Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Today is about a three-letter word – AND. 

As a child I remember my father driving around our neighborhood in Philadelphia when the gas gauge in our 51 Plymouth was on E.  He was cruising and looking for the lowest priced gas he could find.  I don’t remember him running completely out, but we did sputter into a gas station more than once.  The lowest price I remember was 23 cents.  My father would crank down the window and the attendant would ask, “Filler up?”  He would then ask, “Check the oil?”  And always while the pump was running, he would squeegee clean the windshield.  “Filler up”, “check the oil”, and then we were off with a ‘Thank you”.  We would fuel up and get back on the road.

The last line of our reading from the Good News according to St. Mark is “Have salt in yourselves…”  All the offerings of the temple in Jerusalem were sprinkled with salt.  Salt was considered the purest substance, made from sea water and sunshine.  It was pure, no imperfections.

 “Have salt in yourselves” – be pure, salted, ready to be an offering to God.  Be fueled up, ready to roll.  Be ready to journey; be ready to travel with God; be ready to walk with Jesus.

So, on Sunday mornings we power up, we fuel up.  We listen to God’s Holy Texts.  We confess and are forgiven our missteps, the things we have done and the things we have left undone.  We are fed “The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven” and “The Blood of Christ, the Cup of Salvation”.  We hear again the promise of “The peace of God that surpasses all understanding”.  Then, we are off on our journeys, we are off on our travels, we are off on our walks.

Yet, sometimes it seems to me that we get stuck in neutral.  Sometimes it seems to me that we neglect to leave the gas station.  We receive the Peace, we are fueled up, but we want more.  Perhaps the COVID pause has transformed us into major introverts.  Perhaps the COVID pause has given us permission to read more, to game more, to Facebook, Instagram and X more.  Perhaps the COVID pause has encouraged us to retreat more into ourselves.

Then, here comes that three letter word, AND.  “Have salt in yourselves AND be at peace with one another”.  The ancient text Greek makes it a bit clearer – “Have salt in yourselves AND be peacemakers with one another”.  To make peace pulls us forward into our Baptismal Covenant where we affirm our willingness to “seek and serve Christ in all persons…”.  Peace making calls for engagement with others, with Democrats and Republicans, with Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis, with Ukrainians and Russians, with Japanese and Chinese, with Mayflower Americans and the newly arrived.  Peace making calls for vulnerability, for giving our two ears to listen (not just our one mouth to shout), for extending to others mercy, for extending goodness to others, to see Christ in others, to see others not only as neighbors, but sisters and brothers. 

And we are enabled to listen, to extend mercy, to see goodness, to find sisters and brothers, as we conclude each of the Baptismal Covenants, “with God’s help”.  With God’s help, with God’s fuel, we power up; we fuel up; and then we reengage, we pull out of the gas station, to roll, to travel with God, to walk with Jesus. 

Is it easy to be peacemakers?  No.  There are always twists and turns on the road.  There are always bumps, pot holes, and foul weather days on the road. 

We do not fuel up and sit still.  We fuel up to be “partners with Christ with the love of God on our lips and in our lives” as the posted Diocesan Mission statement proclaims. 

“Have salt in yourselves AND be peacemakers with one another”.

Amen