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Salt, Light, Dung, and Fire

2/9/2020

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Salt, Light, Dung, and Fire

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.” 
MT 5:13-16
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. 

 I find this passage in Matthew's gospel rather challenging preach. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Jesus speaks the same words but he uses them in a very particular context, which readily allows us to comprehend how he is using them. Matthew gives us no such context. Jesus is preaching The Sermon on the Mount and simply seems to throw out this expression that we are salt for the Earth, Light of the World. is it just kind of sits there. And yet, it is a phrase and image which has attached itself into our Collective memory. You know these words. We know this expression. And I cannot help but wonder as I think of Matthew and his own context, knowing that Matthew is the only one of the four gospels really rooted in Judaism, if perhaps Matthew is being very stylistically Jewish in this case. That is, using two different images to re-enforce one meaning. We find that all over the pages in the Old Testament. It is simply a traditional way of Jewish expression. For example, the psalmist sings, “If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” Now, the psalmist is not literally hoping for two physical handicaps. The point the song is making is that if I forget Jerusalem, I forget who I am. I lose my identity. Two images, one point. And it occurred to me that perhaps Matthew is doing the same here.

 In Jesus's day, as in our own, salt has a variety of uses. Including being used as fuel. Even today, if you travel to the Holy Land, and take the road north from Jerusalem, you'll notice that many of the homes on the side of the road have these brick ovens outside next to them. Those brick ovens are part of a custom that is ancient. In fact, in Jesus' day, each village had their own common oven. And the fuel for that oven was something more plentiful and easy to obtain rather than would, because wood is not plentiful in the Middle East. So what was used is camel or donkey dung. And, yes, one of the duties of every young girl as she grew up was to learn to go out and collect the camel or donkey dung, mix it with salt, and form patties that would dry out in the sun. 

That still takes place in many developing countries today. Dung mixed with salt is their fuel. A slab of salt is placed at the base of these clay ovens, The patty was laid on it. And the salt block would act as a catalyst, helping the dung patties to burn. Eventually, over time, the block of salt would lose its catalytic effect. And, as Jesus said, “it's good for nothing but to be tossed out and trampled under foot.” So to be salt for the Earth, is to start fires. To be a catalyst for fire. To make things burn. And if Jesus' disciples do this, igniting a flame, then we are also the light of the world. The two images come together. With one meaning. 

Last Sunday, as you left church, you were given a blessed candle. On that candle was the inscription, “go forth and set the world on fire.” Those candles call us to prayer. They also remind us that Jesus calls us to be salt for the Earth, light for the world. And Isaiah tells us what it means to be that Salt and Light, what it means to set the world on fire in our first reading as he speaks about removing oppression from our midst, ending malicious speech, stopping false accusations, sharing our bread with the hungry, welcoming the homeless (which includes the immigrants, the stranger, and the refugee), and clothing the naked. And we do these things not to earn grace, because you can't earn grace. And we do these things not to win people's esteem. And we do these things not to feel good about ourselves. We do them, Saint Paul says, “to Proclaim Christ crucified,” and, as Jesus says, “to give Glory to our Heavenly Father.”  

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The Historical Link Between Groundhog's Day & Candlemas

2/2/2020

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The Historical Link Between Groundhog's Day & Candlemas

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
--and you yourself a sword will pierce--
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  Luke 2: 27-32
Today we are right between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Apart from some football games being played later today, what does the date February 2nd bring to mind? Groundhog's Day, or the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord? (No guilting yourself if you took the non-church answer.) Actually, Groundhog Day and The Presentation of the Lord are related, we'll get to that in a second. But today the church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, a feast that quite honestly usually goes right by us unless it lands on a Sunday as it does this year. The presentation is 40 days after Christmas. It is also known as Candlemas Day because of the tradition of blessing candles, which we did at the start of our liturgy. Traditionally candles were blessed on this day. 

In the old calendar, prior to Vatican II, The Presentation of the Lord was also the end of the Christmas season. That was changed over 50 years ago when the end of Christmas became The Baptism of the Lord, usually some time in January. But there remains an old superstition that tells us that our Christmas decor must all be put away by the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord otherwise we will be haunted. Now it doesn't tell us who or what will be doing the haunting, but I'm thinking, given the time of year in which we find ourselves, at the very least it will be American Express and it's a very worst it would be the IRS. 

Today's feast actually began in the Eastern Church in the sixth century and it was known as the Feast of the Encounter; The Encounter of Simeon and Anna with the Messiah, with Christ. To be very honest, Luke's story of the presentation of Jesus in the temple is really the parallel story to Matthew's account of the Epiphany. They're really parallel celebrations, both are there to remind us, to teach us that Christ is the light of all people, of all Nations. We are told that in accord with the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord. And already, simply with those words, without the rest of the story, we have foreshadowing that points us toward Holy Week. For Jesus is the first born, the firstborn of the dead, the firstborn of the Resurrection. And Jesus is presented in the temple because by the end of Luke's gospel, we will recognize that Jesus is the Temple in his own person. The Temple is not made of stone and mortar, but God's Temple is flesh and blood. 

But enough theology, where's the groundhog.? Remembering that today is also Candlemas Day, for centuries Europeans developed all kinds of customs associated with this day, simply because of the significance of being halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. In an ancient English poem is going to sound familiar to us that we'd like this:

 candlemas day hair and bright
 winter will have another flight
 but if it be dark with clouds and rain
 winter in is gone and won't come again

Throughout Europe this idea was connected to animals such as bears, badgers, hedgehogs and other such critters that are beginning to stir from their winter hibernation. The German immigrants coming to the United States who had looked to the hedgehog in their native country found the groundhog of Pennsylvania and simply transferred their allegiance. And as time went by, the connection with Candlemas and its customs began to fall by the wayside, and we were simply left just with Puxatony Phil. But for those of us who remember the words of Simeon and the presence of Anna in the temple, we will know that Groundhog Day is truly the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and the same light that shines on that beloved rodent is the same light that shines on all of us: Jesus Christ, The True Light of the World.

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St.  Blase  Parish  |  12151  Fifteen  Mile  Road  |  Sterling  Heights,  MI  48312  |  586. 268. 2244