What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Mettle Maker #341
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Self-Defense: Next week is striking week. Let’s focus on power. I almost never share material that isn’t original to our programs. But the video on the right, by Bas Rutten, is really good, and it works for self-defense — all you have to do is (a) disregard the “change-up” material that pertains to sports, and (b) use only techniques that are street-ready (knuckle punch to the neck, heart, or solar plexus rather than the face, etc.). Looking for a comprehensive self-defense training course? Click here to sign up for the 100% free Heritage Self-Defense Distance Learning Program.
Fitness and Wildwood combo: Take a hike. My son and I reserved a campsite once. When we got there. we found out that the nearest water source was labeled contaminated, and we had to hike all our water a half-mile one-way. We didn’t have backpacks with us, so we had to hand-carry it, and it was miserable. Fitness lesson learned. I know what you’re thinking. “I’d be fine, how hard could it be?” You’re wrong. The the reality is, even carrying a heavy backpack is harder than you think. A hike with a 30 lb. backpack or with an 8 lb. gallon of water in each hand, can be a real problem if you’re unprepared. Last week I showed you now to make sandbags. Make some. Put one in a backpack and get started. Work your way up. And make sure that your fitness regimen contains heavy carries of various kinds to make sure that you can carry awkward weights in your hands, not just weights evenly distributed via shoulder straps. Want more fitness and outdoor skills material? Click here to sign up for one of our free programs.
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Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2/5/23 – Archdeacon Mitch
Readings: Is 58:7-10, Ps 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 1 Cor 2:1-5, Mt 5:13-16
Matthew 5:13-16 World English Bible
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. 15 Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 16 Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Our relationship with salt and light is much different today than it was two millennia ago. We take salt and light for granted. These days, we are told to watch our salt intake. The doctor wants us to keep it below 2,300 mg a day, but the average American takes in around 3,400, almost 50% more than recommended. We get too much salt!
But in Jesus’ time, salt was a precious commodity, sometimes used as international currency. Every major city in the ancient world was built near a liberal salt source. Solnitsata in Bulgaria is the oldest town in Europe, and it was built around a salt mine. Salt was the only reliable means of preserving food in those days. Every army ran on salt rations, which is the origin of the phrase, “earning your salt.” The word salary comes from the Latin salarium which means “related to salt.” There was little processed food in those days, and getting enough salt was far more difficult – especially when you consider that a typical, pre-industrial manual laborer burns up to three-and-a-half times as many calories as we modern folks do! Lack of salt causes headaches, weakness, muscle aches and cramps, and in extreme cases, death.
What about light? Light pollution is one of reasons that modern people don’t get enough rest. Street lights, headlights, flashlights, flood lights and garden footlights make the outdoor environment awash with light. Cellphones, tablets, and TV screens do the same indoors. Almost every appliance has some kind of glowing clock, display, or led light on it. The power lights on my cable box and digital router are so bright I can practically read by them.
But light was an expensive resource in Jesus’ day. The average person used the cheapest fats and oils to power lamps, which meant that for common people, lamps were smelly, smoky, and hard to keep going. Only the wealthy could afford to burn the good stuff, and could enjoy clear, odor-free, consistent illumination. And gathering and cutting wood was hard work. Who would want to waste it on bonfires?
Okay. So now, as modern disciples, let’s hear Jesus’ words with the same ears with which the disciples heard them all those years ago. We are the salt of the earth. We bring the words, the teaching, the messages that make the world function. We are the salt that keeps laborers producing good works. We ensure that the shepherds of men will not tire of leading their flocks, that soldiers fighting in the war against evil will not falter, and that political and social bodies will not seize up, cramp, and stumble. We are the salt that preserves God’s wisdom and allows it to be feed the world’s hungry millions!
Jesus wants us to be the essential element of the culture, to be the substance that energizes its essential functions. He wants us to illuminate the society from within, the way a lamp brightens a home and the way a city’s bonfires make it visible from afar. To all of those wayfarers wandering in the darkness of confusion and ignorance, depression and anxiety, hopelessness and nihilism, he wants us to be a beacon.