Benz: "Stay Salty" - (Sermon for PRIDE Sunday | June 28, 2026)

“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 is thrown out and trampled under foot.” – Matthew 5:13 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers – tells us – to stay salty. As we celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride this month and this Sunday in particular, it feels like a fitting exhortation. After all, Stonewall was a riot, as they say. But what does that mean for us in this moment? This moment of unrelenting assaults on trans people, continuing genocide, ICE’s ethnic cleansing terror campaign, massive attacks on civil liberties and civil rights, ongoing climate crisis… and so much more.  I found some clues by taking a deep dive into Mark Kurlansky’s history of salt (all 484 pages of it) and reaching for inspiration from the fierce resistance of our queer and trans ancestors. I can’t wait to share it with you! See you Sunday! - Benz