Thought for the Week

by Richard Watson, Associate Minister, All Saints Ilkley

WHAT a mess our world is in, you may think! The news and pictures on our television screens seem to report a cascading series of calamities affecting society both here and abroad.

Our prisons are overflowing, with seemingly ready access to drugs aggravating behavioural problems, leading to attacks on prison-officers, and a sense of lawlessness and chaos within places of supposed rehabilitation. A recent programme on HMP Northumberland highlighted some of the disturbing issues.

Is it much better outside those walls, in our free society?

Freedom, to some, suggests that they are free to disregard common values of thanks, respect, and responsibility. Locally there are those who discard polystyrene fast-food packaging, cans, bottles and dog-faeces with scant regard for the environment and for those who have to clear up messes left behind, whether in the town centre, parks or country paths. A recent programme on TV highlighted that in addition to litter-picking, fly tipping is costing Councils across the country millions of pounds every week.

And at sea, plastic rubbish cast into the oceans, is killing marine life at an alarming rate.

One could go on! the Council, the Police, environmental officers, volunteers, and all who want us to enjoy our planet to the full, do their best to care for the environment. But it comes down to everyone to play their part through education, teaching family and social values and inculcating a continual sense of responsibility for the care of our God-given planet.

When Jesus called his followers to be the salt of the earth, what did He mean?

Just as salt crystals are pure white, so He calls His followers today to be examples of purity. Purity in heart, mind, and deed; in speech, conduct and action; and to promote standards of cleanliness in every aspect of life.

In the ancient world, salt was the commonest of all preservatives, used to keep things from going bad. If Christ calls us to be the salt of the earth, we are called to be the cleansing antiseptic in society, that, by our presence, helps to defeat corruption and careless behaviour, and makes it easier for others to follow society’s higher values.

Perhaps the most obvious quality of salt is that it lends flavour to things. Christ was no kill-joy. He wants the best for everyone, and calls us all to enrich not only our own life, but also the lives of others. When we care for our earth, sea, and atmosphere with a sense of responsibility for both present and future generations, we shall be enriching the lives of each other.

Life undoubtedly has its dark moments, but as salt of the earth we are called to hope and action.

Having been given the gift of life, and the gift of planet earth, surely we shall all want to hand it on knowing that we in our time have exercised every care in looking after it, to the enrichment of human life, both within and beyond our community, for generations to come.