I have to admit I have always enjoyed bonfire night. I grew up with catherine wheels – that never seemed to go in the right direction, rockets and sparklers in the back garden and a bonfire that had grown in size over the previous weeks. My grandma’s bonfire toffee kept the local dentist in business and Parkin, a northern speciality dark treacle ginger cake, were some of the delights we shared. We would make a guy out of old clothing stuffed with newspapers. We didn’t have trick or treat, but “penny for the guy” to be spent on bigger and better rockets!
The story behind bonfire night is of course rather sinister and cruel, dating back to the time when men and women were burnt at the stake.
Fire, however has always fascinated people. It brought the earliest humans the ability to cook, to keep warm and to be secure. Fire is seen as powerful and purifying. It is used to smelt precious metals, to make steel, to cauterise wounds even today.
In the times of the Old Testament Moses experienced God in a totally unexpected way, a bush that was burning with real flames yet was not consumed by the fire; and in the New Testament the Holy Spirit was seen as “..tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..”
And so whether it is burning the garden rubbish, or sitting by a cosy log fire, remember the flame of the Holy Spirit warms our hearts, filling and empowering us to live with new purified hearts, the old ways have been cauterised, and may be open to God speaking to us even in the most unexpected ways.