2010 LENTEN SERMON SERIES, posted on N-0500
December 6 2009 -"A Visit with Elizabeth" -Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
October 11, 2009 - "It's Hard to be Humble" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
October 4, 2009 - "Hunger Pangs" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
"Read the Instructions!" - September 27 2009 - The Rev Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
September 20 2009 - "Pass The Salt" - The Rev Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 6 2009 - "Dangerous Jobs" - The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
May 31 2009 -"Spirit Guide for Dummies" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 10 2009 - The Touch of the Master - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 3 2009 - "More Than Enough" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 5 2009 - "Being A Christopher" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 29, 2009 “Lo-Cal Prayer” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 22, 2009 - “A Costly Bargain” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
February 1, 2009 - "Fourth and One" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Januaray 25 2009 - Hooked! - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 14 2008 - How Can It Be? - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 7 2008 -Holidays or Hollow Days?- Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
November 9, 2008 "You Want Me to Do What?"-Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"Water Marks" October 12, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 20,2008 "The Runaway" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Dare to Be a Daniel" July 27, 2008- The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 13, 2008 - "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 13 2008 "There's a Tiger in My Boat!" -The Rev. VickyNey, posted on N-0400
March 9, 2008 - "Running in Reverse" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 2, 2008 - "Meet Mrs. Zebedee" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
February 10 2008 - "Who, Me?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"That Sinking Feeling" - January 27 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
January 13, 2008 - "Who Are You Wearing?" - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Wise People" - January 6, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Christmas 2007 Homily - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
How Can I Be Sure? - Rev. Ney - December 02 2007, posted on N-0500
"Skipping Christmas" - Rev. Ney - November 25 2007, posted on N-0500
"Thanks and Living" November 18, 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Your Money or Your Life!, posted on N-0500
"Taking Goliath Down" October 7, 2007 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"When the Ark Got Parked - Oct. 21, 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney , posted on N-0400
"Looking for Godzilla" -Rev. Vicky Ney Sept. 30 2007, posted on N-0400
"Parked In Dopey" Sept 23 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
The Rock, The Roll, The Resurrection. Text: John 20:1-18, posted on N-0400
"Does God Go On Vacation?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Perfect Freedom" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Talk Like a Pirate" -The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"A Visit With Martha" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"It All Depends on What You're Listening For", posted on N-0400
Sheep and the Shepherd , posted on N-0400
Following Jesus in a “Hokie” World, posted on N-0400
“A Bout with Doubt” , posted on N-0400
Carpe Diem , posted on N-0400
The Physics of Falling Toast, posted on N-0400

September 20 2009 - "Pass The Salt" - The Rev Victoria Ney

September 20, 2009 “Pass the Salt” Rev. Victoria Ney Text: Matthew 5:13-16 I come from a long line of bad cooks. (I think I’ve mentioned that before.) The last decent cook in my family probably goes back 4 or 5 generations! We never starved or were malnourished in any way. In fact, the people in my family have lived very long lives. So, I guess in some ways, I could claim that they were at least healthy food providers, without being tasty-food cooks! I can honestly tell you that when I grew up, the food was very bland. We lived with my grandmother, who had high blood pressure. Her doctors told her to stay away from salt, and she did—and so did we. None of the food at our house was ever salted—not in the cooking of it (in the preparation), not even a salt shaker on the kitchen table. “Pass the salt” was never heard in my house! If a guest asked for some salt, it would take about ten minutes to even find the salt shaker! Personally, today, I love all kinds of foods, so you can imagine my delight over the years as I discovered all sorts of flavors and spices—not the least of which is salt. I remember reading or hearing about this scripture passage a few times when I was a little girl. It’s a fairly well known one. Jesus said we are to be salt and light. I could understand the “light” part. That made sense to me. Light up the path so people can see the right way to go. Reflecting light, in the sense that people could see Jesus reflected in my life. Light coming through a church stained glass window in a way that Christ’s light brings out the beauty in things. And I certainly understood that if you turn a light on, you don’t cover it, or it won’t do you any good. I can even remember singing the children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine.” That all made sense to me. But salt meant very little to me and I had some trouble understanding why Jesus would use this particular analogy for his disciples. Even now on the surface, it doesn’t really seem like a “big deal.” Part of that difficulty probably comes from our present-day use of salt—we think of salt simply as a very common flavoring. It’s so common these days, that it can be a struggle for people on salt-restricted diets to find low-sodium or sodium-free foods—particularly frozen or prepared foods at the store. It seems to be in everything and everywhere. In our own culture today, if we were going to make a statement that would indicate something that is good or worthwhile or something that is important, we might use phrases like “looks like a million bucks,” “good as gold,” “worth a mint,” or “priceless.” But would you praise someone or give instructions by saying “Be salt?” When we hear these words of Jesus, “You are the salt of the earth,” I’m not sure we really have a sense of what he was trying to get across to us. It’s seems unimpressive to me, and yet, I believe, that statement would have stunned the people listening to Jesus speak. So let’s go back in time to find out a little about salt, to see why Jesus would say what he did. I found a book called, Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky that was very helpful for me. It told me that salt as a mineral was often more valuable to humans than gold. Ancient Chinese people gathered sea salt as early as 6000 BC. In the time of Jesus, the first century, salt was so valuable that it was even used like cash currency. The Roman soldiers who marched all over the empire were often paid in salt. The Latin word for salt (sal) became the basis for the word “salary.” It’s also the origin of the expressions we’ve all heard, “He’s worth his salt” or “He’s earning his salt.” Two thousand years ago, salt was used mostly as a preservative. There was obviously no refrigeration, so salt was a lifeline to survival when fresh foods became scarce. It prevented rot and decay. Probably, when the disciples were traveling around with Jesus, they carried salted fish with them to eat. Salt gave long-life to everything it permeated. That was probably the idea in the Old Testament, when the prophets used salt as a symbol of the eternal covenant God made with the Hebrew people (Leviticus 2:13, Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5)—naming it a “covenant of salt”—a covenant that was meant for a long time or forever. Salt was also used as a disinfectant. You’ve heard the term “salt in the wound.” If you put salt in an open wound, it really stings and smarts, but it does clean out germs. (Fortunately, there are somewhat less painful ways of cleaning wounds today!) I have to admit, that when I first heard this saying of Jesus—“you are the salt of the earth”—I would have guessed that it had more to do with flavoring—you know, spice things up a bit—like Christians “add spice to life!” But I think that would have been one of the last things on Jesus’ listeners’ minds. Their food probably was as bland as the food on my childhood kitchen table. Salt was much too expensive and important to just use as a flavor-enhancer. Salt was precious and had much more important work to do. I think Jesus’ listeners had a clearer idea of what Jesus was trying to say than we do. So let’s just think about what it means for us today 2000 years later. First of all from research, we know that salt was precious. And as children of God, we are precious—bought with a very high price by our Savior. But even though the salt was worth a lot of money, it wasn’t something that just sat on a shelf looking pretty. Salt had many important functions to fulfill—and so do we. Secondly, we know that salt can penetrate and make a difference—and so should we. If you think about cooking, you don’t need to use much salt to make a big change in the flavor. Salt changes things. Salt is distinctive. It is totally different from the food or object where it’s put. You don’t eat salt alone. It only becomes effective when it is mixed with something else. So we salty saints can’t just sit here in church all the time and huddle together—clump up like salt in a shaker! We need to mix with others and flavor the world with God’s love. Salt also has a lot of influence. A little salt can flavor a big pot of soup. It only takes one salty person to flavor a whole community, a whole neighborhood, or a whole workplace. I think we should realize that about ourselves as Christians. People are watching us. We actually have a lot more influence than we think. There’s a cute Peanuts cartoon that showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown. She said, “Guess what, Chuck. The first day of school, and I got sent to the principal’s office. It was your fault, Chuck.” Charlie Brown was shocked. He said, “My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?” She said, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.” Even though we may just call that passing the buck, we should, in a very real sense, be a good influence on people around us. It goes without saying that we should live honorable and moral lives as an example. But I also think that we should show others the joy of the Lord in us. There is joy in being a Christian. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said he might have become a minister instead of a judge, if Christians didn’t go around with such long sour faces. There are lots of ways in which to be salty disciples that influence the lives of others. Salt can also be used as a preservative. It can keep food—meat—from going bad. In the same way, parts of our world have always been and always will be filled with rot and decay and evil. As salty disciples, I believe we are called to act as the salty preservatives—being the conscience of the community, speaking out and standing up for truth and justice and right. I’m not sure how long salt has been used for this purpose, but I know that in the winter time, we often use salt for cracking and melting ice. You know, this world is full of hearts that are as cold as ice and as hard as stone. Jesus calls us to go out and tell others of his love, so that they can be melted and have their hardness cracked by the power of the love of Christ. Jesus wants his salty disciples to soften the hearts of others so that they can melt when the warmth of Jesus covers them. One last thing I notice about salt is that it loses itself when it is working; it dissolves. When applied, after it has done its work, you won’t find any trace of the salt. When the salt is really effective, it loses its own identity. It loses itself in the service of something else. For us then, to be effective salty saints, we are going to have to lose ourselves in self-giving for the health and maintenance of those around us. Just as there isn’t one part of the salt that doesn’t dissolve, we also need to give all of ourselves, 100%, if we’re going to be the salt Jesus asks us to be. But this is one of our problems. We tend not to put everything out there for fear we won’t have enough left over for ourselves. We pace ourselves and hold back. We’re also afraid to get close to other people for fear of rejection, being hurt or misunderstood. We end up just breaking off a little of our salt—like we’re rationing it. But that’s not the salt Jesus calls us to be. Jesus has given us the pattern. Whenever he healed or helped someone, he gave completely of himself. Jesus knew we’d have hesitation about giving our all as salt. That’s way he said so many times to his disciples: “Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will not leave you alone. I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless.” Jesus always emphasized the fact that we are working with him and he with us. You see, as we apply ourselves as salt to the wounds and needs of the world, we will be given the courage and strength we require. St. Paul figured this out when he was working as salt in this world. He said: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So, as disciples of Jesus today here in Springfield, we come to the important question for us: Are we being salt? Or are we lightly seasoned? Jesus didn’t say we should be like salt; he said “You ARE the salt.” He didn’t say you might be, you ought to be, you could be, it would be nice if you… No, he said, “You are the salt of the earth.” We either have flavor or we don’t. We’re either the salt, or Jesus said we’re useless. Jesus didn’t fool around or pull any punches! He knew there is a lot of work to be done. There’s a whole hurting world out there that needs us—that needs to know of God’s love and care through us. So, Jesus drives the point home: disciples are only valuable, worth their salt, if they are used! God has created us, equipped us, molded us, energized us, and purposed us for divine use—to be his instruments for changing the world. We are all the salt of the earth, common but valuable, simple but with thousands of uses. Famous football coach “Bear” Bryant used to have this sign hanging on his locker room door: “Cause something to happen.” That’s exactly what salt does. So pass the salt and shake yourselves all around. Will you pray with me?

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