“Salty” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

So Jesus said, “You are the salt of the Earth,” and, where I come from, “salty” is kind of a disparaging term. A person is “salty” when they are kind of edgy, it seems like they’re always upset about something, or they have things to say that you don’t want to hear, and I often thought that there was some sort of difference between the way of being the savory, delicious salt that you might think of that brings seasoning to a meal – because nobody wants to eat an unseasoned meal, right? That’s what I thought Jesus was saying, and maybe he is. But I think there’s also something to the urban dictionary definition of that salty edginess, because who was more salty than Jesus? People did not necessarily want to hear what he had to say. It was edgy. And he was angry, he was disappointed with a whole bunch of things about human behavior. And if we are called to be salt, yes, perhaps that is to make things more flavorful. But maybe that flavor includes some truths that folks are not so interested in thinking through. And maybe that flavor includes those truths that people don’t want to hear because it could change the world. So if we’re the salt of the Earth, maybe we’re doing things for the Earth for once. That, I think, is our call right now: to be salty, for the sake of this Earth, this green Earth, that is in danger of burning without our intervention. So be salty. Be salty for what God has given us, the creation that God has put us in charge of being stewards of. Be salty for the people who need you to speak up for them. Be salty for yourself, because God loves you so much that you should be able to advocate, and say things, even if folks can’t hear it. Amen.