Salt Covenant Worship

Call to Worship

One: "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.
Many: Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Wisdom, these are God flavors. These are our flavors.

One: If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
Many: Renew our flavor, Lord. Let us be your salt for the earth.

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Salt Covenant

Because salt’s essence does not change,
With it we seal our steadfast commitment to God through this congregation.
Because salt preserves,
With it we claim the eternal truth of God’s love for us and for the world.
Because salt blesses,
With it we ask God’s blessing on this house of worship, all who enter here, and all who are touched by our outreach. Because salt purifies,
With it we claim God’s power to make us a new creation, pure and holy.
Because salt sustains life,
With it we claim this community’s life giving potential.
Because salt may also destroy,
We will take care to love one another as the very Body of Christ.
Because salt is found in every corner of this earth,
We remember Christ came that all may have abundant life.
Because in many times and places salt has symbolized wealth,
We pledge our resources to God’s holy work through our faith community.
Because from the earliest days, the people of God sealed their sacred covenants with salt,
We will be God’s people and will live in covenant with God and each other. AMEN

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Children's Message (with helper to model gestures)

Gospel  Mark 9:38-42, 49-50

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." 
gesture: STOP!

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 
gesture:  lower “stop” gesture to open hands

Whoever is not against us is for us. 
Gesture:  welcoming arms

9:41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
Gesture:  receive a cup of water

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 
Gesture:  hang something heavy on shoulders.

"For everyone will be salted with fire. 
Gesture:  shake salt.

Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
Gesture:  pass the peace.

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Morning Message: Thoughts on Salty People:
Mark 9:38-­‐42, 49-­‐50
   Jesus is still trying to shake things up in this story.
John, apparently eager to please, said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

But Jesus said, john, John,” Whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who offers a drink of water in my name earns God’s thanks. ”

[But you] "If any of you put a stumbling block before another you’d be better off with a rock hung around your neck while you’re thrown into the sea.Then as if that weren’t enough to think about, Jesus slips in one of those strange metaphors,

"For everyone will be salted with fire. Gesture: shake salt.

Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

This is what Jesus wants his church to be like, full of genuinely salty people who appreciate the seasoning each one shakes out into the world. 

   He’d grown up with salt as an important symbol in scripture.

Numbers 18:18-19 " All the holy offerings that the People of Israel set aside for God, I'm turning over to you and your children. That's the standard rule and includes both you and your children—a Covenant-of-Salt, eternal and unchangeable before God."

2 Chronicles 13:4-7 Abijah took a prominent position on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and gave this speech: "Listen, Jeroboam and all Israel! Don't you realize that God, the one and only God of Israel, established David and his sons as the permanent rulers of Israel, ratified by a 'covenant of salt'—God's kingdom ruled by God's king? And what happened? Jeroboam, the son of Solomon's slave Nebat, rebelled against his master. All the riffraff joined his cause and were too much for Rehoboam, Solomon's true heir. Rehoboam didn't know his way around—besides he was a real wimp; he couldn't stand up against them.

2 Kings 2:20-22 He said, "Bring me a brand-new bowl and put some salt in it." They brought it to him. He then went to the spring, sprinkled the salt into it, and proclaimed, "God's word: I've healed this water. It will no longer kill you or poison your land." And sure enough, the water was healed--

Psalm 101:1-8 My theme song is God's love and justice, and I'm singing it right to you, God. I'm finding my way down the road of right living, but how long before you show up? I'm doing the very best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts. I refuse to take a second look at corrupting people and degrading things. I reject made-in-Canaan gods, stay clear of contamination. The crooked in heart keep their distance; I refuse to shake hands with those who plan evil. I put a gag on the gossip who bad-mouths his neighbor; I can't stand arrogance. But I have my eye on salt-of-the-earth people— they're the ones I want working with me;

When we see ourselves as God sees us, don’t we want to hear, “you’re worth your salt.” Not be caught rubbing salt into a wound?

An anonymous proverb declares of true friends, “ Let there be such oneness that when one cries, the other tastes salt.” 

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