Fire makes all the difference…                                                        

According to students of human development, the control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling human evolution. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Additionally, creating fire allowed human activity to continue into the dark and colder hours of the evening.

God appeared in the flames of Pentecost to empower Christ followers to become powerful evangelists and missionaries as the Church. However, this was not the first appearance of God in the image of fire. For Moses, God spoke from the burning bush, calling Moses to go and proclaim freedom from slavery and an exodus back to the Promised Land of his forefathers.

Forty-nine days after the 10th plague of the Passover and the liberation of God’s people from Egypt, Moses brought God’s people to Mount Sinai. On the 50th day, the Pentecost — God came to his people and ratified the covenant he made with them at the Passover. The Pentecost sealed the deal of the Passover.

There was a magnificent display of God’s power and majesty on Sinai. The Book of Exodus tells us about the first Pentecost: Exodus 19:18-20— also called the Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot — That Pentecost was the holy day that told the powerful story: The God of fire is the God who does not destroy. The God who liberates is also the God who desires a covenant with us.

As Moses went to meet God amid thunder and fire, so the apostles and Mary would encounter the living God through fire. On the new Pentecost, God came to Mary and the apostles as tongues of fire. The Acts of the Apostles tell us: 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 (Acts 2:1-2).

The Holy Spirit filled them with power. The covenant of the new Passover is sealed by the fire of the new Pentecost. It is a fire that burns but does not destroy.  It leads us to a reverence for God’s presence, purges us, heals us, convicts us, transforms us, makes us holy, and then compels us to go and announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to the whole world.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit and power for the living of these days!                       

Pastor Dianne