Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to be who and what you
made us to be, for then, and only then, will we have any hope doing what you
have called us to do. Amen.
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16
Journal: What do the images of salt and light do within
you? What is unique about them? What is similar? What does it meant to be salt and light?
Reflection:
The older I get the more I've come to believe that ministry is much less about what we do and much more about who we are. I think it is intended to be something that flows freely and pours forth from what God is doing in the depths of our hearts and souls, not something we have to manufacture or manipulate or create--no contriving, no forcing, no holding back (Rilke). I think that's why Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world. Salt and light do not have to work real hard to be salt and light, they just have to be what they were intended to be. They have to bring out the flavor of God within them, and illuminate the beauty of God around them. It is the same with us. We're not called to do salt and light, we are called to be salt and light. Being salt and being light are the natural expressions of the life of God in us. If we are living in union with God, if we are falling more and more in love with Jesus each day, it will pour forth from our lives and it will find its way to those in our world. Everyone will taste God's flavor uniquely in us. Everyone will see the beauty of God illuminated by us. All we have to do is to be our true—God breathed—selves. When we are not being who God made us to be—when we are forcing or when we are holding back—we are like salt that has lost its saltiness, or like a light that has been put under a bowl. And what good is that? So instead of constantly trying to figure out how to do ministry, from now on I think I'm going to think more about how to be who and what God has created me to be.
The older I get the more I've come to believe that ministry is much less about what we do and much more about who we are. I think it is intended to be something that flows freely and pours forth from what God is doing in the depths of our hearts and souls, not something we have to manufacture or manipulate or create--no contriving, no forcing, no holding back (Rilke). I think that's why Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world. Salt and light do not have to work real hard to be salt and light, they just have to be what they were intended to be. They have to bring out the flavor of God within them, and illuminate the beauty of God around them. It is the same with us. We're not called to do salt and light, we are called to be salt and light. Being salt and being light are the natural expressions of the life of God in us. If we are living in union with God, if we are falling more and more in love with Jesus each day, it will pour forth from our lives and it will find its way to those in our world. Everyone will taste God's flavor uniquely in us. Everyone will see the beauty of God illuminated by us. All we have to do is to be our true—God breathed—selves. When we are not being who God made us to be—when we are forcing or when we are holding back—we are like salt that has lost its saltiness, or like a light that has been put under a bowl. And what good is that? So instead of constantly trying to figure out how to do ministry, from now on I think I'm going to think more about how to be who and what God has created me to be.
Prayer
Closing Prayer: Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing
love, that we might sing for joy and be glad all our days. Amen.
(Psalm 90:14)
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