As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional, unceded lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People. 
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.     

Call to Worship:

A voice came from heaven, saying,
“This is my beloved Son 
with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3.17

O Come. Let Us Worship. 

Collect for Today 

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit,
keep your children, born of water and the Spirit,
faithful to their calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Gospel:

Luke 3.15–17, 21–22

May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to You, O Lord.  Amen.

" He Will Baptize You with
The Holy Spirit and Fire. " 

I am sure our Warden Mike should be preaching this sermon.

We are going to talk about fire. 

Being a retired Fire Chief, after many years in service, I am sure he could tell us more about fire than this parish priest can. 

Well, early in my vocation, there was some theory being presented by the larger church about how we need to have a fire lighted under us.

Part of this came from the experience of clergy and lay people visiting from Christian churches in developing nations, and often they would observe and say, “We never hear you talking about the Holy Spirit; about the work of the Church, and how we need to “be alive; and we need to be sharing our faith out in the outer world!”

And as this is true; at the same time and from the earliest of time humanity, we’ve always been fascinated with fire.

Mostly though, we see fire as a negative, not as a positive. From early images though, transcribed on the faces of stone, we see lots of images of fire—sort of digressing a little bit…. 
    
(The other night watching a documentary from about ancient writings on the walls of caves, was interesting how he observed (and then Flo and I talked about it between ourselves) how you see very little images of vegetables and fruit.

It’s mainly animals and figures warring between each other. No reasons given.

But some of the uses of fire over the years has been, of course, we think of fire as:
-    Heat and light.
-    Cooking food.
-    Preparing land for new crops.
-    It also burns down homes and businesses
-    Sometimes it takes a life.
-    Ravages our forests.
-    But at the same time, we use fire within lasers for healing.
-    But then there’s that other flip-side where fire is used in bombs that kill.

One use we discovered, here on the Island, is the use of fire to dispose of materials no longer required.

Well, that may not be new to us, but what was new was this “New Year’s Event” of families having their annual bonfire out in their yard, and this sort of disposing of all those things that they were getting rid of to begin a new year.

And I know there’s some old customs around that and how some of the theology is behind that. 

But at the same time, we also have to recognize that fire can be dangerous.

We also adore fire, though, when it is under control.

I would think most of us have had experience with fire for heating our homes and churches.

One of my experiences with fire and heating the church has to do with going to a community—sort of remote, and in the northern part of  the province in which I grew up—when we go for services at Chitek Lake in the wintertime, particularly our obligation was to arrive an hour—at least one hour—early.

And the first obligation we had was to light the oil burner, or the oil furnace.

Now if you know anything about oil burners, they are likely the most finicky thing you can find to light, because if the carburetor floods the fire pot, there’s very little chance of you lighting—getting it to light.

So, your first job was to light the furnace, the oil burner, and if it lit, then to ring the bell, and following which you’d go back to your car so you could stay warm; and every 15 minutes you’d go into the church and ring the bell.

And so, by the time you rang it for the third time, you would begin to see people starting to approach, coming, walking, some coming in various modes of transportation.

And then, the hallowed hour came to start worship. The people were there and were collected and were prepared to sing with praise and enthusiasm. 

So, I would often say, “It is a good day!”

Today is a good day. We have an opportunity to talk about Holy Spirit and Fire.

As Anglo-Catholic liturgical churches here in North America, this topic is not always that exciting—or it sometimes can be disturbing or threatening.

The main reason: that it would be like giving up control.

Can you imagine allowing the Holy Spirit and the fire of the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives?

It runs somewhere along the same rail line that’s called ‘CHANGE.’

Giving up control is about change. It’s a big threat to our human nature. Not just for Christians but for all people.

In our Christian Walk, our main threat when it comes to the Holy Spirt fire – is will it be something out of control?

Next question,(my observation) “Why are we so afraid of the source of our faith which empowers our mission, the source of our faith that lights up our lives, and set our hearts on fire?”

Next question, my observation, why do we as the “Church Body Corporate” avoid relying on the Holy Spirit for the gift of life, for motivation, and guidance?

My observation.

I am not sure how many in the parish receive The Anglican Journal, but my observation in the last two issues is how 90% of the articles written are about “control—about control and about protecting our money, protecting some was as I see it—those jobs that we have protecting our little kingdoms, our little territory—not so much in thinking about the gift that we have to share—not about how we are going about our mission—but more about “how are we going to pay for it?” 

How are we doing it? What is lighting up our lives? What is the motivation for our Christian life? And from whom do we receive our guidance? 

So often, this faith of ours--which has its true beginning with baptism of Jesus--for whom we read today in Luke’s account of the Baptism of Jesus we read:

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering(if this person by the name of John, would he be the Messiah?) 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more important, more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So, this fire which accompanies the Holy Spirit is very threatening.

Fire is threatening.

Fire is threatening because it means change. Change for the good and sometime change not so much for the better. 
    
Reading Lori Wagner’s writings, this week, on the Holy Spirit and Fire, I quote:

“Now, we know enough about fire to know what it can do. And we in the Church know enough about the fire of the Holy Spirit to know once it touches down, everything, including you, will change. Then she goes on to say, “Is it any wonder that the church suffers from pyrophobia.”

 I love that word, pyrophobia. Because we human beings are totally afraid of change.
    
At this moment this parish knows it, and it shows.
    
At the same time, I challenge us, all of you, even myself, even the clergy to think about change and to accept the challenge, to move beyond the threat and to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to live and breathe in each one of us.
    
Believe me, for us as clergy, change is not easy. It’s no easier than it is for all people. 
    
I think of our experience of picking up our family 20 years ago, accepting the idea we would be living on an island.

Now, for people raised on an island, this isn’t a big deal.

But, if you’ve always lived within that scope of land that touches other nations and other places, the threat of living on an island—it’s not that easy a concept to accept and moving to an island where we had no family support.

All our support was, you might say, half a country away. And in Canada, that’s quite a distance.
    
Back to this Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Fire.

Each of our Lessons today affirm for us to trust fully in our Baptism—from the Old Testament to the Epistle and to the Gospel.
    
In Isaiah we read:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Followed by this assurance from God: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you…”

‘Do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit and the fire, because I will be with you.’
    
And in the lesson from Acts, we have illustrated for us how our Lord sees each and every congregation/ parish. For Peter and John, it was a crucial moment in the life of the church.

It was a moment that (I believe) we witness in our parish life to this day.

It was not a moment about some earth-shattering event, it was a moment we witness in parishes each and every day. The moment we witness each and every day, observing the Lord working in the people.

I see it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Then, there is this great moment in the Gospel today: people are flocking to John, for which he rebukes them, saying (my translation) “Don’t flock to me. I’m not the one. There’s one  who’s coming who is even more powerful than I, one for whom I would not attempt to untie his shoelaces! One who will come and baptize you with the fire of the Holy Spirit. 
    
Can we stop for a moment and ask, What—fire—Holy Spirit? How can this be?

Well, what would it mean? 
    
We are all familiar with that famous line from John f. Kennedy:

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
    

So, the quote that we often hear in Christian Churches goes like this:
“The secret to empowering the Church is not how much you can do, but how much you will allow God to do through you?”

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let Us Pray

Our Redeemer desired to be baptized in the Jordan by John. Let us make our petition to him:
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Christ, Servant of God,
the Father acknowledged you as his own Son, with whom he was pleased.
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Christ, Chosen One of God,
you did not break the crushed reed, or extinguish the wavering flame,
have mercy on all who are seeking you in good faith. 
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Christ, Son of God,
the Father called you to be a light to the nations in the new covenant, open the eyes of the blind by the waters of baptism. 
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Christ, Savior of us all,
the Father anointed you with the Holy Spirit for the ministry of salvation, lead us all to see you and to believe in you, that we may have eternal life. 
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Christ, our Hope,
you lead those in darkness to the light of salvation, receive our departed brothers and sisters into your kingdom. 
Lord, send forth your Spirit upon us.

Thank you for making us your children born in water and your Spirit.
Help us to listen to your voice in our lives and remember each day the happiness of sharing the bond of baptism with you. All these things we ask in your Son’s glorious name, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us  not into temptation,
but deliver us fom evil.  
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory,
forever and ever.  Amen.

Gracious God, 
You have shown your exceptional love for all of us in Word and Sacrament. 
We have experienced that love through the fire of the Holy Spirit.
And may we share your gifts in the world and grow continually in your love and our love for one another. Amen.

The Blessing: 
The peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and
love of God, and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you, and remain with you, always. 
Amen.