Annual Church Service – Sermon 1st March 2026
When I was young, I was acutely conscious that all sermons seemed to commence with the minister reciting what he felt was the crucial phrase from the Gospel or Epistle chosen for that day; and then they would explore its implications for us as everyday people. It was direct and instructive. In the half-century since I experienced that form of spiritual guidance, we have adopted many different techniques or approaches: some are instinctive, some are exploratory, some experiential. Some people, such as myself, try to get behind the meaning of the set passage for the day and try to interpret what that might mean for our everyday lives now.
Today, almost at the beginning, I will now emphasise a phrase from our Gospel Reading.
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 it is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
As you know, I am not a theologian or versed in the languages of the original text of the Bible. What I do know is that the phrase ‘you are the salt of the earth’ first appeared in the English translation of the New Testament in the 1520s by William Tyndale, in the version for which he was sadly executed, but his text became, by the 1530s, the basis of our modern-day English text as the Reformation developed. For almost five hundred years, the English-speaking community have been receiving this message. It is so straightforward and direct: it is a message for everyone.
Its message is built on the essential role that salt plays in our lives. The identification of salt as an essential element of life can be traced back to the Chinese culture six or seven millennia ago. When Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 BC, he had salt-preparing staff within his army to be sure that they could be supplied with this essential commodity. Caesar was surprised to discover that the settled community already had their own salt-preparation processes: some communities on the coast knew how to source salt from seawater, but others had identified inland sources – literally liquid brine – the most prodigious output was found at Droitwich, which the Romans named ‘Salinia’. Of course, because salt was so important to Roman soldiers, to a degree they were paid in salt. This payment is memorialised or immortalised in our modern-day word – salary- which in origin meant receipt of payment in salt.
To bring this issue of salt production more locally, liquid brine has been collected in the Staffordshire landscape quite near here since the Middle Ages. The village of Salt, just off the road between Rugeley and Stone is not named randomly: it gained its name from this prolifically available local natural product; nearby Shirleywich was a major location for salt extraction in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and, of course, liquid brine was piped from under Stafford to provide the therapeutic resource for the Royal Brine Hospital which stood in town centre until it was demolished in 1979. [The liquid brine can still be seen on the outskirts of Stafford].
How can this elaborate exploration into the world of salt and a very memorable Biblical pronouncement be relevant to the life and work of the Worshipful Company of Smiths? At a very basic level, Jesus’ message to us, conveyed by that phrase, reminds us that we are an essential source of strength in the world; our positive efforts are the equivalent of salt. In effect, our lives and work play the role of salt, so it is important that we apply ourselves well.
Our other reading from Ecclesiasticus is from a spiritual source which regularly gives us good advice and inspiration. If people are to be genuinely the salt of the earth, they need to reflect on their role in life. This passage confirms the reflective and thoughtful background of how the messages from Jesus were sourced and developed. Whether Jesus was familiar with the phrasing of Ecclesiasticus we cannot know, but we do know that the basis of his teaching and guidance has its origin in the traditional teaching that he encountered as he developed his thinking. We see the teaching of Jesus as a new departure, but it was founded on the integrity of the past.
Of course, our reading then takes us forward to a second instruction from Jesus:
Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.
Our members have emerged from a variety of practical and creative activities, with some of us being drawn in by our role in public service.
Being the ‘salt of the earth’ reminds us that we are an essential component of everyday life. What we do is a contribution to the wider success of society: our contribution in many respects is unobserved, but the message of Jesus is that it is essential. Having assured us that what we do, what we have been ‘called’ to do via our various skills and competences, is spiritually valid and strong, Jesus then urges us to make sure that people know what we do. In holding our Annual Service with its processions, we are acting as public witnesses to what we offer and do within the community. This then leads us to remember what we try to achieve for apprentices, and also our decision that, as with last year, our collection today will be to support the work of Tools for Self-Reliance with apprentices in Africa.
May God bless the Worshipful Company of Smiths and what they offer, and can offer, to Lichfield and the wider world!