Words of Wisdom: We Didn’t Start the Fire, Billy Joel
Sacred Words: 1 Kings 18:21-39
Note: There is a short gap in the video due to a problem with the video equipment.
We get it wrong, too.
Like the Baalist prophets, we act like there is something we can do to light the fire.
We Didn’t Start the Fire.
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Confused in north
about Ahab
marries Jezebel
Builds Baal shrine
mixed messages = confusion
Being both
Jealous God – YHWH
Sends prophet
Prophet Elijah challenges
In the challenge
Call on god Baal
Hopping Dance
Cut selves
All day
Frantic
So they took the ox he had given them, prepared it for the altar, then prayed to Baal. They prayed all morning long, “O Baal, answer us!”
But nothing happened—not so much as a whisper of breeze. Desperate, they jumped and stomped on the altar they had made.
By noon, Elijah had started making fun of them, taunting, “Call a little louder—he is a god, after all.
Maybe he’s off meditating somewhere or other, or maybe he’s gotten involved in a project, or maybe he’s on vacation.
You don’t suppose he’s overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?”
They prayed louder and louder, cutting themselves with swords and knives—a ritual common to them—until they were covered with blood.
This went on until well past noon. They used every religious trick and strategy they knew to make something happen on the altar, but nothing happened—
not so much as a whisper, not a flicker of response. 1 Kings 18:26-29 MSG
They didn’t start the fire.
[pause]
Sequence matters:
Grace>response
vs
Action>grace
Deuteronomists
be good = God’s love
YHWH = jealous God
Joel Olsteen is a Deuteronomist
The Deuteronomists’ theology is evident in this story
Deuteronomists =
action first then grace
It’s about blame
The Deuteronomists’ way of thinking had dissipated by Jesus’ time.
But it was still present.
Still present today.
after all…Joel Olsteen
People believed that bad things happen for a reason. If bad things happen to you, you’re being punished or tested by God.
In John’s gospel, Jesus responds to a question about this:
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3 CEB
___
After Baalists fail to start the fire Elijah
12 stones significance all
Drenched with water
Can afford to waste with YHWH
Shows no trick
He calls upon God.
At the time of the evening offering, the prophet Elijah drew near and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.
I have done all these things at your instructions.
Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, Lord, are the real God and that you can change their hearts.”[d] 38
Then the Lord’s fire fell; it consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up the water in the trench!
All the people saw this and fell on their faces. “The Lord is the real God! The Lord is the real God!” they exclaimed. 1 Kings 18:36-39 CEB
Elijah calls upon YHWH
He points the people back toward YHWH
He trusts in God.
God responds.
But even Elijah didn’t start the fire.
[pause]
We don’t have to start the fire.
We can call on God.
We can point others toward God.
We can trust in God’s love.
God responds.
We didn’t start the fire
God is the fire.
A hunk of burning love for
us
others
all
esp poor and oppressed
Imago dei
We also have the fire within
When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting.
They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. Acts 2:1-4 CEB
see how the fire of God manifests
notice that God acts first
The Good News is that grace precedes anything we do.
God’s burning love permeates
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
Stop your hopping dance
Stop your desperate cries to false gods
Build an altar that symbolizes all of us
Call on God. Listen & trust.
When we
see grace
Feel grace
Experience grace
We can’t help but be God’s love in the world.
The Good News is we don’t have to light the fire.
All we have to do is allow God to ignite the fire within us.
When we do, when we love as God loves us, the unfolding realm of God will grow just a little bigger.
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
Amen.
Tim is a runner, a hiker, a devoted husband, a father of two adult children, and their spouses, and a grandfather of four perfect children. A former early childhood educator, Tim is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has served as pastor of both Disciples and United Church of Christ congregations. As we enter what we hope is the final phase of the pandemic, Tim is beginning a journey of rediscovering himself and discerning next steps. He writes from his home in Albany, Oregon and wherever the Spirit lures him.
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