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Consuming Fire


         See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
             Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”  (Hebrews 12:25-29)

           How’s your kingdom? Is it shaken? Is it easily shaken? Mine is. Disrupt my day and I’m likely to feel as if I have to rebuild my whole life, That’s part of why the last six months have been both a respite, and a trial. For most of my life, I had some sort of identity. My queendom might have been illusory, but it was mine, all mine! I was a library clerk, or an administrative assistant. I became an oppressed but glorified stock clerk and a pretty stone salesperson. For many years, I was a genealogist, and for a few, a Bible study leader. Then I became a caregiver, and after a while, I could admit that I had become a writer. Now, I’m not only trying to figure out who I am, but who I am going to be
          God doesn’t have that problem. He’s always been God. The Jews had a long history of God being God, but now that the Messiah had come, and there was a new Covenant, their kingdom was disrupted. They were trying to build, but Rome and the Jews both came along and disrupted some more.
          The writer of Hebrews once again draws on Jewish history. That was rock solid, as history so often is.  And it spoke again and again of this new Covenant, which would include Emmanuel (God with us.)  How much more solid could it get?
           The last verse includes one of my favorite images of God. “God is a consuming fire.” It’s terrifying because it means that all of the queendom that I’ve so desperately constructed is going to be burned away. But it’s thrilling, because what remains will be gold

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