Hearts on Fire

It is that time of year when we take a pause on our regular readings we go through and we look at a particular passage and we find ways that we can live into that Word spoken. Today as we begin a new year I would like to share with each of you a new annual them to live by. My first year here we looked at the them of Together We Grow. We were still cautious but emerging from COVID and we spent the years growing together again in worship and fellowship. Then this last year we spent the year talking about and living into ways to thrive in the theme of Together we Thrive. We welcomed new people into our congregation and had many new events and ministries begin this last year to start thriving as a congregation both within and outside of this space. It has been a great two years and I look forward to this new year of living into this passage and this theme.

The passage is the one we just heard about the two disciples of Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem. The day they are traveling is still what we now celebrate as Easter, but for these two disciples they were experiencing anything but the joy of Easter that we experience. They haven’t heard about the empty tomb. They didn’t know on the road that Jesus had appeared to Simon and the women had spoken to the angels at the tomb reminding them that Jesus would indeed rise from the dead.

And we as the readers of Luke’s gospel have already read that the tomb is empty and we know what it means. We are giddy with excitement at everything that is happening in the story. Which creates this incredible tension as we read the very next story about these two disciples who don’t know what’s happened, who have not remembered or had the scriptures fully opened to them so that they trust and know that Jesus is risen. We almost want to shout at them that their sorrow and despair should be joy and abounding faith. And then Jesus himself shows up to them and we want shout even louder at the story so that they can hear us!

I had a similar experience just this last week I was watching a TV show after putting Madi down for bed and waiting for Aubreigh and Bekkah to come home from dance class. One of the characters had just been given a new lease on life, literally, and was about to go into battle. He was warned by his sister that his enemy would provoke him to make him make a mistake. He was warned! Yet in the very next scene when they are getting ready to battle each other the enemy does indeed provoke him and he falls for it. I enjoy and have favorite TV shows but I wouldn’t really consider myself one of those people who gets emotionally invested in them, but this episode just got to me. I was getting so upset at the foolishness of this guy and all the mistakes he was making even when he was warned not to go into battle. It was probably the first time ever I wanted to shout at the character on the TV! It’s not too dissimilar to the ways so many people shout at their favorite sports team for messing up a play or the game.

What is so incredible is that after Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of the bread they say to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures to us?” We see that even the disciples had this inner sensation, this fire burning inside of them as they engaged in conversation and talked about the scriptures with them. Even though they could not place their fingers on what it was at that moment, they were burning with passion and joy and were finally able to explain it and pinpoint it through the breaking of bread with Jesus.

Their hearts were on fire with the passion of their faith and for their Messiah. It was this phrase ‘hearts on fire’ that really hit me about 7 months ago and it has been burning in me to share with you. I have read this story so many times but when I saw it on a t-shirt of a woman at a continuing education event I couldn’t get it out of my mind and my heart was burning for a way to share it with you. This is how I wanted to share it: by seeing ways that we an all live into the idea of having our hearts on fire for our Messiah. To learn more about this idea of our hearts being on fire I thought we could look at two other examples of this kind of language.

The first example comes from Psalm 39:3 “My heart got hot inside me; while stewing over it, the fire burned. Then I spoke out with my tongue:” After a time of lament of the shortness of life the author then asks what he (we) should be waiting for? His answer: My hope is set on you. No matter what else happens in this life the author sets his mind and his heart on God. The author could not contain what was inside him any longer and had to share and pronounce what was going on in his life. Another takeaway is that no matter how we feel we should feel welcome to share what is burning in our hearts and minds with God who understands our humanness.

The next example comes from the prophet Jeremiah who speaks of not wanting to share God’s word anymore. He’s tired of all of it. Yet in Jeremiah 20:9 he declares that there is this intense fire within his heart and that trying to contain it (the word of God is actually draining him and he cannot do it any longer. He goes on to say that the Lord is with him like a strong defender and even goes on to sing praises to the Lord for rescuing the needy from evildoers. All the terrible things that Jeremiah saw and endured either personally or through others wasn’t enough to stop him from putting his faith in God and praising God for God’s care for those who need it.

So as we journey through 2024 I want us to work through these same things that the disciples, the psalmist and Jeremiah worked through. What is it that causes our hearts to burn for God? What are the ways that God is giving us a passion for God’s word and work in this world? And how do we translate that burning desire, that passion for our faith and what it means to us to those around us? How do we ignite that fire in others? That could mean someone who is new that hasn’t had their heart burn for the Jesus or it could be someone who’s fire isn’t as bright and needs some kindling.

Which is why I have given each of you a heart stone that has some shade of red on it. I invite you to carry this heart with you, as you are able, to remind you of the fire that has been placed in you: the gift of the Holy Spirit that helps us to glow with the love of God as found in Christ Jesus. To remind us that we are called to share that love, grace, and forgiveness that has already been given to us. To see the ways that we can be like these disciples who once they realized that burning in their hearts was their love of God pushing out so much so that they had to travel all the way back to Jerusalem that same night to share the good news that Jesus is risen.

Let’s spend this year working together to kindle, share, and ignite our hearts so that we can find ourselves unable to contain the fire within us burning for God so that we can shine brightly with the love of God, the grace of Jesus, and the power of the Spirit for all to see and experience and catch that same fire in them. We do that the same way Jesus did on the road to Emmaus: through the sharing of scripture and the breaking of bread, both here in this service and in our service out in the world. Together we can use the gift of our hearts on fire to transform ourselves and our community with the joy of the resurrection story. Amen.