Quick Summary:

The universe we’re coming to know is founded upon elements that emerged from stellar cauldrons after the Big Bang. Without this first generation of stars slow-cooking ingredients in their gigantic spherical crockpots and at their deaths hurling them out into the cosmos, life would not exist. In the great scope of this unfolding Universe: FIRE = LIFE. But like the three other elemental forces we’re celebrating during this Season of Creation this month—EARTH, AIR, WATER—FIRE, too, has a split personality. FIRE makes life possible and FIRE takes life away. FIRE destroys and FIRE renews. FIRE is our greatest friend and our most feared foe. FIRE is one complex and multifaceted phenomenon!

Today we celebrate FIRE as a necessary and powerful force in creation, AND ALSO as a metaphor for God’s illuminating and transforming Presence.

The sermon takes us with Moses to the burning bush on Mt. Horeb, to England's Avebury Stone Circle, to Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and to the mass shooting in Orlando; asking WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR?