I may have gotten a start on my Pentecost sermon during the Trustees meeting last night at church. Pentecost Sunday is a few months off yet but the Trustees were hearing a proposal for the new fire alarm system that is required for us to be within the code according to the Fire Marshall. The representative for the alarm company making the bid said that no church in Minnesota has had a death from a fire. Well that's good news and I hope it stays that way.
But if I play that fire as a metaphor for the fire of the Holy Spirit-
now thats where the sermon possibilities could happen! Maybe we don't get too much of that fire in our Minnesota churches. Maybe we need to face this fear?
It reminded me (don't ask me why my brain makes these connections) of the time we were going to put in an air conditioner in the Beech Creek church just outside of Manchester KY and part of the Red Bird Missionary conference where I served for three years. The air conditioning guy took some measurements, did some calculations, trying to decide if we needed a three ton sized unit or a 2 1/2 ton unit and so on..Then he wanted to know what kind of church this was. I didn't know what difference that would make? I told him United Methodist. He had heard of us. Then he said we could get by with a 2 1/2 ton unit because we don't make as much heat when we worship as the pentecostal and holiness churches do. If we were like them, he said, we would need a bigger air conditioning unit.
Ok, he had us pegged. We United Methodists don't exactly work up a sweat and make a lot of heat when we worship. And for the most part, we don't have to worry about a lot of spiritual fire problems. Enough said.
But maybe that will change...on Pentecost
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Funny story. I personally think if people can get excited about ballgames and yell and scream for their team, and jump up and down. Then we should be able to get that excited about God and all that He has done for us by sending His only Son to die for our sins and bring salvation, redemption and eternal life. To think that Hell is a real place, and we were going there, but now we are saved from that and on our way to heaven, well, I'm getting excited and so grateful just talking about it. But that isn't even all that God has done for us, He is an ever present Help in time of trouble, He is our Protection, our High tower, our shield, our guide, our....well I could go on for a long time.
I was born and raised in Ky. That is why your blog caught my eye. I miss Ky, it's still my home.
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