w/c 6th February

Our reading this week is Matthew 5: 13-16

You Are Like Salt and Light

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its taste, it cannot be made salty again. Salt is useless if it loses its salty taste. It will be thrown out where people will just walk on it.

¹⁴ “You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

Prayer for the week:

Dear God,
thank you that to you
ordinary people like us, the common people,
are like the common salt.
Thank you that we don’t need to be anybody special,
we don’t need to be rich or clever.
Thank you that to you we are all important,
and all equally important.
Thank you that we can be ‘the salt of the earth’ to others.
Help us to be reliable, dependable and always willing to help.
Help us, whoever we are, to be kind and considerate to others.
Help us to learn to live together in peace and harmony
so making this world a better place.
Amen.

In school: 

Salt doesn’t look very special, it is often referred to as ‘common’ salt, but it can have many uses. We thought about some of the uses of salt. 

Since ancient times people have valued salt. Salt was paid to Roman soldiers as their wages.

We then thought about the poem Salt  by Jan Edmunds:

Something that is common can be important too.

Salt has lots of uses like flavouring the stew.

It melts the ice along the street;

it helps preserve all kinds of meat.

People worked for salt as pay;

it helped to keep disease at bay.

Salt is such a common thing that’s used by you and me.

It’s proved to be important in the course of history.

Then we listened to a story also by Jan Edmunds.

What a difference salt makes!

One day farmer Giles came home from work feeling very tired, which made him extremely bad tempered. His children, Betty and George, were a bit afraid of their father when he was cross but they knew that his temper would improve when he had eaten his dinner. They watched as their mother put his meal of meat and potatoes in front of him.
As farmer Giles took the first mouthful, he pulled a horrible face. ‘Ugh!’ he said to his wife. ‘You’ve forgotten to put any salt in my food, my dinner’s spoiled!’
Mrs Giles only ever put a small amount in her cooking but it made all the difference to the flavour. Farmer Giles’ temper did not improve and the children quickly disappeared into their bedrooms.
The next night he came in again with a very stern look. He sat down to dinner. He took a bite. ‘Ugh!’ he said. ‘It’s far too salty!’
‘Oh dear,’ said Mrs Giles, ‘I didn’t think I’d put too much in.’
Betty went red. ‘Sorry, Mum,’ she said. ‘I thought I’d add some salt in case you forgot. I didn’t want Dad to be cross.’
This made Farmer Giles realize just how his bad temper affected the family. He knew Betty was only trying to help. He said he was sorry but couldn’t they all see that just a bit of salt made all the difference to his food.
The next evening Farmer Giles was determined not to get cross but there was no need for there was just the right amount of salt in his dinner. So everyone was happy.

Some people have plenty of money and live in beautiful homes, but that does not necessarily make them happy homes. These homes are like meals without any flavour of salt at all, or with too much salt.

Some homes may be poor but they are happy. They are like the meal which tastes just right because it has just the right amount of salt.

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You are the salt of the earth.’ When he said this he was telling them how important they were because it was up to them to pass on the good news about Jesus.

Jesus was also saying that small, kind actions are very important and can be of enormous benefit to many people – for example, if you smile at someone today, that person may well smile back, making both of you feel happier.

And finally, we looked at the following poem: 

We pledged to try and spread a smile!

Questions to think about at home: 

Salt is a very ordinary thing but how many of its uses can you list?

What do you think Jesus meant when he told his followers to be salt and light? What would this look like?

“It is better to be a light than curse the darkness” (Guvna B) - What do you think Guvna B meant?