Sermon: Strange Fire, Holy Fire
In today’s scripture, Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Verse 51: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”
Fire! What kind of fire is it that Jesus wished were already kindled!
Even God, in Genesis, declared that God would never again bring water, a flood, anything that would destroy the earth. God placed the rainbow over the sky as a sign of that promise. So, what Jesus talks about here is not a real, planet-wide fire that can wipe out living things and human populations… However, it is true that “fire”, as he uses this word, leaves the impression that this is the opposite of the peace we believe Jesus brings. This fire divides. This fire disrupts the peace that we have known.
So, what is this fire? What kind of fire could make Jesus wish it were already kindled?
Let’s think about the real and appropriate fear of climate crisis. We are getting to really know the meaning of fire being brought to the earth. I had the direct experience of a dangerous “heat wave” when I visited the Korean peninsula for several weeks last summer, and how it really can bring “fire” on the earth. It is a very scary thing. The ocean beaches (for example) baked in the hot sun, and as a result, they were closed because the sand became dangerously hot. This kind of fire is certainly a danger; it should arouse fear in our minds. But it’s certain that this fire is also not what Jesus meant, because our climate crisis could possibly be the destructive kind of Genesis story, version 2 with fire, instead of water.
Then what is this fire Jesus is talking about in the Gospel of Luke? What kind of fire is it that Jesus wished were already kindled?
First of all, this fire creates crisis. The proper, right crisis. Jesus is the crisis. Jesus is the fire. His life is the fire starter (jumbo sticks) that prompts and ignites the first flame of crisis… (an image I bring from my camping experiences! :))
As the Gospel of John expressed it, Jesus is the crisis of the world (John 12:31). “Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” Crisis does not mean emergency but that moment or occasion of truth and decision about life. The Queer Commentary explains: An adequate image is that of the gable of a house.
Two raindrops strike the gable and that moment could conclude with their being oceans apart. To be placed in the situation of decision is critical, for to turn toward one person or goal or value means turning away from another. According to these sayings, God is so acting toward the world in Jesus of Nazareth that a crisis is created, that is to say, Jesus is “making a difference,” even within families. Peace in the sense of status quo is now disrupted.”
In the Bible, we find two kinds of fires…
Strange fire vs. holy fire.
“Strange fire” (Leviticus 10:1-3, KJV, shows the picture of the passage) is “unholy” fire (NRSV). It means not all fire is from God, who warns Israel against playing with ‘strange fire’. I think of it as fire kindled by hate and fear. I find the following understanding of fear is helpful: “Proper fear of God casts out all lesser fears” (The Queer Commentary) To name some lesser fears: homophobia, xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism – the list is long. These are ‘strange fires’ that have nothing to do with the fire of God’s holy love. The flame of God’s holy love consumes the sins of oppression and idolatry. Flames ignited by hatred and fear of minorities and those who are vulnerable to oppression are ‘strange fire’, and these are not from God. When oppressed peoples experience the raging fires of persecution and the deep waters of grief, God promises: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you… when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
God’s holy love is holy fire. And this sacred fire is a consuming fire. It consumes the evil, and leaves the land, the earth, after the fire, to rise again with new life, with a fresh start, from the ashes. Part of the earth, after the ground fire sweeps through, becomes new, nutrient-rich, fertile soil for new life to grow. It becomes a new habitat.
This week, I found a profound image that showed to me the second kind of fire, holy fire. I know fire has a spectrum of colours that indicate how hot the fire is, not just red, but to me, red means fire.
(Show the pictures of Red Cloth that covered a trail of moccasin vamps from Walking With Our Sisters, Batoche, Saskatchewan)
The Link: https://www.facebook.com/WWOSBatoche2019/
These two stunning pictures are from the third day of the installation. The trail of moccasin vamps have been covered by the red cloth. On August 14, people walked the eagle staffs 2 km down to join the vamps. Leanne Marshall wrote: “Songs were sung & eagle whistles blew and those whistles were answered by eagles and sand hawks the entire way walked … The vamps and sisters are being taken care of very carefully and lovingly.”
“Walking With Our Sisters”: A Commemorative Art Memorial is to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and girls in Canada and the United States. Although statistics in the U.S. are not available at present, in Canada, it is estimated that more than 1,200 native women have gone missing and have been murdered in the last 30 years. Many have vanished without a trace with little to no concern paid by the media, the general public or politicians. This is a travesty of injustice.
For this commemorative art memorial, 1820 + pairs of moccasin tops, vamps, (show the picture) have been created by 1,400 + caring and concerned people to create one large collaborative memorial, and it is now open to the public until Sept 2019.
This project is about these women, sisters, paying respect to their loved ones’ lives and existence on this earth. They are not forgotten. They are sisters, mothers, daughters, cousins and grandmothers. They have been cared for, loved, and they are missing.
I was inspired by these photos… (I am sure those who actually experienced the walk personally and collectively would have gone through a very profound, healing, restorative experience.) because to me, this red cloth path came to me as the holy fire in images.
This past week, while driving to pick up my sons, I turned on the radio and became immersed in the CBC podcast, Finding Cleo, (Show the pic). I almost couldn’t focus on driving because of the story. While listening, I was shaken by the painful story of the Sixties Scoop, through a family’s story - all the sisters and brothers were scattered to different adoptive homes in Canada and in the United States, and I had to stop to cry. I went through something called “vicarious trauma”, an emotional state that helps us to develop more empathy. Some of you might have also heard the story of Cleo - Cleo was taken from her family by force, against the will of her mother, who was handcuffed and pushed against the door at her house, while her daughter was taken away. She was adopted by a White family in New Jersey. When Cleo turned 13, she was going through a turbulent time, and she hitchhiked all the way back to Little Pine First Nation, her home town in Saskatchewan. She needed to come home; she terribly missed the siblings, brothers and sisters that she remembered as a loving family… and they were. You can google, “Finding Cleo”, and listen to/or read the episodes, and learn how this failed social experiment started, and what the worst results were. The Canadian government of the time thought they were dealing with a crisis, causing a worse, devastating crisis by their actions.
We should have this hunger and thirst for right crisis, the proper crisis, the proper fear, the proper fire, the holy fire, that Jesus wished were already kindled. The fire of right knowledge, the fire of “restorative justice”, that redirects our attention to ask, “Who has been hurt?” “What are their needs?” “What are our obligations to restore?” These questions are powerful. Rather than continuing to focus on the perpetrator (asking, “Who broke the law?” “How should they be punished?”), which are retributive justice questions, restorative justice questions bring people to empathy, to compassion - - involving all three parts of the equation: the perpetrator, the victim, the entire community - - . It focuses on asking who has been hurt, what are their needs, what are our (all three parts) obligation to hold up the rights to mourn, to grieve, to rise, to demand… ultimately to restore what’s broken in hearts.
Jesus’ fire, the holy fire, the proper fire, burns to create a crisis in our conscience, in our faith, and in our words and actions. It’s just like what could happen a lot in a typical home like mine. When my sons fight, both get hurt, but when, like my sons, one is much older, bigger and stronger, and the other is not, the fight or game usually does not go well for the younger one. In this situation, I used to deal with my older son first, angrily, for what he broke. Now, after learning about restorative justice, I try to, intentionally, go to my younger son first, (redirecting my attention and care to the more vulnerable, right in the critical moment after the fight happened) and ask “How are you hurt?” It’s a small but major change; asking ‘who has been hurt?’, “what are your needs?", and thinking about everyone’s obligation to restore relationships empowers everyone. This restorative justice can be done in the spirit of compassion. This redirecting divides us from the old path and onto a new one that focuses on the more vulnerable population in our families, in the world…
Holy fire is the fire of a true, aching heart that yearns for authentic peace: the peace after a right crisis, not the peace of a wrong status quo. The holy fire that divides is the sacred fire whose goal is, eventually, to restore a right peace through love. May the holy fire of God’s love grow in our hearts and be the illuminated path for our walk together.
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