September 10, 2001

CYBERCOLUMN:
Holy fire
___By John Duncan
___I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, thinking about holy fire. Recently, in Cambridge, England, I noticed a peculiar plaque on a church wall that stirred my soul.
___Nestled quietly in the center of Cambridge sits a small church. The church lay silent, dwarfed by larger stone buildings of antiquity. Like an old piece of petrified wood in a forest of towering trees, the church relishes its glorified history. The Church of Saint

JOHN DUNCAN

Edmund King and Martyr signifies the storied past of God’s servants during the Reformation.
___Early one Sunday, I attended services at the church. A small group of no less than 10 people showed up. Most came early to pray and to share in Holy Communion. I attended by virtue of an invitation. A friend preached from the Gospel of Matthew about the woman whose faith blossomed. She wished to simply take in breadcrumbs from the Master’s table. The woman pleaded with Jesus for her daughter’s health. Her faith and Jesus’ power intersected in a moment of truth. The daughter was healed at once (Matthew 15:21-28). Jesus’ crumbs yielded a joyous blessing.
___"Crumb’s from the Master’s table" raced through my mind as I exited, glancing to my left. My eyes fixed on a round, gray, stone plaque screwed to the wall. My eyes froze on the names of martyrs. One recognizable name stood out--Thomas Cranmer.
___Sir Thomas Cranmer studied Bible in Cambridge, had a deep love for Jesus and his word, was deeply influenced by Luther’s Reformation in the 1520s and assisted in the production of an English Bible. He died in 1556, having been deposed and burned at the stake for his belief in Reformation principles.
___The church plaque honored Sir Thomas by acknowledging he died by the "violence of holy fire." Not much happened on that Sunday morning. Things have sure calmed since Cranmer and his boys helped reform the church.
___"Holy fire," now that’s intimidating. We once experienced what seemed like holy fire one Wednesday night at church. Angie, Vicki and my wife, Judy, cooked the Wednesday evening meal. Judy splashed frozen French fries into a pot of bubbling grease. Presto, holy fire appeared, a flash of orange flames leaping straight toward the ceiling. Judy screamed so loud I heard her from down the hall. I raced to the kitchen, grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. People still talk about the time the preacher’s wife almost burned down the church. Holy fire fizzled on Wednesday night, although for a moment I wished for the revival of Moses’ burning bush at mealtime in a pot of flaming grease.
___"Holy fire"--what could that possibly mean? The prophet Jeremiah claimed "fire in my bones." Blaise Paschal (1623-1623), the French mathematician and religious philosopher, once described his encounter with God in one word, "Fire." Thomas Cranmer was consumed by it.
___Holy fire yearns for the Light of God to come and stay, a fire that burns bright to warm your soul and others, a fire willing to sacrifice because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that lit the fires of eternity.
___Elizabeth Barrett Browning says it best:

___Earth’s crammed with heaven,
___And every common bush afire with God.
___But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
___The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.

___"Holy fire." It sounds serious. Ask Angie, Vicki and Judy who, by the way, were not hurt by the fire in the church kitchen. Ask Blaise Pascal. Ask Thomas Cranmer, whose love for Jesus stretched his life to the limits.
___Cramner, that boy, he stirs my soul to deeper devotion to Jesus. And me? I’m under this tree now, seeing, ready to take off my shoes. Why would I want to sit around and pluck blackberries?

___ John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines




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