Next Steps - Oct 11

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." -- Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus uses words like salt and light to describe us as his followers together and in the larger community of those who do not follow him. Salt, making bland things more flavorful; salt, preserving things so that they do not spoil. Light, bringing visibility to dark places, visibility to invisibility. The psalmist says, "even the darkness is as light to God." As we think about the inward journey, we draw close to the One for whom even darkness is light; in the outward journey, we take the light with which we have been filled and carry it ourselves into the places that are dark.

Mike McAllister's shared about how answering God's call to be a parent to children who have no parents has shined a light onto the importance of his role as a parent back home. That's how it works, when we begin to be light in the dark places of the world, when we listen and respond to God's call to go, we always will find that God speaks light into all areas of our life. Often we hear from the people who hear God's call and travel overseas, but God calls all of us, he invites all of us, "go." Some of you are parents, some are not. Some are married, some are single, some in school, some working, some retired. God enters into the great diversity of our lives and invites us to go in ways specific to us.

Light and salt, grey and color -- poetic language. But it is more than mere poetic language, it is a command and an invitation from God. It is the way that God designed his followers to live. The apostle Paul instructed us to be in the world (to be fully present in the places we live and go to school and work, to be salt and light in these places) but not of the world (not allowing the darkness and the blandness of the world to overtake us). What does it mean for you to be salt and light? What does it mean to be in the world yet not of the world? What are the dark places in your neighborhood, school, work, etc. What would it look like -- what practical thing could you do -- to bring the salt and light to the places you are in each day?

Peace, Hope and Love
Doug