It’s been really tough getting around these past few weeks. Our city and country have been encased in ice. Storms of snow, sleet, and freezing rain have required us to pitch in to free ourselves from its grip. Salt has helped a lot.
In this week’s scriptures*, Jesus speaks into a world not unlike our own, where we are witnessing and experiencing a tearing of the social fabric woven with threads of trust, mercy, and compassion. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. These are not abstract ideas; they are a charge given to us as a community, announcing the good news that God is here, and God’s love can clear a path for us. Jesus names us as people whose shared calling is to resist injustice and illuminate another way of living together. In such a moment, we are not called to retreat or to dominate, but to remain visible and engaged—to practice a faith that shows up where life is most fragile.
Salt preserves and dissolves. Light reveals what needs tending so that we may better love and care for our neighbors and ourselves. In our time, that can look like protecting the vulnerable, refusing indifference, caring for the earth, and insisting that truth matters even when it is costly. When our faith becomes disconnected from these commitments, it loses its flavor. When we, as communities of faith, retreat from hard conversations or real suffering, our light grows dim. Jesus’ insistence that he fulfills the law reminds us that righteousness is about lives aligned with God’s longing for justice, mercy, and repair.
We are still shoveling out from the ice and snow that has blanketed our country. We know that more storms are coming. Winter isn’t over yet. But we are here to shovel and salt together, trusting that our shared effort matters, and holding fast to the promise that spring is coming.
