You are the salt

You are the salt of God's earth,

to flavor and preserve.

But if the salt is tasteless,

what purpose does it serve?

  

You are the light of God's world

that cannot be concealed; 

A light that shines to all, so

God's glory is revealed.

 

The law is not abolished,

but Christ comes to fulfill; 

Not one word will be stricken

from God's own holy will.

 

Be salt and light in God's world,

show Christ for all to see;

The work of holy witness

is up to you and me.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2026, after Matthew 5:13-20.

MUSIC: Tune CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN, Melchior Vulpius, 1609.

 

 

A hymn for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, also picking back up after an unplanned hiatus. 

Then Jesus came from Galilee

Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John,

Who in the Jordan's rolling flow did baptize those who came.

But John did question whether this request he should act on;

"You should baptize me here instead, in your own holy name."

 

But Jesus answered "Let this be, for this is right to do

To fulfill this one righteous call for all the world to see."

Then John consented to this task, in trust that Jesus knew

That he should carry out this work and what his role should be.

 

And then once Jesus was baptized and then raised up again,

He saw the heavens opened up and down the Spirit came.

Alighting like a dove, the Spirit cried out through the din,

"This is my Son, Beloved One, who goes forth in my name."

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2025; after Matthew 3:13-17

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; harmonization Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

A reworking of a hymn from almost two years ago, written to suit the account of Jesus's baptism in the gospel of Mark. Matthew's account goes into rather more detail than Mark's but the basic structure still worked.