Gettin’ Salty
“When is salt not salty?”
That question has been floating through my mind the last several days. Of course, it comes from Jesus’ perplexing question found in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”
My only question is, HOW can salt loose its saltiness? There’s absolutely no way! It’s chemically impossible for salt to become unsalty unless its bonds are broken…but then it isn’t salt anymore, it is sodium and chloride. This has got to be one of the dumbest statements Jesus ever makes!
This past weekend I went to the World Missions Workshop in Lubbock, TX. What an amazing time to meet new people; so many of whom are interested in God’s Mission! Specifically, I was able to bump into Marvin Crowson, Harding University‘s point man for organic church, (a good Q&A with him here). He introduced me to a team who are looking at moving to Chicago in a year and a half to begin living missionally (they will all have day jobs) but they will live their Christian vocation out as missionaries to the city – planting simple churches in apartments, coffee shops, parks, and yes, even Sears Tower. You can imagine my excitement, meeting a whole team that is assembling (a mix from Harding and Lubbock Christian University) who have such a similar vision.
Beyond meeting cool cats, I found myself bouncing from conversation to conversation, discussing dreams different folks had regarding what the church could look like outside the traditional walls. More and more people are beginning to see this way of living as a legitimate option for church; and that makes me truly excited. Missionaries who have seen organic church as a means for spreading the gospel all over the world are “clicking” as they realize that if it can work around the world, and it works in the New Testament, maybe it can work in North America too.
So when is salt not salty? What about this salt shaker seen here? Is the salt in it salty?
How do you know? How can you prove it? Truly, no one really knows if salt is salty unless they taste it. So why does Jesus talk to us about salt loosing its saltiness? Because it is our nature to hang out in the salt shaker! We’d rather sit pretty with all the other salt, bickering over who is the “purest” salt crystal of the bunch, while the world dies of hunger. The world is hungry for something that tastes good – something that awakens their appetite for God. When we fight and complain over meaningless arguments (find one here), we totally lose sight of where Jesus wants his Church – out of the salt shaker and into the world! If we stay inside the church – we are GOOD FOR NOTHING.
Maybe that’s why I liked going to WMW so much – it reminded me that for too much of my life I have stayed inside the salt shaker, moaning about how all the rest of the salt doesn’t look tasty enough. Maybe I should get out of this “bubble” and start meeting people I can “get salty” with.
chad, and 