I explored a little further and looked at the text in broader context and consulted Douglas’ book I found the text to actually be connected to some foundational elements of the ethos of the Uniting Church and Uniting. Douglas says it better than I could so I’ll read from her book:

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(Earlier) In Mark, we hear about an argument between Jesus’ male disciples. They have been disputing among themselves which one of them is the most important (Mark 9:33-34). The author of Mark makes it clear that they really haven’t been listening to Jesus’ words for some time. In Mark 8 and 9, Jesus repeatedly talks about the reality that divine power looks very different to human power. Jesus says he is going to be betrayed and violently killed and, what is more, Jesus says that to be a follower of Jesus means entering into this way of humble non-retaliation and self-giving (Mark 8:31-38, 9:30-32 see also 10:32-34).

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In this Gospel, Jesus knows they have been fighting and when they are in the privacy of the house Jesus challenges them, asking them about the nature of their conflict. We are told that Jesus responds to their power plays by drawing their attention to a child. Jesus brings this child to the centre, a little one, considered entirely unimportant on the patriarchal and hierarchical worldview of the (times) Common Era. Jesus then goes on to proclaim the unthinkable: Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not only me but the one who sent me (Mark 9:37).

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Here Jesus is effectively saying, “Look, the one you think of as the least important, is where you will find me and where you will find God.” In Sally Douglas’ words Jesus tells the disciples to “Get you heads checked”.

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… Jesus then makes it clear that the ‘little ones’ must be safeguarded in Christian community and that there will be severe consequences for those who hurt them (Mark 9:42-48). In these graphic words hope is proclaimed. Here it is proclaimed that those who think they can hurt children, or vulnerable people, and get away with it, will be exposed and will, ultimately, face costly consequences.

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One reason why Uniting exists today is because members of the Uniting Church and its predecessor churches have understood and taken seriously over many decades God’s call to serve those on the margins, those who are young, those who are vulnerable. This is core to who we are, core to our ethos and values as part of the Uniting Church. And it is one of the ways in which we are the “salt of the earth”.

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The possible loss of this saltiness is what challenges me. There is a risk that Uniting will lose its “saltiness” and its essence and connection to the ethos of the Uniting Church and the way of Jesus. It is now a huge organisation of around 12,000 employed staff and over 1,000 volunteers serving well over 100,000 people each year. The services Uniting provides span the whole of people’s lives from children in their early years through to those living with disability, families in distress, people living with mental illness, those in prison and hospitals, and those who are in the later years of their lives. While some people choose to receive services from Uniting, many come to Uniting at the most vulnerable times in their lives and with no choice about it.

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Today it can sometimes be difficult, even for me, to articulate how the wider Uniting Church and Uniting are related. No analogy or metaphor is perfect, just as neither church or Uniting have been perfect in how they have served the most vulnerable in our society at every time in the past.

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It is in the midst of this imperfection that the team I am a part of seeks to work.

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And in this huge organisation of around 12,000 employees our team in the Mission Directorate is only around 100 people. It was in pondering this that I first found Douglas’ work interesting to consider. The Mission Directorate in Uniting has one of the smallest teams, and smallest budgets. We do sometimes get forgotten and people mistakenly think we are likely to judge others and seek to convert people to our beliefs. It’s part of my role to correct these misconceptions and ensure we are equipped to keep being a Jesus inspired presence in the organisation.

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When I first started in my role people from the wider church would ask me how I planned to ensure that Uniting remained connected to its foundations. To be honest, I wasn’t sure then and I’m still not sure now how that is to be done comprehensively – other than to step out in faith everyday and to persevere and to trust that a few grains of salt can go a long way and can infuse the whole of the organisation, to keep it connected to the ethos that gave it life.

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But I find incredible hope and privilege in my work and the work of the team I am a part of. There are three pillars to our work and they connect to those three things I began by talking about, service of those who are vulnerable, in alignment with the ethos of the Uniting Church and connecting our work with where God is at work in the world today.

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Our first pillar of work is called Foundations:  just as congregations are called to be the salt that preserves the story of the way of Jesus, and to faithfully reinterpret it in their own lives in these times, so our team have the role of reminding the people of Uniting today of what lies at the foundation of their work, and to keep them connected to the way of Jesus, even if they themselves do not hold to Christian faith or any faith practice at all. This work is both harder and easier than I imagined. Jesus and his teachings are generally respected by many however the church has sometimes hurt people and there is much work to do to rehabilitate people’s understanding of the essence of our faith: that each and every person is beloved of God and therefore worthy of respect, dignity and love. This is the salty work of preservation: carrying an authentic story of our faith into the future.

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Secondly, Spiritual and Pastoral Care: this is where most of the team work – the visible, embodied presence of the Body of Christ in Uniting and the community. They are the salt that cleanses and bathes wounds, embodying grace and ministering to those seeking meaning and purpose, those in need of healing and seeking wholeness. Our Chaplains and Pastoral Practitioners remind me of the images of the early church communities Douglas describes in her book – sometimes looked upon with confusion and even on occasion suspicion but transforming lives and quietly doing the work of infusing God’s love into places of darkness and pain, as well as celebrating the extraordinary and ordinary moments of life.

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And finally, Collaboration: discovering where can we be at work joining in the Mission of God in the community today. This part of the team supports Uniting’s Advocacy work and looks for opportunities to partner with the church in Community Development initiatives. Here we seek to connect people together in places where opportunities emerge – we go looking for where God is already at work and we aim to connect people from the church and Uniting together to enhance what God is already doing, just as salt seasons and enhances the flavour of food.

 

PAUSE

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Sally Douglas concludes her book with her view, both hopeful and challenging, that despite much of the rhetoric that exists in the Uniting Church and beyond, that the church is not dying, it is being refined.

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She describes our possible future – a church where people shed salty tears of both sadness and joy, communities of radical solidarity weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. Communities that demonstrate a different way of growing that is less about becoming successful according to the standards of society today and more by recognising that growth in people’s lives and the life of the church is often hard to see, vulnerable, fragile and unpredictable, in the same way that new life grows in the salty darkness of a woman’s womb.

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These images may not sound hopeful when we are immersed in a culture that praises people for always staying positive and that commends and celebrates growth that is obvious, swift and conquering all.

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The metaphor of the church and those who follow in the way of Jesus as the salt of the earth challenges those images of growth and calls the church into something I think is deeper and more authentic – and more likely to bring healing, wholeness and reconciliation for those who have been on the margins and who often don’t find a place in a world where material success is seen as the standard to aspire to. This is a church more likely to be able to serve the little ones that the text from the Gospel of Mark speaks of the little ones whose interests Jesus preferences.

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My personal task and calling is to see the very large, highly diverse and outcomes driven organisation that I work in also able to retain its ability to see each and every person as precious to God, worthy of dignity and love, according to the ethos and theology of the church that began its ministry and mission.

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In this congregation I cannot speak for your hopes and dreams as followers of Jesus in this community, but I pray for your ongoing discernment and ability to listen and watch for where God is already at work in your midst, and for you to continue to find your place in that work, being salt for this community and the world.

 

Rev Suzanne Stanton Director of Mission at Uniting