Oh, yes. The fires of Hell will get mentioned.

Mendalla

Can't go wrong with the Jewish Holocaust

Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

Fire is a chemical reaction, so, alchemy!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" that you-know-who is supposed to have said after the Trinity test

space & time itself came into being in "fire" -- it was only when it cooled down enough that everything else could arise

Fire to treat a wound/disenfectant

Fire to see by

Fire to prepare raw food (another alchemical wonder?)

The sun is a constant fire, giving up around 4 million tons per second and produces around 3.8 x 10^26 joules per second, of which our Earth gets around 1%...and from that tiny amount, all of our life, our climate, etc can exist...and one day, that fire will be gone.

The story of Boudica, where she did burn down Londinium...

Some ovens have a clean function...and they lock.

The smoking hills of Canada, soon to be shut down by WCWC and Greenpeace ;3  Maybe you can dig up some local indian legends aboot these hills?

Cigarette smoking -- tobacco became popular because the royalty at the time started smoking it.  We know how manpulative cigarette companies have been (and how Lucky Strikes company created a market for women by involving themselves in the fashion industry, movies, tv...)  For something so toxic and addictive, though, Spider Robinson explains the experience so well, that when he has a cigarette, for a few minutes he is given solace from the world...

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus has a lot of mythic themes you could go into, including Fear of Fire (which also could tie into the current state of the Nuclear Industry & the Space Weapons Ban)

in nature ... some seeds lie protected & dormant until the landscape is ravaged by fire (jack pine is one I know of) - only then do the seeds move into a germination cycle;  wildflower meadows need to be burned every few years for a similar reason. 

From our standard Ritual, calling of the quarters...

"Spirits of the South, ancient Lords of Fire, we call upon you to guard this circle and all who enter. For as I consume life to live, we are kith and kin. Hail and Welcome."

Fire is used to refine metals-there are biblical mentions of this-to purify and also shape/bend

As in set yourself amongst scoffers.

Yes, purification. Transformation. Passion & sex. Hope (fire replaces the sun during the winter).

Hee, hee. That's going to be the children's story (Moment of Wonder as we call it). In the sermon, I plan to point it out as a real-life version of the phoenix myth.

Flashback time. I remember that story. I was a subscriber to Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine when it was originally published.

Mendalla

Refiner's Fire.   There is a great song by that title.

Scripture: Malachi 2:17–3:6

Didn't John the Baptist say -I baptize you with water but there is one coming who will baptize you with water.

(a friend used to say we needed blowotrches at baptisms)

Sacrificial fire. Burnt offerings. Eternal flames. Olympic torch. Keepers of the sacred fire.

Fire and Ice....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255528/Fire-ice-Beachcomber-cap...

FIRE

"What says the esoteric teaching with regard to Fire?"


Fire is the most perfect and unadulterated reflection, in Heaven as on earth, of the One Flame. It is life and death, the origin and the end of every material thing. It is divine Substance."
—Secret Doctrine I. 146.


Our earth and man (are) the products of the Three Fires. —Secret Doctrine II. 258.


Fire and flame destroy the body of an Arhat; their essence makes him immortal. —Secret Doctrine I. 35.


THE THREE FIRES


I. The Internal Fire or Fire by Friction.
"There is heat internal and heat external in every atom, the breath of the Father (Spirit) and the breath (or heat) of the Mother (matter)."
—Secret Doctrine I. 112.


II. The Fire of Mind or Solar Fire.
“The fire of knowledge burns up all action on the plane of illusion, therefore those who have acquired it and are emancipated are called ‘Fires.’”
—Secret Doctrine I.114.

III. The Fire of Spirit or Electric Fire.
"Lift up thy head, O Lanoo; dost thou see one, or countless lights above thee, burning in the dark midnight sky?''


"I sense one Flame, O Gurudeva; I see countless Undetached sparks shining in it."
—Secret Doctrine I. 145.

Have you considered consulting with your local First Nations and seeing what role fire plays in their stories?

that is my thought as well, somegal...

i know that the dene people use smoke as a cleansing ritual, as well as heat in their sweat lodges...

i'd look into that one as well.

Then there's that choqan thing that blows through the myth of mind ... white lightning?

Can actually put mind to rest or slow the functions ... as consequence in some it just kranks the emotions ... that other side of the mind from dark thought ... as identified by those who don't like thought ... thus do not go there! Thoughts might slow things ... create latent "c"! It too can be stirred ...

It is a qwandry ... or is that mire enigma as metaphor ... such duplicities set outside forces swirling like the Latin "eshe" (ethe) that's ... ð ... some say not even a real word ... just let Eire! Has a phonetic rush tuit. Perhaps just the hiss of a candle if you've got no other Buddha on the path to speak at ... or listen too (2)? Perhaps a 4 sum wind would be better like Levite, Sirocco, Van de val, and Mistral ... then Mistral had a dot Eire, a mere girl (a 5th, penne' da graphic, ganglia) bit psychic, oversear! Is that lite plasma ... a fluid connecting cells if you look it up in Webster ... what a lexicon?

Couldn't go there could we? We might learn a broad-based understanding sort of beyond and surrounding ... like ephraim've genre? Keep it kranked and yule be toasted ... 'eL 've an attitude for Ur hoe'd like to provide a coven-ante! So those in the pall wouldn't have to know they''ve been intercoursed ... a mire penetrating thought? Something you receive when jacked up, or other wise screwed into ascent mode ...  for the tumbling dimension ... that's quantum! Kinetic dis aster ... the moving there upon ... indeterminate ground ... you did realize the existance of a burned earth policy?

Myth is like that ... creep in ignorance ... a little fore light is acceptable as forethought ... viewed from the other side of the neigh "i" ... inner dimensions? That burning before what seems superficial ... that's sublime eh-bi! Like tail eights ... the infinite is way ahead yet ... a gross pas time ... yet stele flamb'd over being ignored as thought! Wee bit for those that didn't wish to know ... and the other bunch that didn't wish to feel ... even anonymous sensation like intuitive sort ... leaving this fallout sort of lacking ... but a grand place to store info on that which is beyond so the surface dwellers wouldn't know either side ... thus the deuce of psyche is a virtual unknown ... close to cyberspace that is somewhat hyper-Ba'aL-ique. or otherwise "-icky" to the realistic ... who will accept only limited parallels ... mortal-like!

Where to put the irrational and complex? Outside this suffering flaming cone un-drum? Was it Dr'z-ella that suffered head spin? All over spotted dogs from the fire hows ... where de tankers and pumpers are sheltered! Amoe Ba*is breathing in and out ...

For me, as a metal smith, fire is the great transformer. It transforms rocks into metal, melts separate metals into alloys, and shapes metals or alloys into any shape we choose.

Fire is also symbolic of passion and purification.

FLAMES OF PASSION

When flames of passion burn bright,

They destroy with their unholy fire.

But when such passionate flames

Meet fire of holy desire,

Those fires do not destroy,

They purge and purify.

Fire is the great transformer, it separates the refined from the dross. As the quote above from the SD says: "Fire and flame destroy the body of an Arhat; their essence makes him immortal.

Tabitha said "there is one coming who will baptize you with water.". I think you meant to say, "baptize you with [the Holy Spirit] and with fire" (Matt 3:11, Lk 3:16).  Although we've heard phrases like "trial by fire" and "a baptism of fire" which refers to an initiation by a harrowing experience, I tend to think the gospel phrase refers to something slightly different. Jesus talks about coming to bring fire (Lk 12:49) and also that we should be "salted with fire" (Mk 9:48).  I'm reminded of a previous comment on WC that a poster's aim in life was to "do as little harm as possible". Definitely someone without much fire. What talents are unused, what good left undone because of the unwillingness to put oneself on the line? Indifference is not the opposite of evil, and can sometimes even further it if we do not have the fire to stand against injustice. Just as salt is of little value if it loses its saltiness, so too is a flame useless for cooking, useless in warming us, and useless in providing light if it has lost its fire.

There are tons of metaphors that come to mind when thinking about fire.

One thing about fire, is it's pretty indiscriminate when it roars, about what it burns in it's path. So, if the fire is about standing against injustice, what further injustice might we do if we let it burn indiscriminately?  Can we keep it contained, burning within- a passion to stand up to injustice, balanced with thought and reason not to cause injustice to others in the process? Or do we let it burn emotionally for our own sakes, come hell or high water, because we're good and mad about something?

I could have easily been the poster who aims to "do as little harm as possible". Sometimes I'm  a coward at standing up to injustice- because in hindsight I have seen how emotional fires can do harm to more people than originally intended (the phenomenon is even evident on WC sometimes) or incapacitate my ability to do anything constructive, and burning me too in the process.  It seems to me, whenever we tackle a moral injustice, there is that risk if we don't reason it through.

As for "trial by fire". I can relate to that metaphor too. Been there, felt that, in my own way. Salted by fire, perhaps I would think about as motivation. When we see an injustice happening in the world, the savageness of war for example, or the oppression of a people- that's the "fire" they're in- in epidemic proportions- and it might motivate us, light a spark, to do something to stand up to it-us being only a little singed on the edges, but not consumed by it--we're not right in it-- it's nowhere near the heat of the fire that the direct victims of the the situation are standing in.

Kimmio - I had to laugh because I also thought SpiritBear was referring to me. Seems my low-banked glow isn't sufficient.
All of us have "gifts differing". Not all of us are temperamentally fiery.
Don't knock "doing no harm". It's very hard. Sometimes it's the best we can do. We may not be part of organized justice groups carrying signs (I do admire that), but I think there's a lot to be said with an earthier ministry that offers both light & salt - comfort & hope - in very humble places. Brings love into unexpected places.
If you sometimes fail to make the world a better place for any reason, at least don't make it worse.
Passion gets things moving, doing no harm should be part of the equation too.
That's my less-than-fiery rant.P

Don't destroy ID but a good knock might wake the dead ...

Makes me think of heating pyre right ... could lead to the beir of much irony ... metaphorically speaking for those that don't wish to know nothing nor the infinite ... they stick with ends ... that contains that!

Does an abstract have ends, consider soul as abstract ... both Romans and Jude'ns hated the dragon lady ... icon of a far out see'r ... but you have to know a lot of word and myth to gather that!

Jack Spong liked our closing prayer at one of his presentations on the "ephraim" :

                  "Lord give us the strength to kick the end out of the stone box!"

I thought it great satyr on the great escape ... then there's Hobbit or Hobbism on the leaving hommoe syndrome! leaves one out of form or sort of disassembled ... dissassociated from painful reality?

Many don't believe this story has another side to it ... myth is out their window ... unless you believe there's something moor tuit than meets the physical eye! Consider thought but don't ponder it too long or yee'll be caught in that Nous! That's Ur ... that trap of learning unconsciously ...

Wow. Some interesting ideas and images coming out here, including some that I'd completely forgotten about (like "trial by fire" and "refiner's fire"). Plenty to think about. Too much for a 15-20 minute sermon, of course, but that's par for the course with a broad topic like this. The idea is to find something to focus in on that will resonate and give some meaning.

Mendalla

We took our family to a Christmas Eve service one year and the old guy behind us lit my young daughter hair on fire with his candle.


If you're using any props or demos for your sermon Mendalla, try not to set anything on fire.

Sounds like almost everything has been covered. Something I think upon is how much of the earth is covered by water but miles beneath, in the earths core is a fire that sometimes makes it's way to the surface to claim a superiority by overtaking the waters and pushing it aside. All the while the water fights back with it's errosive power once the molten lava has cooled. Complimentary destruction or forces that create?