Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
May 24, 2015
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind. … Divided tongues as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them…
This morning, I’d like to talk about fire. I realize this is a tender topic, given our recent return to a building ravaged by fire almost three and a half years ago; given the painful memories that may remain vivid for some of you; given the long journey we’ve been on to rebuild this church home. This congregation knows something about the destructive force of fire, how quickly it can rage out of control, leaving behind nothing but ashes. Many of us stood among those cinders in the fellowship room, or in what was left of the choir room, in the days and weeks after the fire. Perhaps you remember the shock of seeing that beloved space reduced to charred remains – and the imprint of an ashy cross left on one wall (that’s the cross now on display at the back of the sanctuary).
That first Pentecost, the spring after the fire was my fifth Sunday as your called pastor – and I preached about the winds of the Holy Spirit. The next year, I preached about the miracle of speech – of understanding each other – as made possible by the Holy Spirit. Last year, we welcomed our confirmands into the church on Pentecost. This year, I’d like to consider the fire, those tongues of flame that alighted on the disciples as they huddled together in an upper room. Today, I’d like to explore –and maybe reclaim – the positive power of fire.
Yes, fire can destroy, can take lives and displace communities. But fire is also a creative force. In the heat of the furnace, painted clay is transformed into shimmering pottery; iron, twisted into an elegant lamp post; and sand transformed into molten glass. How many of you know the work of the glass sculptor Dale Chihuly? I remember watching the glass blowers in Chihuly’s studio in Seattle: The forge is heated to 500, 1000, 1700 degrees Celsius, until the silicon-dioxide-based sand turns to a honey-like substance: thick, viscus and vivid orange. In an artist’s hands, with the right tools, that molten substance is transformed into graceful shapes, like the ones on this morning’s bulletin cover: kinetic forms that seem to ripple and flow, long after they harden into luminescent glass. That is the power of fire – the power to refine and reform; to take common materials – mud, metal, sand and turn them into something stunning, to somehow infuse them with light and life.
In a forest, fire actually helps the trees to grow. Certain cones, called serotinous cones, need the intense heat of a fire to open up and release their seeds. No fire, no seedlings. In the words of UCC preacher Julian DeShazier, “There are some things that can only reach their true potential by going through the fire.”[1]
This is truth that makes us tremble. It is neither warm nor fuzzy, but no truth worth its salt comes without an edge. The fact is: as Christians, we cannot escape fire. It dances across the pages of our Holy Scripture, harrowing reminder that God is in the house. It leapt in the sun and the stars at the dawn of creation. It blazed in a bush it did not consume, as Moses stood barefoot in God’s Holy Presence (Ex. 3:3). God led the Israelites through the wilderness, in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. (Ex. 13:12) The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the Glory of God ‘like gleaming amber, enclosed by fire all around.’ (Ez. 1:27) In the letter to the Hebrews, God is a ‘consuming fire.’ (12:29).
These are awe-full images – as in: they can fill us with awe, make us quake, or maybe even fear for our lives –Unless you consider the pottery, the glass, the pinecone. Then, perhaps, another possibility takes hold: That the fierce and fiery Spirit of God is bent not on consuming but on refining and reforming us; with the concentrated skill of an Artist, God gathers us up and infuses us with light and life.
So those disciples, heads still spinning after their encounter with the risen Christ, found themselves swept off their feet by a furious wind that threw wide the shutters and rushed into the room. The wind brought with it: divided tongues, as of fire which ignited and alighted on each brow, marking the disciples as teachers, preachers, and founders of Christ’s Church. Touched by that holy fire, the disciples found themselves cracked open like seedpods, and the Good News of God’s acts of power poured out of them, so that they could not contain themselves. They spoke to all who would listen, in every language, so that everyone understood – and the people were amazed and perplexed … and somehow transformed.
That’s why I want to talk about fire: because something powerful happens when Holy Spirit-fire comes calling. Because on Pentecost, the Spirit of God drew from the forge an unexpected mix of common folks: Galileans, Parthians and Medes and crafted them into something stunning: a community infused with light and life. Keep reading to the end of chapter 2, and you’ll see what that looks like in every-day terms. Verse 44 says that “all who believed were together and had all things in common…” (Acts 2:44). They prayed together, broke bread with glad and generous hearts, and shared what they had with those in need… In other words: that early Jesus movement radiated with all the good stuff that God gives: love, generosity, gratitude and wonder.
Those are the signs of the Spirit’s handiwork, signs of a Church on Fire.
A Church on Fire is intimate with suffering and sorrow, but is not consumed by them. It knows that God does not leave us standing in the cinders. God always has something magnificent in store: an eruption of new life, like so many wildflowers springing up out of the deadwood on the forest floor. Knowing this gives the Church courage – to confront human sin, root out injustice, take creative risks, and speak truth to power. We can do this, because we know God is not bent on our destruction. Death is not the end of it. On the contrary: the Holy Spirit is at work in the heat of the forge; burning away some stuff, so that the new stuff can shine through.
A Church on Fire is also luminescent: It refracts God’s Spirit, lets the love shine through. It is slow to anger and quick to forgive, because we have been forgiven. Knowing that, gives the Church grace.
A Church on Fire is open, malleable, trusting God to shape it. It is never quite finished; over time it will be reworked, reformed, renewed. And that’s ok.
A Church on Fire is constantly putting out seeds so new life can take root… We talk about the need to attract folks, but really, we are called to go out and seed the gospel… to tell the story of God’s love and forgiveness, to spread hope and gratitude and wonder. THAT’S what it means to be a church forged by the hand of the Holy Spirit: a church infused with light and life.
I wonder: is it possible that Saugatuck Church could be such a church? During the three years that we worked and worshipped in other parts of Westport, while we waited for our facility to be rebuilt, I often ran into folks who struck up conversation by asking: “Aren’t you the church that had that fire?” And I wondered: What will we talk about once the church is rebuilt?
This morning, I have an idea: This morning, as we talk about fire, I know what I’d like to say to those who continue to ask, “Aren’t you the church that had that fire?”
“Yes,” I will say. “Yes, we are that church. But more than that, we ARE a Church on Fire! We are the church fired up by love, generosity, gratitude and wonder. We are the church fired up by justice; fired up by hope; fired up by a vision of God’s beloved community that is opened-hearted, generous, forgiving and joyful! We are a church that rose from the ashes, so we know something about God’s gift of new life; we are a church that has borne witness to suffering – our own, and others’. So we know that grief and despair do not have the last word.
We are the church that refracts the Spirit of God – when congregation and choir lift our voices in song; when the children lead us in worship; when we light candles and pray together; when we cook lasagna and serve it to neighbors; when we give rides to folks who can’t make their own way to God’s House; when we gather at the river to clean away the trash; when we bless backpacks and special offerings; when we break bread and share it; when we write letters to congress and notes of encouragement to each other; when we join forces with other communities of faith to make a difference in God’s world… When we let our light so shine… We ARE a Church on Fire: not just the victim of a destructive blaze, but a church that knows and reflects the life-renewing, positive power of fire in the Hands of God.
May we be that church! Thanks be to God. Amen.
Scripture
Acts 2:1-21 – New Revised Standard Version
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’