October 4th, 2024
I heard this song on the radio the other day and had Billy Joel on my mind for the rest of the day[1]. This isn’t really a “men’s ministry” blog, per se. In fact, I’m not exactly sure where this blog will go, but I feel like there is something here that needs written about, so I am just going to jump in and see where it goes.
Recently we hosted the Wednesday night youth bible study at the house. There were 23 of us- a mix of volunteers, high schoolers, college folk and a rambunctious 1 year old. I’ve reached that weird middle age area where I feel so out of touch with anyone under the age of 25, so the plan was to have a bonfire, get some pizzas, and let the professional (Thomas) handle the rest. Our thought was that the bonfire would be something fun for them on a weeknight. Honestly, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what we got. The bonfire took awhile to get going (mainly because I was trying to make sure we lit a pile of wood soaked with gasoline as safely as possible). The passage discussed- 1 Peter 2.11-25- was pretty dense stuff[2]. It was a much larger group than we expected, so we had 23 wet (it had drizzled the entire 30 minutes it took to get the fire lit) individuals crammed into our family room with a wild puppy running around. Not exactly the most conducive environment for anything.
We’ll come back to the family room on Tark Hill Road, but I was thinking about fire and theophany[3]. Theophany is defined as the “the visible manifestation to humankind of God”[4]. It is how the divine reveals itself to the mortal, and when we go back and look at the Bible, we see that God consistently reveals Himself to humans in fire. It started with God’s covenant with Abram[5]. He appears in the burning bush[6] and later leads Israel by a pillar of fire[7]. God appears in fire on Mount Sinai[8] and it is used often in prophetic visions[9]. Jesus appears in John’s vision with eyes of fire[10] and the descent of the Holy Spirit is marked by “tongues of fire”[11]. There is a consistent theme throughout the Bible of fire being associated with God’s movement[12].
Returning to the bonfire and the Bible study, what we saw was a group of young people (and volunteers/minister) really jumping into God’s Word and trying to understand it- not just in the context of when it was written, but how it applied to their lives each day. With schedules full of homework, sports, social events, etc they are taking time to meet with one another and grow closer to God and find His will for their lives. It was awesome. Not to speak for anyone else, but I’m sure that if you asked any adult who has had the opportunity to be around this group, they would say THEY were the ones getting blessed by the young people, not the other way around. We hear so many clickbait, doom and gloom stories about youth, but what we saw the other night was a godly collection of teens/millennials gathering to encourage one another, pray, and just seek Jesus. And it isn’t just a Wednesday night thing- I’ve seen the same thing at the youth-led Sunday night worship, in projects at Empower, in Sunday school classes, etc. FCC Grayson has an incredible group of young people. We don’t need a bonfire to see God moving…we can see Him moving in the lives of our youth. Thanks to everyone who blessed us at that Wednesday study, thanks to Tracy and Lexi for volunteering, thanks to Thomas for the work he is doing, and thanks to the Spirit for moving powerfully in these young adults’ lives. Have a great week, please let us know if there is anything FCC can do for you, and if you haven’t yet, pray for our youth and children’s ministries and find time to get involved with them- I believe you will be blessed in such a meaningful way if you do. – FCC Grayson Men’s Ministry
[1] If you’ve ever wondered what all the references in the song were about, this is a pretty good summary: https://www.britannica.com/list/all-119-references-in-we-didnt-start-the-fire-explained
[2] I encourage you to read and think about this yourself this week. There is some heady stuff in here: submitting to earthly authorities, suffering, slavery, etc. Certainly not something I would imagine a group of young adults talking about.
[3] I borrowed heavily from E.M. Good’s entry on “Fire” in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for this section (Vol E-J, pg 268 & 269).
[4] Oxford Languages
[5] Genesis 15.17
[6] Ex 3.2
[7] Ex 13.21&22
[8] Ex 19.18&24, cf 1 Kings 18.24, Deut 4.11-36
[9] Isa 4.5, Dan 7.9-10, Zech 2.5, Mal 3.2
[10] Rev 1.14, 2.18
[11] Acts 2.3
[12] Following Good’s breakdown, it is also used in worship (see Lev 6.12&13), divine action on earth (Heb 12.29, Ps 104.4, Jer 23.39), punishing destruction (Gen 19.24, Lev 10.2, Josh 7.15, Jer 4.4, Ezek 22.31, Dan 7.11) and purification (Ps 66.12, Isa 43.2, Zech 13.9, 1 Peter 1.7, cf Luke 12.49)
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