God loves me
Say it with me – God loves me
Say it until you hear it – until you believe it
·
God loves me
Despite my faults – perhaps because of my faults
·
God loves me
Despite my sin – perhaps because of my sin
·
God loves me
For some unknown reason
·
God loves me
Perhaps because God created me
·
God loves me
Perhaps because God makes no mistakes
·
God loves me
Perhaps because God’s Spirit dwells in me
·
God loves me
I don’t know, and I guess it doesn’t really matter,
but
·
God loves me
Say it with me – God loves me
The bible uses several images to describe the Holy
Spirit, including:
·
A dove
·
Fire
The Bible doesn’t say the Holy Spirit is a dove or is
fire,
but that the Holy Spirit is like a done, is like fire
Today we celebrate the Holy Spirit
God’s fire
God’s flame
God’s spark
God’s presence – that is with each one of us now
Like a flame, like a pilot light, like a spark
The most powerful, internal combustion engine
does not run on a giant fire
But on a spark
Ladies and Gentlemen
Boys and Girls
Sinners and saints – start your engines! For:
It only takes a
spark
To get a fire
going
And soon all those
around
Can warm up in the
glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve
experienced it
You’ll spread His
love
To everyone
You’ll want to
pass it on
There is a story about John Wesley.
He was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian who,
with his brother Charles Wesley
and fellow cleric George Whitefield,
founded the evangelical movement known as Methodism.
He worked tirelessly for prison reform
and the abolition of slavery
In the story Wesley is said to have joined some Moravian
Christian brothers and sisters in prayer,
and something happened to him in the experience.
As he put it, “My heart was strangely warmed...."
His heart was set afire in a new way with the Spirit of God.
His faith and imagination for the Gospel were ignited
for a new beginning of ministry,
a ministry of teaching and preaching,
proclamation and service
that extended throughout England and abroad,
an ignition that introduced a new reformation.
The Spirit of God that we celebrate today is not just
for the John Wesley’s of the world
It is not just for bishops, priests or deacons
It is for me
It is for each one of us
The Spirit of God is for me too – because – God loves me
And God loves us
The spark is a fire that warms us
That calls us
That expects us to use all that God has given us
For this purpose
To believe, to live, to act like – God loves me
God loves us
O God, take our lips and speak through them.
Take our minds and think through them.
Take our hearts and set them on fire.
William Blake wrote,
Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catch fire, God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catch fire, God will not be named.
Unless the Heart catch fire, God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known.
There
is a story from the ancient Church
It
is the story of a young monk in the desert of Egypt
who
goes to a wise older monk and asks
what
he should do to live a whole
and
faithful Christian faith and life.
The
older monk asks him what he does at present.
The
younger monk replies that he says his prayers,
keeps
his fast,
adheres
to his rule of life as best he can,
and
generally is kind to his fellow brothers.
At
that point the elder arises and stands
with
his hands extended to the heavens when, whoosh...,
all
ten of his fingers become lamps of flame,
and
he says to the younger,
"If
you will, all of your life can become as of fire."
That
monk spoke to the younger brother
and speaks
to us today
to
the Church today
to you
and to me
"If
you will, if you will...all of your life can become as of fire."
If
you will
If
you will… all your life can become as of fire
We
can be ignited by the Spirit of God – if you will
We
can be warmed up by the Spirit of God – if you will
We
can be set aflame by the Spirit of God – if you will
Nothing
less will do for us
As
individuals
As
the Christian Church
As
the Body of Christ – today
Lukewarm faith is not what
God wants
Burned out faith is not what
God wants
Tired faith is not what
God wants
Timid faith is not what
God wants
Not
for you
Not
for me
And
certainly it’s not what’s essential for a Church-community
that
claims to be:
A
place that
shows the
transforming Love and Justice of God in action
It
only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And
soon all those around
Can warm up in the glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You’ll
spread His love
To everyone
You’ll
want to pass it on
In a book by George Knowles, A World to Love,
He tells of a party of explorers
who found themselves perplexed
by something they found in a remote jungle.
In a clearing, they discovered 35 carefully laid fires
that had never been lit.
They had the appearance of 35 little tepees,
with dry leaves surrounded by small, dry twigs and,
a larger pieces of wood arranged in a good Boy Scout
fashion.
Who built the fires?
Why had not even one been lit?
The mystery cleared up when the explorers saw dozens
of chimpanzees watching from the trees.
The chimps had watched campers
and copied the art of fire building.
But they had no fire.
Every
vibrant Church-community in the world today
Every
Church-community that can be described as alive
And
transformed, and healthy, and growing
Possess
two qualities (at least)
First,
they know for sure that God loves them
Each
member can say with confidence and as if they truly believe
God
Loves Me
Say
it with me – God Love me
And
because of the first quality
Every
vibrant Church-community also possesses a second quality:
The
knowledge that – God loves my neighbour too
They
want to pass it on, they want to pass on
God’s
love
God’s
Spirit
God’s
Spark
They
want to fan the flame in their neighbours
They
want to ignite God’s Holy Spirit everywhere
It
only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And
soon all those around
Can warm up in the glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You’ll
spread His love
To everyone
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