Reflection:
Salt of the Earth
This is a reflection on Jesus' teaching about being the salt of the earth, and what this means in our lives.
Opening music:
Listen to the following as an opening prayer.
Lyrics:
Be still
Be still and know that
In stillness and quiet
That I am the Lord
And let go, let go of your worries
Only one thing is needed
Just be still and know
Be still and know
That I am the Lord
Reflection Talk:
Guided prayer
I invite you into a time of guided prayer, using the audio track below.
End the time of quiet prayer by listening to and joining in with the following simple chant:
Reading:
Read the following readings through twice or three times, and listen for any word or phrase that seems to be inviting you to linger with it.
Reading 1: Philippians 2:1-8
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Reading 2:
In the sea of love, I melt like salt.
Belief, doubt – they both dissolve.
A star is opening in my heart.
~ Rumi
For further reflection:
Below are the quotes from the talk for further reflection on this theme.
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 underfoot."
Matt Licata:
“We have to dissolve all of that fixed, solid material – actually, we don’t have to dissolve it, it’s being dissolved. Life will grind us down. There’s a certain way that life washes through this dream of the way I thought life was going to turn out. But life will dissolve that fixity. In the face of this dissolution, the question isn't so much how can we be reborn, but will we participate in death, fully, and with an open heart, paving the way for new forms to emerge, trusting that rebirth will take place. The invitation, then, is to not short circuit the intelligence and creativity that death is, and to remember that rebirth is not possible without the creativity of dissolution.”
Thomas Merton:
“...to disappear into God, to be submerged in [God's] peace, to be lost in the secret of [God's] Face.”
Ending prayer:
All things come from you, O God.
And to you we return.
All things emerge in your great river of life,
And into you we vanish again.
At the beginning of this day we wake,
not as separate beings,
but as countless currents in a single flow,
the flow of this day’s dawning,
the flow of this day’s delight,
the flow of this day’s sorrow.
Your flow, O God, in the beckoning invitation of this new day.
Amen!
(Adapted from a prayer by J Philip Newell)
Ending music:
Lyrics:
O Spirit guide me now,
O Spirit guide me now,
O Spirit guide me now,
In your way guide me.
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Sharon's book that was previously called "Contemplative Living" has been republished by AnamChara Books under the title "Deeper: Finding the Depth Dimension Beneath the Surface of Life". The Kindle version is available from Amazon, and the hard copy version can be ordered from loot.co.za or Takealot, or from your local bookshop through Ingram Distribution.