Fire and Water

A Sermon for Pentecost (RCL A) 6-12-2011

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry (annual outdoor liturgy)

Texts:              Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 7:37-39

Title:               Fire and Water

Fire! And water! Today, of course, we remember and celebrate the greatest gift that God have ever given to humanity: that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit which descended upon the disciples as tongues of flame.

Fire and water. These are the elements that the Church has always used to speak of the Holy Spirit.

I want us to think about this together a bit this morning. Here we are, gathered by a major body of water, and there is fire burning right back there in those grills!

These two elements – fire and water – are crucial and necessary for human life.

We cannot live without water. As you know, up to 60% of our bodies are water.

We also cannot live without fire. Fire is the source of our heat and our light; it is also how we cook our food, like we hope those guys are doing over there!  

There are other things that we need to survive: food and shelter, of course. But the Bible and the Church have been clear in pointing to fire and water as symbols of the Holy Spirit.

Why do you think that is?

First, I think it is because they are elements essential for life. We call the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of life”.

This is what the Psalm said today: “You send forth your Spirit and they are created, and so you renew the face of the earth.”

But I also think we speak about the Holy Spirit as fire and water because these things are so notoriously difficult to control! We human beings have never been very good at controlling water and fire!

Just look at the news right now: a massive wildfire is raging out of control in Arizona. Devastating floods continue to affect large areas along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, as well as up in Vermont.  

Fire and water are crucial and vital for us only when we have them in small quantities that we can control. But when the quantity becomes too much, we lose all control and those forces act as if they have a mind of their own.

This is how it works with the Holy Spirit as well. We really like it when there’s a bit of the Spirit moving in our midst. That means that things are growing perhaps. There is some energy in our community, some new people are joining us. There’s a feeling of joy and excitement among us.

This is all wonderful, but only so long as there’s not too much of the Holy Spirit. We don’t want things to become out of control, do we?

We don’t want the fire to burn out of control! We don’t want the water to flood our community!

We want the Spirit to stay controlled, where we can manage it.

But the Spirit always has a mind of its own, and whenever possible, the Spirit is always pushing the edges of our control.

What did St. Paul say of the Holy Spirit in our reading from his first letter to the Church in Corinth?

All kinds of different gifts handed out by God to those in the community “just as the Spirit chooses.”

And what happened after all on that day of Pentecost among the disciples there in Jerusalem? Tongues of fire came upon them and took control of them in a very real way.

Why did the bystanders think that they were drunk? Because it appeared that they were acting out of control? And why is that? Because the fire of the Holy Spirit had come among them!

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher, as well as a disciple of the Lord, who died in 1662. A few years before his death he had a profound experience of God coming into his life, like an uncontrollable power bursting upon his consciousness.

The experience was so profound that he wrote it down immediately in these words raw with passion, almost chaotic in ecstasy:

“The year of the Lord 1654. Monday, 23 Novemeber, from about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve at night: Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not the God of philosophers and scholars. Certainty, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ. He is only found along the ways that are taught in the Gospel. Tears of joy. I had parted from him. I fled from him, denied him, crucified him. Let me never be separated from him. Surrender to Jesus Christ.”

Fire. For two hours, the Holy Spirit touched Blaise Paschal in a direct and powerful way.

And what was the first word that he could use to describe that experience? Fire.

There’s one more thing that is special about fire and water and that points to the purposes of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Both fire and water are used to clean. We wash with water; we sterilize with fire.

Even in nature, the waters from floods are used to cleanse the land and to bring new and fresh soil into the river bottoms.

And after forest fires, new seedlings are enabled to sprout as the old dead wood is cleansed away.

In the Bible, think of the flood in the days of Noah sent to cleanse the earth of evil, and the promise of fire in the last days for the same purpose.   

The Lord Jesus spoke of rivers of living water that would flow out of our hearts when we drank in all of the truth and goodness that we experience in him. That river cannot flow if it is blocked by the cares of the world, by the desires for things of this world. The Spirit wants to cleanse us so that this living water might flow unhindered for the blessing of all those around us: our families, our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers.

 Are you ready to lose some control? Are you ready for the power of the Holy Spirit?

So welcome the Holy Spirit into your lives, my friends. Let the Spirit cleanse you. Do not be afraid to let the Spirit be in control. And do not be afraid when the Spirit brings new life and new possibilities into your life. Amen.