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“Scorching Fire”
Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 60:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:49-56;
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time -
Higher Education Sunday
August 19, 2007
Please pray with me: O
God, be with us as we try to discern your Word for us, and allow the Holy
Spirit to move among us, smoldering and eventually scorching us in
realization of the burning love you have for us in being your people. AMEN.
When I chose the title of the
sermon today I didn’t know that we would be in the midst of the kind of present
day weather patterns we’ve been experiencing; the just past intense heat and
humidity of our summer or the ever present flood of rains and watches. Wowee....
have we had the extremes of both, huh? I remember us meeting together more than
a few times ‘planning our attack’ for receiving the JK Presbytery pastors and
commissioners at our church yesterday-- remember, our wanting lunch to be served
outdoors if possible. We said, “Let’s just pray for NO rain,” didn’t we? Now our
day is over, and it’s NOT hot anymore, so let’s pray for it to STOP raining!!
Could it be, we are living in these present times in a world of cause and
effect?
As I pondered our texts, though, I
felt close to the perseverance and determination of those O.T. ancestors who
lived ‘by faith’ and remembered in Hebrews; last week we heard of Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. This week ‘by faith’ the people passing
through the Red Sea, the Egyptians who drowned, those marching around and
encircling Jericho for seven days, Rahab, the non-Israelite, hiding the
messengers, and numerous others like Gideon, Barak, Samson
(in Judges)–who ‘by faith’ had won
themselves victories. Their causes ( or choices) brought certain effects. These
‘so great a cloud of witnesses’, before Christ, did have trials and tribulations
in life. But their faith brought them to whatever was to come of their lives,
for better or worse. There was darkness in their lives. O.T. wisdom of God with
them in their ‘present time’ tells us that today. God never promised them a rose
garden!! And we know present times are not a bed of roses, for sure. But we
won’t go there except to mention it today!
It might seem in our gospel
text, that Jesus, talking to his disciples, did come to set the earth on fire
(v. 49), and that he wished it were
blazing. Jesus sounds like he’s flaming ‘out of control’ himself, but his
passion is not so much from those unfaithful in his teachings of peace and
reconciliation, but rather in the division of those once united, “father against
son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, and
heaven forbid, that much maligned in today’s society, mother-in-law against
daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” That is definitely
present time, then AND now. Jesus is telling the crowds if they know how to read
the appearance of the sky and earth, the cause and effect in the rain happening
and in the wind scorching heat, how come they cannot interpret these present
times? Why can’t we get along in our adversity?
Familiarly, we’ve heard the adage:
like father like son. But unfamiliarly, Jesus puts the pressure on us to
persevere in our diversity. He does this by receiving, in Person, this same
pressure from his Father, Almighty God. It’s in divine theology; Father teaching
Son, God teaching through Christ, and in Christ we are taught in receiving the
scorching fire of the Holy Spirit in our present time. Jesus was not liked in
all He did; He had diversity in his life to the end. The tricky part of course
for us, the theology of faith in receiving the flame, Christ in us, is what are
we intending to do with this scorching fire?
Pointedly, I think the answer is
in the cause and effect of it all. If we, by faith, receive the Holy Spirit
within us, God’s work in us will be fulfilled. In Jesus being baptized,
receiving the scorching fire from God, He is ‘out of control’ wanting others to
grasp His passion. In our receiving the Holy Spirit, can we grasp it and pass it
on to others? Could it be ‘out of control’ passion–this Holy Spirit in us?
I listened to and watched, and
read recently about Billy Graham reflecting upon the many highlights of his
career as the spiritual guide to eleven U.S. Presidents, from Truman to our
President, George W. Bush, the most powerful men of our nation. He was asked
questions of faith as he lived in their times, but there was a mutual feeling of
comfort and trust when they were together. Graham’s life was filled with many a
cause and effect; he lived a life in front of the public, in politics, and
amidst sharing his faith in conversation. Time magazine suggests that,
‘Graham was the most famous preacher on earth, (p. 44)’ (“The Pastor In Chief ”,
Time, August 20, 2007, p. 40-47), as they asked how far could he go
without becoming part of the ‘political game’ in preaching the Gospel in this
kind of life? It was one thing to be in their presence and ‘confer a blessing on
them and on their policies.’ But what about the effects of his inviting them to
his crusades, or when he gave political advice during campaigns, or lobbied
lawmakers for certain causes?
In present times, we are in the
midst of God’s actions upon and in our lives. Yesterday, in all that we
accomplished together at Presbytery meetings here, in our hospitality towards
others, in our fellowship with one another, in our worship, prayer, and song, we
were experiencing God in our lives, the Spirit in our souls, and in our actions.
Many of us felt good. The light of the Holy Spirit was shining so brightly!
In grasping God’s presence in our
lives, we know God is leading us, guiding us in wisdom; we are living ‘by faith’
as did our ancestors, perhaps not knowing for sure, but trusting in whatever
might come in our lives. Like Jesus, sometimes that scorching fire, that Spirit
in us, might be ‘out of control.’ Our good news of the gospel is that we are the
recipients of God’s good creation and intentions, being baptized in God’s Name,
and being claimed by Jesus Christ as Christ’s own. In receiving the Holy Spirit,
‘by faith’ we can be in present times hopeful for what is to come. God’s
intentions in filling us with the Holy Spirit cleanses and purifies us to be set
free for ‘Thy will be done.’
Thanks be to God. AMEN.
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