Rev. Ellen Alston
There is probably no one on earth who understands the value of “flavor” like Louisianans. When we speak of experiencing the culture of a particular people, we often phrase it “a taste of” a way of life or being. It can’t be captured in words alone; you taste it, savor it, and let it get inside you, even down to the molecular level.
Salt is even more than flavor alone, although its presence is indicated by its flavor. As Scot McKnight points out, it also “purifies and preserves.” Salt is ever-present in the vast expanse of the oceans, seasoned with waters that have washed over the earth’s soil. Salt flows in our tears, having qualities for healing and for transformation. In living the Jesus Creed, I believe that saltiness is about being real and grounded and letting this way of being permeate our entire lifestyle.
I welcome McKnight’s emphasis on the plural “you,” that living as salt can’t be done alone. Discernment and discipleship are truly community intentions and experiences, and aren’t to be lived in isolation any more than I would swallow a spoonful of salt by itself! Salt is to be consumed with the food it is meant to flavor.
Light is warmth, vision, clarity, direction. As a new morning dawns, the spreading light not only brings awareness of all that somehow reflects it, but the light, as it dances and intensifies, also reveals and stirs and awakens hope inside me.
We live in a world hungry for salt-seasoned living, among people aching and straining to see the fresh look that the light of Christ brings, and to follow the direction it leads.
How and where has your life been flavored and illumined with salt and light on the Christian journey? What has that meant for you? How has it made a difference?
How and where are you living the Jesus Creed with flavor and brilliance? What one thing might you change (or ask God to help change) to deepen that life in Christ?
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