Day of Pentecost (5/27/07) “Keepers of the Fire”

Text: Acts 2.1ff.

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.”

From the very beginning of the Christian Church, the mysterious Spirit of God has been symbolized by fire. There is no other symbol that more effectively shows what God’s Spirit is like; there is no better way to understand the action of God’s Spirit in our lives. We use this symbol every week in our worship by lighting candles on the altar, suggesting to us that the Holy Spirit is present with us while we worship. We use it especially at Pentecost, with our church decked out in red, reminding us of the bright flames that touched all the Christians on that first Pentecost day.

What is it that makes the flame such a powerful symbol? The Catechism suggests several things when it says that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies. I think of the magic of the campfire at summer church camps—the blazing fire beckoning us along the dark path to the campfire circle. A fire just seems to call us to come. Or think of a blazing fire on a cold winter night—it seems to have the power to gather us around it. Fire is a source of light—in Biblical times really the only source on a dark night; so God’s Holy Spirit enlightens us, bringing brightness to even our darkest days. And of course fire is a method of purification. Precious metals are obtained by burning away the dross, purifying the metal in the consuming heat of a raging fire. And that, too, tells us about the Holy Spirit; for that Spirit burns within us, sanctifying us, purging us of the lower things in our lives, burning up all that is unworthy and sinful, purifying us with the power of God’s forgiveness.

But let’s not get stuck in our own experiences! For Biblical people, fire was above all dangerous. It was a terribly destructive force that could perhaps be contained but hardly ever really be controlled. They didn’t have safety matches; getting a fire started was more complicated than just flicking your Bic! For them, fire was more likely started by a bolt of lightning striking a tree or a field, and then with great caution being captured and tamed. The essence of fire was not so much its coziness and usefulness as its ability to rage out of control, consuming everything in its path! Unless we remember that, we miss the meaning of tongues of fire as a symbol of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

I remember as a child seeing a painting of the apostles standing there talking, with little flickers of flame on their heads, as if they were a dozen candles burning quietly in a church! How much closer to the Biblical meaning is the picture on the back of this morning’s liturgy booklet, this wonderful abstract depiction of the Pentecostal blaze raging over the apostles! That’s what Luke wants us to sense in this story—the mysterious suddenness and power of this fire, not its flickering gentleness! For what the Holy Spirit means, you see, is that God is a consuming fire, burning everything in its path. And on this Pentecost, God has come upon these men and women like a fire, burning every ounce of selfishness and timidity from their troubled hearts and leaping from their lives to the lives of others with incredible and uncontrolled quickness. Like a fire, this love which God has poured out on these apostles is uncontrollable, raging. And it grows in seconds from a spark to a mighty blaze.

That mighty blaze that is the Holy Spirit has burned across continents and across centuries, and it burns here among us this day. There are times in our lives when it burns with power and fierce heat; there are other times when it flickers and almost seems to die. But it does not die; it burns in us and will burn as long as we do not extinguish it.

Dr. Margaret Mead, the noted anthropologist, told about a custom she had discovered among primitive people. These people did not know how to make fire, even though their lives depended on fire. Were the fire that had come to them through a stroke of lightning to die out, their culture would also die out, for without fire they had no light, no heat, no means of cooking, no means of living. Because of the importance of keeping this fire going, members of the community were appointed as “keepers of the fire.” Their job was to make sure that neither wind nor rain nor carelessness nor lack of fuel would cause the fire to die. So important was this responsibility, Dr. Mead reported, that should the fire die, that “keeper of the fire” could also face death.

Dear friends in Christ, you and I are the keepers of the fire! To us has been entrusted the great fire of God’s Holy Spirit, which burns in our hearts this day. For two thousand years, our predecessors have “kept the fire” and have passed it on to us. When you were baptized, you were given custody of that fire, that gift of the Holy Spirit. How have you been keeping it? Does it continue to burn brightly within you, motivating and moving you to love and serve, to worship and praise? Does it burn in you? On this Pentecost, will you reaffirm your determination that the fire not die due to your neglect or carelessness? There is no more sacred or important task than this, for if the fire in our hearts is allowed to die, then we, too, shall surely die. That fire is our life, our love, our passion.

Charles Wesley wrote a marvelous hymn about that first Pentecost. It goes like this:

See how great a flame aspires,

Kindled by a spark of grace!

Jesus’ love the nations fires,

sets the kingdom on a blaze.

To bring fire on earth he came;

kindled in some hearts it is:

O that all might catch the flame,

All partake the glorious bliss!

“O that all might catch the flame.” If that is to happen, it is in part up to you—you are the keepers of the fire! May God grant that his Spirit might burn bright within us all, that others may catch the flame and join us in serving Christ.