Very few people, if any, want to be considered dull. I certainly don’t want you to think I’m boring…or even worse, I don’t want to actually be boring! Boring people are…well…kind of boring to be around.

On the side of a hill one day Jesus powerfully told a group of outcast followers that

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

These are especially powerful words if you consider them written to marginalized people with little financial, political, or legal control in their lives. Think about it, how many of us have moments where we approach a migrant worker and let them know that their lives bring flavor to our world, that if they stop being who they are our world will lack zest and flavor–that essentially we not only need them but want them to be a part of our world! (as a side note, this is the potential beauty of a little idea festering on Facebook called “Vancouver Speaks” that seeks to honor the often invisible people who bring life and meaning to the city of Vancouver. Check her out and engage)

Even though it’s a powerful idea to remember that Jesus often elevated marginalized people into places of honor and beauty it still does not actually get to the point of his words about flavor. His point, I think, was that in following Jesus–in taking up his invitation to live radically, to love radically, to be transformed by an alternative (and redemptive) story one becomes a flavor changing force in the world around! Those who follow Jesus cannot be boring people because they are living out the epic story of hope, significance, meaning, sacrifice, and generosity! If you’re not bringing flavor then what are you doing?

Christians should be genuinely worried about being boring. They should be genuinely concerned with living out of the reality of the Jesus story which is one that brings joy and empowerment to marginalized peoples, it invites us to honor and dignify our children and elderly, it questions our selfishness and invites us into otherness, it should be tasty, flavorful, refreshing, and useful.

Because if your story doesn’t taste good…what’s the point?