Duck United Methodist Church: Duck United Methodist Church:
Dear Fellow Sojourners,
Having been a volunteer fireman, I have a deep respect of fire. Actually, it borders more on the line of a fear of fire. Early in my ministry, I was the pastor of a rural church just outside of Fayetteville. The church parsonage was located on a very large piece of land that required a lot of yard work because of the surrounding pine trees. On Saturdays we would rake pine straw into large piles and I would do a “controlled” burn. We also had a burn barrel that was located behind the house where other yard waste was burned.
One Saturday, I decided I would burn what was in the barrel. I was careful to make sure there was nothing that could catch fire around the barrel. I noticed that the grass was rather dry, but it was so short that I thought it wouldn’t take much effort to put it out if it did catch. With a flick of a match, I lit what was in the barrel and watched it burn. It wasn’t long afterward that I turned my back to do something else, and when I did, a small spark ignited the surrounding straw like grass. Before I knew it, fire was moving out in all directions, and I thought I was standing in the middle of Johnny Cash’s “ring of fire”. What started out as a controlled burn quickly turned into a wild fire. I stomped on the edges of the fire in an attempt to extinguish the flames only to discover the circle getting bigger and bigger. I was in a sheer panic. Here I was an experienced fireman and I was about to burn down the whole neighborhood. Thank the good Lord that my wife came to my rescue. She was not embarrassed to call the fire department.
By the time the fire department arrived, our back yard and the surrounding woods were burning, and the fire was rapidly approaching my neighbor’s garage. Without the help of the fire department, I would have never been able to extinguish a fire that had gotten out of control.
I tell you this story because at some level, we all love to talk about wanting the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. But when it comes to the Spirit, we want a controlled burn. As one minister reminded me, we all know that wildfires change more than we had in mind. But if you know anything about the Day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, you know it was and will always be a wildfire. And the spirit will take you places where you weren’t prepared to go. So maybe that’s why we have a fear of fire in the church. The Holy Spirit can’t be controlled. By the way, does anyone have a match?
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Ray Wittman
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