[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 15C: “Fire- Use It!”

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From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Aug 17, 2019 9:49 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 15C: “Fire- Use It!”

Dear Friends, This Sunday’s sermon is entitled  “Fire- Use It!” and is based on all thelessons.  Here it is:   What a strange Gospelreading!  Remember the old song thatgoes, “I don’t want to set the world on fire. I just want to start a flame in your heart.”  Well in the Gospel we hear Jesus say that heHAS come to set fire to the earth.  Hethen goes on to talk about divisions between people who love each other.  He finally says we act like experts, but wereally don’t know what’s going on right now in terms of the really importantstuff.  What in the world is he talkingabout? Let’s first look at hisstatement about having come to set fire to the earth and wishing it werealready on fire.  We can tease out hismeanings by looking at three functions of fire. Do you know anyone who works or worked at a foundry? What’s the basicjob at a foundry?  Molten steel is heatedto an extremely high temperature.  Why dothey heat the metal to such a high temperature? Sure, to burn out the impurities. Fire is frequently used in scripture as a cleansing agent.  So when Jesus says he wishes the world werealready on fire, he is saying how he wishes his precious children (and we areall his precious children) would be purified of our sins and those things thathold us back from real life.  So when youcome to the altar to receive your Holy Communion, and then every night thisweek- examine your life.  What sins, whatnegative attitudes, what fatalistic beliefs, what bad habits, whatself-defeating behaviors are you still holding on to (or perhaps they areholding on to you- like a burr).  Get ridof them (like the book of Hebrews says). It’s much easier if we do it ourselves, instead of waiting for life totorture us with them and for God to finally have compassion and burn themaway.  In pioneer times, occasionally theentire camp would be threatened by a prairie fire- burning grass advancing- noplace to hide, couldn’t outrun the flames, what could they do?  After the loss of many lives, pioneersfinally discovered that if they purposely burned a fairly large area of grass,when the fire advanced, they could stand in the middle of the burned-outarea.  Because the fire had no fuel inthis area since the fuel was already burned up, the fire skipped those terrifiedpeople and jumped on to another area.  Wecan be like those resourceful pioneers. We can burn out our own imperfections so neither life nor God’sconsuming fire has to do it for us. Another use of fire and theheat that comes from it is to melt metals so they can be molded into thelikeness chosen by the artist.  Remember howthe children of Israel got tired of waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, so they decided to make their owngod?  Remember how they heated the goldfrom their earrings and other jewelry to make the golden calf?  Our Artist, our heavenly Father-Artist callsus to get rid of all those idols of ours and throw them in the purifying fireof his love, then be molded into the likeness of Jesus.  You can’t be like Him if you don’t knowHim.  Read his word.  Sing His songs.  Receive his Body and Blood.  Mean it when you sing, “Lord, I want to belike Jesus in my heart.” The final use of fire inscripture that I’d like us to meditate on this morning is easier understood ifwe transpose Jesus’ words a bit so they say, “I came to set the world onfire.”  The best example I could think ofwas when Jesus drove the money-changers off the porch of the temple.  As you recall, they got rich two ways.  They charged exorbitant prices for theiranimals so pilgrims (many of them poor) could offer the required sacrifice whenthey finally made it to the Jerusalem temple.  They also charged ridiculousprices to trade the unacceptable Roman money for Jewish money so people couldpresent their gifts to God.  I’m sureJesus could no longer stand the cheating, the misuse of travelers who had comelong distances, the injustice toward the poor, so he “lost it” (or looked likehe “lost it”) and drove them out.  Whatinjustice riles you?  Which acts ofmeanness annoy you?  What cruelty,teasing, name-calling, misusing, abuse have you decided you will absolutely nolonger tolerate?  Bob Pierce, founderof World Vision, had a prayer that I wish every one of us could claim as our own.  He said, “May my heart be broken by thethings that break the heart of God!” Now, here’s a thought on howto apply the “burning sin away” concept in real life. Remember Jesus’ onlycommand to us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13: 34:35).  And one of the biggest devil-traps: anger andescalating it.  St. James (probablyJesus’ little brother) reminded us: “The anger of man does not produce therighteousness of God.” (James 1:20, KJV). Do you know how disagreementsescalate in good people by both trying to get the last word?  The only time we should get the last word isin a situation in which we are the authority figure- i.e. someone’s mother,father, etc.  Otherwise, it is probably aform of revenge, and you know what Jesus said about revenge.  There are ways to not answer back, like-“whatever,” “I’m sorry you feel that way,” “We’ll probably just have to agreeto disagree,” “We’ll talk later,” and if possible- walk away without anattitude.  Just how loyal are you toJesus in real life?  Think about it.  My prayer for you is that you continueburning away the sins related to anger. May God bless us all. For anyone whois interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements areposted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org . Blessed preaching,Judy BoliSt. Paul's Episcopal ChurchSaginaw, Michigan-- 
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