Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 8, 2026
Matthew 5:13-20
“Jesus said, ‘you are the salt of the earth’” (Matthew 5:13). Salt. The only rock we eat. But it’s more than that, think of all the things we use it for. If your throat hurts, you gargle salt water. If you want to turn a cucumber into a pickle, or cabbage into sauerkraut, you put it in a salt solution. That’s where the word “salad” comes from – salt as a preservative for eating vegetables. Roman soldiers used to get paid in salt; that’s where the word “salary” comes from. It was thought that too much salt in your diet led to indecent behavior – that’s where the word “salacious” comes from. You use it to clean your cast iron pans. They put it on roads when it ices so you can drive, but you gotta wash your car afterwards because it’ll corrode metal. When you’re sick and dehydrated, they pump you full of “saline.” You know, that they store depleted plutonium in old salt mines, because salt is such a good radioactive buffer. The ancients used it to exorcise demons and to baptize children. If you wanted to destroy an enemy’s farmland, you would sow it with salt. Your cardiologist warns against it. You’ve got four shakers worth of it in your body, right now.1 Salt. This is what Jesus has in mind for us. That rock, that substance, that both corrodes and sustains. That heals and destroys. “You are the salt of the earth.”
And when Jesus says, “you,” it’s really “y’all.” I know we talk about grandma who was the salt of the earth. Like, an individual. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about. It’s a plural “you.” He’s speaking to a group of people. You are the salt of the earth. This is a sermon for the whole Church of God.
And see, salt does something. It has a purpose, a reason for existence; well lots of purposes and lots of reasons for existence.
And, like salt, The Church of God needs to have a purpose. An intention, a mission, a reason for existing. The Church’s reason for existence cannot be its own perpetuation. Especially in this age of skepticism, in this age of secularism, we cannot just sit back and expect people to come to church because the doors are open. It doesn’t work that; nor should it work that way. You don’t buy a thing of salt to just so you can stick in your pantry and look at it. You use it.
So we can turn that back to us. Why are we here? Why does this church exist? I say it is not just to keep up this old building – though we have to do that, and more on that in a few minutes. I believe that the purpose of this Church is to provide a place for the people of this community to pray, to worship, and to give thanks to God. I believe that our primary purpose is to love God. To provide a place of beauty, to provide a sanctuary, a place of prayer. For all people.
And the second reason, of course, is to make life better for the other people in our community. When we hang out and eat pancakes on Fat Tuesday next week, it’s not about pancakes; it’s about connections and relationships, so that people aren’t as lonely as they might be. When we’re doing Sunday School and book clubs, it’s about helping us all grow in our spiritual imaginations so that we would be a light to the world. When we’re helping out across the community, it’s to make life better for other people, to be the preservative for the world. Salt has to do something, churches have to do something. That’s the reason we’re here.
But, this also comes with a warning. You know Jesus, every promises comes with a drawback. “Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot’” (Matthew 5:13).
If we’re not doing the right work, then, we’ll be tossed out. We’ll have no use anymore. As we might lose our use in this world. Think of it, and I’ve said it before – the Church is one of the last inter-generational communities in our culture. That’s how it should be – old and young together. I think that churches that are constantly advertising and marketing to young people are missing something. They’re missing the wisdom of their elders. They worshipping at the cult of youth. And as you well know, everybody eventually grows older. The Church of What’s Happening Now will not have the staying power, because what’s happening now is always changing. And I think that churches that refuse to hand over leadership to new generations are also missing something. They’re missing new perspectives, new ways of thinking, new energy. The Church of Yesterday will stay in yesterday, and will eventually become history, relics. Salt has to be used, or it’s thrown out. It’s a warning to the Church.
It goes beyond that. Salt has all kinds of uses. And I’m grateful that Trinity Church has people from all across the ideological and political spectrum. We should name that. That’s who we are, that’s the kind of salt that we are. Diversity, in all its forms, can make communities like ours stronger. Uncomfortable at times? Yep. Potentially awkward? Absolutely. But I think that’s worth it. A church that becomes too overly identified with one thing or the other, will become closed off, insular, and afraid – afraid of the other, afraid of difference. If that happens, you’re tossed out and trampled underfoot.
And this is an opportunity for you, especially as we come upon the holy season of Lent, to think. What is your purpose? What are you doing in your Christian life? It is not sufficient to simply be a Christian. Jesus calls us to action. To do Christianity. Each in our own way. In all the diversity of salt. And like salt, there are something which we need to eat away at – complacency, greed, hardness of heart. And there are some things that we need to preserve – love, mercy, and the grace of Jesus.
This is imperative right now. As it has always been. The Church does not exist for ourselves alone. We are the only human society that exists primarily for the benefit of others. Every other society in the world has perks and benefits for membership. The only benefit we have as members of the Church, as Christians, is the benefit of preserving the world.2
As many of you know, I’m working on my master’s thesis about Bishop Richardson of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. He was bishop from 1965 to 1980. Another era in which the Church helped preserve and heal the good bits, and helped corrode away the bad bits of the world. Reading his speeches and sermons; well, it’s like he could have said it today. So listen to this – exactly sixty years ago, exactly sixty years ago this coming Tuesday, Bishop Richardson stood in this very pulpit, here at Trinity, Galveston and put it this way. He said:
“In an atomic age, the Church with the Holy Scriptures in her hand must proclaim the sovereignty of the power of God as ultimate. In a world of racial prejudice, and national strife, the Church with the historic creeds upon her lips must stand for the unity of the human race in Christ Jesus with no other alternative. In a generation of material wealth, the Church with her sacraments must bear witness to the grace of God as the means of salvation. In a time of great and rapid change and many voices, the Church with her apostolic ministry must speak in no uncertain voice of Him who changeth not and is the Way, the Truth, and the Light.”3
That was 1966. A call to be light. A call to be salt.
Things don’t really change. Today’s sermon is the same call. So I say, in this information age when anybody can find whatever they want to believe on the internet, the Church must proclaim that ultimate truth is found in Christ alone. In a world of partisanship, and national strife, the Church must stand for the unity of all people in Christ alone. With so much wealth, and with so much poverty, the Church must bear witness that the meaning and value of humanity are gifts of God, not numbers in a bank account. In a time of great change, and great uncertainty, as the whole thing seems like it’s about to rot, the Church must be the light of the world; the salt of the earth.
The Rev. Jimmy Abbott 
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