The Heat's On! (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22)

I have always told people that living in southeast Iowa is like living in the tropics, especially for someone who grew up in North Dakota. I did manage to survive the frigid temperatures that caused my scarf to freeze to my nose and my mouth. When I lived in Canada, winter seemed endless as I trudged through massive amounts of snow each winter, my stocking cap pulled way down over my ears. However, I will admit to bundling up in layer after layer just to stand on the street on the coldest day of the year for the opportunity to experience the Winter Carnival Parade. But now the Arctic temperature have descended upon us and it is downright cold!

However, I really did experience life in the tropics when I lived in Australia; the sub-tropics, to be exact. Summer temperatures topped out in the 90's, lasting about nine months. Winter temperatures hovered around 50--that would seem quite balmy to us right now! But after the heat of the summer, 50 degrees was cold, especially since there was a lack of insulation in the houses and central heat did not exist. It was was a damp cold, and I was chilled to the bone. But my saving grace was this: a portable kerosene heater that I carried from room to room. However, there was a slight problem: when it came time to refuel it, I was afraid that when I lit a match,one spark would ignite the whole thing and cause an explosion!

So the heat's on. John the Baptist has been sent to prepare the way for Jesus. But the word of the day from John is the wrath of God; trees not bearing fruit would be cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus, the one to come, will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. He will take a winnowing fork in his hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, the chaff being burned with unquenchable fire, the consuming fire of judgment. But that doesn't mean that we're off the hook, because as we repeat Sunday after Sunday in the Apostles' Creed: "He will come again to judge the living and the dead."

Now fire isn't all bad. The farmers burn off their fields to make way for new growth. The refiner's fire burns off the impurities from the metal leaving it so shiny that you can see your reflection in it; your reflection as a child of God, that is. Indeed, the heat's on, and we are being consumed by the fire, the fire of holiness as we are purified, transformed and consecrated to the one who baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus was baptized without fanfare; he was just another face in the crowd. We don't know who baptized Jesus; John the Baptist had already been imprisoned by Herod. But Jesus was baptized all the same, the one without sin who was born of a sinner into a world of sinners, all for the forgiveness of our sins. John the Baptist's ministry is over; but the heat's on as Jesus begins his ministry, teaching, and healing as he makes his way to the cross.

That said, I think I'm ready to let the holy heater be refueled. I've been waiting for the match to be lit, because the heat's on. The divine spark has been ignited and caught fire. Heaven and earth have come together in a tremendous explosion. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before. "The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form and a voice came from heaven,"You are my Son, my beloved, with you I am well pleased." Interestingly enough, those words were meant for Jesus alone; however, that doesn't mean that God has stopped speaking to us, too.

I'm glad that our holy heater has been refueled; it reminds me that this is a good time to refuel my own spiritual life where the divine spark is ignited daily and heaven and earth come together in the person of Jesus Christ. And so it is that I will take my portable holy heater with me out into the world, carrying the warmth of God's love with me and keeping the light of Christ burning in my heart.