Tuesday 11/18/14

Tuesday’s Recap summarizes the previous evening’s Pizza and Prayer. If you couldn’t join us last night, or if for some strange reason you can’t remember what happened (amnesia?), here’s what you missed:

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:13-16

Tonight’s passage is all about purpose. It’s one of the biggest questions of our lives: “Why are we here?” What’s my purpose? What is the meaning of all this?

There are some people out there who will tell you that there is none. They’ll say that life has no meaning, that it’s just some random meaningless string of events. I believe, and our Church teaches, that they’re wrong. We have a purpose, every one of us.

When we talk about our purpose in a religious sense, we usually use the word “vocation.” That can be a bit intimidating for some people, because it calls up images of priests, and monks, and nuns, but your vocation is just that thing which you’re called to do with your life. We all have a vocation. Many of you are probably struggling with finding it right now. Many of you will struggle with it through your early adulthood. Many of you will probably still struggle with it after early adulthood.

As a group, though, we have our vocation. We are to be the salt of the earth. That’s kind of a strange expression. We don’t think about salt very much now, but in the ancient world, it was a pretty valuable seasoning. They didn’t have all the methods that we have today to cheaply produce large quantities of salt. Salt had a very real value to the people. So when you put it like that, we’re called to be the seasoning of the earth. It still doesn’t make much sense, but think about what salt does. It makes food better. Have you ever had salt-free potato chips or French fries? They’re OK, but you miss the salt.

When salt loses its flavor, though, what is it good for? You wouldn’t put flavorless salt on your food. That would be silly. It would add nothing to your meal except the risk of hypertension. It’s silly.

We are called to bring flavor to the world. We are called to enhance the world; to make it better. The passage goes on “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket, it is set on a lampstand where it gives light to all in the house.” Whenever the news needs to talk about religion, it seems like they interview a priest, or a nun, a cardinal, or a bishop. We’re the biggest denomination of Christianity in the world. We’re readily recognizable. We need to be a good example to the rest of the world. We can’t hide our faith away. We need to stand up for what’s true, what’s right, and what’s just, not just for what’s attractive, what’s convenient, and what’s fun.

It is my prayer that this week we could all take a little time each day to do one conscious action which seeks to be an example to others and glorifies God. I counted 70 of us a minute ago. If we each did that and one person saw it and was moved to action, that would be 140 people. If it kept going there would be 280, then 560, then 1120; a whole school. If it kept going that’s 2240, then 4480. Then 8,960. Before you know it, you’ve got 17,920 and 35,840. Soon whole cities and states.

Go out this week and light the world.


Lord,
Thank you for letting me know you. Help me to always do my best to wear your name with honor. Grant that I may always be a positive example to the people around me, even when I do not know that they are watching.
Amen


Last night's playlist:
Lord I Need You – Matt Maher
Psalm 23 – Ingrid DuMosch
Go Light Your World – Chris Rice
God of This City – Chris Tomlin
You Can Have Me – Sidewalk Prophets
Not Ashamed – Jeremy Camp
Place in this World – Michael W. Smith
Receive the Power – Guy Sebastian, Gary Pinto, and Paulini
Lead Me – Sanctus Real
A Rightful Place – Steve Angrisano