Rochester, MN UCC - "Salt and Light" - Matthew 5:13-20

You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world… These words of Jesus speak of the value that the church can bring to the world.  By the grace of God, we can be the salt that brings flavor to the world, the light that casts out darkness.   As true as this may be, it is also the case that the church can and does err. Any honest account of the church’s history must acknowledge the many ways that the church has failed to live up to its own standards- failure to adequately resist the Holocaust, Christian support for chattel slavery and segregation, and the horrific child abuse crisis are more than enough evidence to illustrate the point.

As terrible as many of these moments have been in the history of the church, the fact that the church errs, that it is capable of sin, should not come as a surprise to us.  The church is made up of people after all, and people can and often do act terribly to one another.  Just as we behave deplorably as individuals, as communities, as nations, so too can we behave terribly in our life as the church.  Acknowledging this fact is the vital first step towards addressing our historical wrongs and working to prevent the errors of the past from recurring in our future.

However, the church is not the same as all other social organizations.  The church is not composed only of people, it is also the dwelling place of God, the home of the Holy Spirit, and the Body of Christ.  It is this divine presence that enables the church to truly be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Through the grace of God, we can genuinely love one another, we can show kindness to strangers, welcome foreigners, serve the poor, set free the oppressed- we can embody the very love and grace of God.  As important as it is to acknowledge our historic and present failures, it is even more important that we hold on to the truth that the church can be the light of the world.  What brings us to the church, what binds us to Christ and the mission of God in the world, is not the memory of its failures, but our trust in its goodness- in its ability to be a blessing in a world of darkness.  May God help us to hold fast to the calling of the church, to embody ever more the love of God, and to authentically share the good news of the gospel with the world.

Pastor Andrew Greenhaw