Shine, Sprinkle, Repeat!
One of the most exhilarating and terrifying of seminary days was the day of my SENIOR SERMON! The day I would stand in a pulpit (nerve wracking in and of itself) in front of my peers, the dean and some faculty. I was excited, nervous, terrified, excited, scared. Did I mention, excited?
I rehearsed it late at night in that chapel. I rehearsed it with a friend for feedback. I felt the weight of responsibility. I wrestled with feeling that me, and my words would never be good enough. Who am I to claim that I speak, “in the name of God?” And underneath I buzzed with eager anticipation to do something I was thrilled to be able to do - Preach!
At ordination a priest is told, “It will be your task to proclaim by word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ…You are to love and serve the people among whom you work and you are to preach!”
This Sunday’s gospel is a good one for that.
You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the world! Preach it! Use words if necessary.
That familiar maxim often attributed to St. Francis might seem at odds with a prompt to encourage our words as it is necessary for preachers to speak. But we do are sharing more than our words when we preach. We are sharing who we are.
When we use our words to connect with the hearts of the people we are preaching to we make room for light. Our unique saltiness is to be savored. It can inspire, restore and heal the soul.
A few of the senior sermons I heard from back then have stayed with me. And whenever I hear Jesus tell me that we are salt and light I break into a big smile transported back to chapel, listening to my friend and colleague the Rev. Stephanie Allen preach it up on this text.
Number one, she radiated light! She modeled Jesus’ declarative good news. She was psyched to be in the pulpit and her joy was contagious. Here’s the thing about sharing our joy. Sometimes we worry it’s too much, or we don’t deserve to share it. Or, who are we to share it when so many others are having a hard time? Nonsense! It is good news.
In the introduction to “The Book of Joy” Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama say they were surprised and fascinated to learn that what people most wanted to know about joy, wasn’t where to find it. Most people wanted to know how they could possibly live with joy in a world filled with so much suffering.
Joy is like light. Joy IS light! We don’t take away someone else’s light when we shine ours. I needed Stephanie’s light and I doubt I was the only one. And it has stayed with me. That’s the power of preaching. For you know, my preaching friend, how receiving good preaching empowers and encourages the preacher we are always becoming. It empowers and encourages the person we are always becoming, too.
The words I remember were how she highlighted extraordinary love in an ordinary moment of parenting. The never-ending job of making play-dough with and for her kids. A task that brought them tremendous joy as they created and combined colors and shapes. As they tore their creations apart and then mushed them back together.
Which, as you just might know, is a quality of play-dough made possible thanks to salt.
Beautifully she connected that image with our community and call. Here we were being brought together, being shaped together and soon to be sent out. Sprinkled into new communities that would shape and form us, as we, in turn, shaped and formed them.
Each of us doing our part fulfilling “the law” by embodying it. Co-creators towards creating the kingdom of God in ways particular to who we are, where we are and when we are.
That’s what shined and has stayed in my heart from that day. And you know what? Stephanie may not even remember it that way. That’s ok! That’s what God needed me to hear and to remember. That’s how good preaching works – we send out the words and they work towards a purpose, revealing what we need to hear, see and carry with us. (sidenote prompt: that’s a theme in this Sunday’s epistle)
What we radiate, what we impart, what we live into with our proclamations makes more than an impression. It has impact. Sometimes quite a lasting one.
Share your light and joy! Find your story, your image within this sacred text that leads you to fulfill it in the presence of people who are eager to hear what you, specifically and uniquely you, have to preach. Communities and people need to see the light God has called you to share.
The Rev. Stephanie Allen continues to shine her light with the people of The Church of the Nativity in Raleigh, NC. I’m grateful for her inspiration and permission to post this reflection!
