Fire Starters, Pentecost

As I approach the middle age crisis I have noted that on my birthday (September 11) I have begun to spend more time reflecting on my life. I think about what has happened over the years, and ponder on what I would like the future to be like. Then I make a covenant with myself on some of the things that I think are important. Not in the way you make New Year resolutions where you vow to lose some of those extra kilos or do more exercise. The kind of things I covenant on is more about living out some of the sacraments of life. Even trying to be more aware of the important things in life.

Pentecost (and the time leading up to it) is a good time for a community of faith to take stock - look at the last year - and perhaps talk about our hopes coming year might bring. I reckon as Pentecost is the birthday of the church it is the best time to really think about the church. Easter and Christmas are (as they ought to be) about the incarnation and passion of Jesus. Pentecost is an ideal time to reflect on how the church reflects the passion of Christ. It is a good time to stoke the fires of passion for being in mission and service.

Leading up to Pentecost Sunday perhaps we ought to come together and reflect on what it means to be a community of faith through prayer, listening to stories, and waiting on the Spirit. Then on Pentecost we can make a covenant with each other for the coming year - and celebrate as we take on the future.

A couple of years ago as a symbol of covenant on Pentecost I led a worship gathering where we registered for access to the new church website, shared in communion, and prayed together for the concerns of our world.

In preparation for Pentecost I have reflected on things using this prayer by Ruth Burgess:

Lighter of lights – illumine us
Fire of fires – thaw us
Power of powers – strengthen us
Lover of lovers – warm us
Teller of tales – encourage us
Destroyer of darkness – save us
Touchstone of truth – examine us
Summoner of stars – amaze us
Wellspring of wisdom – weather us
Water of life – refresh us
Dancer of days – delight in us
Breath of the universe – bless us

Amen

Sha Vu Ot

During the last week Darren Wright emailed me a new blog by Dave Walker called Cartoon Church that provides a worksheet for this Pentecost.

The book Alternative Worship by Jonny Baker and Doug Gay has an excellent section on Pentecost which provided me some good thinking material. The CDROM that comes with the book has a couple of good animated loops. On the disk in the Pentecost section the loop "blessing.mov" and got a copy of Firestarter by The Prodigy from their Fat of the Land album. I am thinking of using this as the sending out benediction while handing out candles.

Gordon Ramsay discovered he can start fires and provided some photos of his BBQ on fire for the Image Library.