I love building fires, whether its on the river during a wilderness trip, or at home heating the house. For me, there’s something spiritual about it, even if the Bible would have never said anything about God being a consuming fire. But it does, in fact fire is mentioned many times throughout Scripture from Divine action to description to everyday function. Many times its presence is connected with the power of God. His cleansing power through crucible, His saving power amidst persecution, His guiding power through darkness, altogether it is indeed a mighty physical manifestation of something intangible but felt and seen keenly.

But what I like most about fire is breathing into it. For a fire to build sometimes it is necessary to blow into it, and even when its not, I do it. The roar of the flames that rages to life when I blow out the air of my lungs into its hungry coals always catches me for a moment. Long enough for my lips to feel the intense heat I just blew into life, and then my nose breathes in the warmth as if the fire is responding in kind. I think for a moment what it must have felt like for Isaiah to have his lips touched by a coal from the altar. That atoning ritual commissioned him for his prophetic role to the people of God. And there are other times when I consider myself the flame, my soul a pile of wood waiting for the breath of God to bring me to life, to engage me in the outpouring of His will on the earth.

I love building fires, it should be a sacrament, or at least a ritual. It is for me.

There is no comfortable distance between You and I,
You, that great consuming fire, and I, a tinder box.

-Brian