Backfield in Motion

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday February 6, 2011, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It is also Super Bowl Sunday.

Isaiah 58:1-9a

Psalm 112:1-9

1Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

This may seem hard to imagine, but believe it or not, I’m an introvert.  I’m really pretty shy.  At one time in my life I was shy to the point of stammering.  To help get over that, my parents encouraged me to take speech and theater classes so that I would learn how to speak in public.  Well, I’m still pretty shy and I’m still an introvert, but at least now I’m comfortable in front of a microphone.  I am accustomed to public speaking.

One of the things that this has given me an opportunity to do is some radio work.  I have had a show on my college radio station when music was played on turntables, not out of computers.  I have called some baseball games with friends who worked at the radio station in Lamar, Colorado.  I have even called high school football from the teeming megalopolis of Green Forest, Arkansas on opening night of the 2007 season against the Reeds Spring, Missouri Red Wolves.  To get a handle on Green Forest, imagine Hallsville with a livestock sale barn surrounded by hay fields and chicken houses and you’re there..

The play I remember best was a fourth down and short on the Reeds Spring side of the field.  Green Forest was too deep to punt, but not close enough to try the field goal.  Everybody in four states knew they were going to run the ball.  This is when I noticed all of the Reeds Spring players were near the line of scrimmage; none of them was any more than a couple yards off the line.  When you hear announcers say that the defense is in the box that is what they mean.  So I said that the defense was in the box.

I also said that if Green Forest can get past the line of scrimmage, there would be no one to stop the back from scampering the remaining thirty yards to the end zone, effectively putting the game on ice for the home team, and that was exactly what happened.   The Green Forest runner took it to the edge of the line, got a block, popped through the hole, and put six on the board for the home team.

The play was designed to go just a few yards.  It was designed to get four yards and a cloud of dust, and it did that.  But when it busted loose, it was a jailbreak.  Green Forest went on to win the game by more than two touchdowns.

You are the salt of the earth.  Salt to the ancients had a status that we really can’t imagine.  We just don’t have one thing in our lives that represents so much.  Salt was the preservative of the time.  We know that.  We also know it is the most common seasoning ever.  Then we need to recall that since Matthew spoke to the first Jewish Christians, the uses of salt in the Old Testament were also brought to mind in this phrase.

Matthew’s people were reminded of sacrifice, Leviticus 2:13 told the people that they were to include salt in all of their sacrifices.  Ezekiel 43 said that when the people brought their sacrifices of bulls and rams it was the priest who would put salt on the offering.  Being salt was holy.

Ezra 4 and Numbers 18 give us the sharing of salt, enjoying a meal and fellowship together. In this place, the salt was more than a seasoning; it was an expression of loyalty and fidelity.  Sharing the salt expressed the binding relationship of the meal.

In 2Kings 2 the people find good land with a poor water source.  Elisha purifies the water miraculously using salt.  And when he did the Lord said, “I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” The passage ends with the narrator declaring “So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.”

Jesus cries out “You are the salt of the earth.”  Jesus cries this out to his disciples on the mountainside who were declared blessed in the beatitudes.  So it is no wonder, with all of the things that salt represented to them that when they were told that they were the salt of the earth, their blessings were taken to a whole new level.

Jesus continues, “You are the light of the world.” The disciples are to shine their light on the darkness of the world.  There’s an old saying, when you open a dark closet, the light enters the closet, the darkness does not spill into the room.  The light is shined on all those things that were once in the dark.  In this sense, the light doesn’t bring attention to itself.  Attention is drawn to what was once in the dark and is now in the light too.  So when we shine the light on the world, we draw attention not on ourselves, but onto what the light reaches.

Jesus then adds “A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”  There are two different and contrasting ideas at play here.  “A city on a hill cannot be hidden” offers the startling contrast that from within the darkness, only light and what is lit can be seen.  If you are in the dark, what’s it like to look into more darkness?  When you’re the one in the darkness, it is only when there is a light shining that there is any difference.  The city on the hill can truly be seen by those in the dark.

This was a dicey proposition for the followers of Christ.  It was not popular to be a follower of Christ in all quarters.  Being seen as a follower of Jesus could lead to a lot of problems, particularly in the temple and synagogues.  This was especially true in the forty years after the death of Jesus when this gospel was written.

Still it is with these followers of the Lord, they are the light of the world.  So it is with us followers of the Lord, we are the light of the world.  The source of our light is the light of Christ.  Shining the light of God, it is impossible to hide. Still, even if it wasn’t always compatible with personal safety, not only are they that light, they are called to let their light shine in the world through their good works.

So this should challenge us all; we are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world.  We come to bring holy spice to life.  We are called not to hide our lights; we are to let them shine through our lives.  We are called be a like a city on the hill in the darkness. 

As we are called to be salt, we are also called to keep our saltiness.  Salt is unless when it loses its saltiness, when this happens, salt becomes worthless. The only way salt looses its saltiness is when it becomes contaminated.  When sand or dirt falls into salt, it looses its saltiness.  When water comes into contact with salt it dissolves and after the water evaporates, the salt will have lost its saltiness because it will be combined with everything that was in the water and everything that fell into the salt water as the water evaporated. 

As the light, we are to shine into the dark corners of life and creation.  Through our works we are to shine the light of God so others may praise the Father in heaven.  We are to be the place for those in the darkness to see.  We need to remember that some lights are different than others.  Some light the room, others light the world, and when the light is hidden, it becomes worthless too.  Even when it is dangerous to shine, we are called to put ourselves out where the world can see what we do and for whom we do it.

Returning to the Green Forest Football game, the play itself was not designed for much.  It was designed to get three or four yards and keep the drive going.  It wasn’t the quarterback chucking the ball downfield.  It wasn’t a screen pass to get to the sideline.  It wasn’t even a quarterback sneak for a couple of yards; it was fourth and short, but not that short. 

When the play began, the center snapped to the quarterback who handed to the running back.  The offensive line blocked so that nobody ended up in the backfield and the hole opened in the line.  Then, of course, the running back took the ball through the hole for the first down and beyond.  Because the offense did its job very well and there was nobody in the secondary after the defense was unable to make the initial stop; there was nothing between the runner and glory.

In the kingdom of God, salt can only be salt and light can only be light; no more, but no less either.  There is salt that is used to prepare the sacrifice.  There is salt that is used to preserve meat.  There is salt used in the temple and there is salt used at the table.  They all give glory to God though they are used for different purposes.  Nobody did anybody else’s job.  The offensive guard didn’t try to run the ball; that was left to the running back.  Everyone used their abilities and talents like they were called to do.  

In the same way, we are also called to fully be who God has called us to be in the place God has put us, nothing more and certainly nothing less. We are all called to different roles within the body of Christ all to give glory to God. 

Now, this is where I want to back up just a touch over the past few weeks.  I have told us all over the past four months that there are things we need to do.  There are many, many faces of the children of Christ we are to seek and find and serve.  Yet, there is something I have not said strongly enough, so let me say it now: We are to seek who we are first, both individually and as a congregation.

Are we the salt of fellowship or the salt of the priests?  Are we the salt of loyalty and fidelity or are we the salt of purification?  How do we season?  How does our light shine?  We need to ask ourselves if we keep our light under a basket?  These are the questions we must ask ourselves first.  We must seek and discern what God is calling us to do, who God is calling us to be.  Only when we are in accord with our Christian vocation will our salt be pure and our light shine as the Lord calls it to shine.

It is our blessing today that we are called to consider these things over the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper.  As the salt is important to the bread, we share Christ’s salt.  We shine the reflected light of God’s glory to a world that sorely needs it.  As this meal fills and nourishes us, we are fed by the sacrifice of God.  As we share this meal, we share it with the Lord in a binding, loving relationship.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday.  In one of the most Old School matchups of the Super Bowl era, the Green Bay Packers host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas, Texas.  It is also Souper Bowl of Caring[1] Sunday, when we provide additional gifts of food and finance to the food pantry along with our regular tithes and offerings.  As Christ shares the supper with his disciples then and now, we share a bit of our supper with those who need salt and light.

Thank you for your gifts and your support of the pantry.  The work done there is a great outreach to the poor and even more to the working poor who have a hard time making ends meet.  It is when these shelves are stocked that this glorious mission, which is rooted in the Protestant churches from Marshall, shines brightest.

Friends, pray for discernment; pray for faithfulness.  Seek to be salt, seek to be light.  Let’s get our backfields in motion.  Some of us will be the bruisers on the offensive line and others will be speedy tailbacks, and that’s just fine when we live fully into our calling as the children of the Lord God.  That’s because only when we all work together as the people of God that we can beat those red devils and put up six in the name of the Lord.  At the risk of sounding like a football coach ending his halftime speech, who’s with me.

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[1] For more information about the good work done by Souper Bowl of Caring, go to their website at http://www.souperbowl.org/.