Embracing the Flame
by Frank R. Fisher, Obl OSB

I'm sure some of you've heard
 the old joke
supposedly told by a pastor
who hadn't prepared his sermon.
He stood up in the pulpit,
and bravely declared his lack of preparation.
Following some expressions of disbelief
which emanated from the rear pews,
he declared,
"this Sunday,
I'll just have to trust in the Lord.
But next Sunday,
I'll be better prepared."

Well,
this Sunday,
my sisters and brothers,
I'll just have to trust in the Lord.
It's been such a busy week
I haven't found the time
to prepare a sermon.

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.To Nicci and the homies
from your bud Ricco.
You remember Ricco.
We heard about his meeting
with John the Baptist last week.

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Well,
with apologies to the U.S. postal service,
I think we've found today's sermon.
But first please join me in a word of prayer.
May the words of my mouth,
and the meditations of all our hearts
be acceptable in your sight
O Lord
and our blessed Redeemer.

Dear Nicci,
Yes I know you told me
 to get right back to LaSalle.
But you were right
 about this John the Baptist
being an interesting dude.
A bit strange perhaps
but strange in an interesting way.

In the last letter I sent you
I told you how repent
didn't mean jump'n down on the ground
and wailin'
and other gross stuff like that.
No,
John said it meant,
just stopping doing what was bad
and turnin' around
to do what was good.
Well I thought that was so cool
I thought I'd stick around awhile
to see what other kinda stuff
Johnny B could teach me.

Now the first thing I found out
is this guy
has a temper.
I was with him
over in the Wallmart parking lot
when he really lit into the crowd.

I'm not sure what ticked him off.
But I could tell he was mad
when he started yellin',
"you sons and daughters
of dirty,
slimy,
low down,
sneaky,
poisonous,
rattlesnakes.
Who tipped you off
to run away 
from the way you were goin'?
You need to turn your lives around
real fast."

Now for some strange reason
some of the people in the crowd
didn't like this too much.

"Hey wait a minute,"
they screamed right back at Johnny B.
"You can't talk to us like that!
Our ancestor's came over here
on the Mayflower."

"I don't care if they came here
in a UFO,"
Johnny B roared back.
" God could take the gravel
right out there on the edge of the parking lot,
and make them people
 who's ancestor's sailed on the Mayflower too.
You better watch out,
 cause the biggest company in the world
is revaluatin' its work force.
And if you're not careful
you're goin' be part
of the eternal lay-off!"

That seemed to bother them 
a little bit.
I sure know it scared
 my breakfast right out'a me!
So the people 
all start'd wailing and yellin'.
"Help us,"
they begged.
"How do we stop this lay-off.?"

"Take anything extra you have
and give it to those who have nothing,"
Johnny B replied.

I could tell
 he was a little happier
 with those people now.
At least he'd stopped screamin'.
But he wasn't done lecturin'.
"Get that second winter coat
 out of your closet,
and give it to the homeless dude
on the corner.
Yah,
the one over there
who's shivin' in the cold.
Then clear 
half the stuff outa 
your pantry.
Take out the good stuff,
not that fruit cake
Aunt Edna 
gave you for your birthday.
And when you've got 
the stuff cleared out
take it down
 to the food pantry."

Now remember Nicci,
Johnny B
 wasn't just standin' there
while he was
 shoutin' his mouth off.
No,
he'd led the whole crowd
 out of the parkin' lot
and he took them 
right down to the river.
Then he had them 
line up
 on the river bank
and one by one
he took them inta' the water
and ducked them under.
He called this duckin' 
Baptism
and said it was a way
 of showin'
their lives w
ere turned around.

You know by know Nicci
Johnny B 
is a motor mouth.
There's nothin' in the world
that'd keep him quiet,
even when he was doin'
 this Baptism thing.
Of course he'd pretty much said
everythin' he could say to a crowd.
So he kinda
 gave a few individual lectures
to the people
 he was duckin' in the water.

There was one dude
who came up to Johnny B
with a big smile on his face.
He said he was the owner
of a big 
multi-national corporation.
And he was bragging to Johnny
about all the jobs 
he'd created for people.
"Are you paying them all
a living wage,"
Johnny asked him?
"And does your company
take care of the environment
even when the law 
doesn't make you do it?"

Then there was a police woman
who came up to him.
She had 
a little bit of an attitude too.
After all
she said,
 she protected 
all the people in her town.
"Do you treat everyone equally,"
Johnny B snarled.
"Or are there some people
who you treat 
more equally 
than others."

Nicci
you'd have been as surprised 
as I was
to see how Johnny B 
lit into people.
Most of the time
the ones he yelled at the worst
were the ones 
who had the most.
But there was this one dude
who came to be Baptized.
There didn't seem to be anything
 really special
 about him.
Well Johnny
 didn't let that stop him.
He just stared 
straight into this dude's eyes,
and shouted,
"What have you done
to take away 
God's people's pain?"

"I'm not sure what you mean,"
the guy shot right back.
"I've always 
wanted to ask God
why there is pain and evil 
in the world."

"Wrong,"
Johnny B screamed.
 Wrong,
wrong,
wrong,
wrong!

God's the one
 who's going to ask you
why there's still
 pain and evil around."

Now this dude 
seemed pretty impressed.
"Are you the Messiah,"
he asked Johnny B.
"Are you the One
who's been foretold."

I was impressed
 enough with Johnny B
that I thought he might say yes.
But instead,
he got kinda 
a wild look in his eyes.
And that was 
pretty scary to see
since he looks 
pretty scary anyway.

"No,
No,"
he shouted.
"I Baptize you 
with water;
but the one 
who is more powerful than I
 is coming.
I am not worthy
 to untie the thong
of his sandals.
He will Baptize you
with the Holy Spirit
and with fire."

Ok,
I thought,
If there's going to be a guy here
who's throwing 
flames around,
I better call
 the fire department.
So I started 
edging away 
from the river.
I figured 
I could make it
 to the fire station
before this fire throwin' homie
 of Johnny B's showed up.
But Johnny B 
saw me edging away
 Nicci.
And he turned around and shouted,

"Just where do you think
you're goin' Ricco."
"I'm just headed
 over to the fire station,"
I told him.
"I want them 
to have a pumper ready
when your bud 
the arsonist
 shows up."

Then Johnny B
 just started laughing.
He laughed so hard
he doubled over
and couldn't straighten up
for about ten minutes.
And when he stopped,
there still 
was a smile on his face.
I'd thought he 
was going to yell at me
for calling his homie 
an arsonist.
But instead
 he just smiled at me,
and said,

"Ricco,
you've got it wrong again.
The One who comes after me
uses a different kind of fire.
He doesn't torch buildings,
he torches lives."

"You mean 
he burns people to death,"
I hollered. 
You know 
I don't dig anythin' 
like that Nicci.
I mean,
I've done some bad things, . . 
but burnin' up people?"
I guess Johnny B 
could see where I was goin.'
Cause he shot right back,

"Wrong again Ricco.
He doesn't burn 
people to death.
He's going to burn
 people to life!
It's going to be great Ricco.
The blind will see,
the lame will walk,
the lepers will be clean,
the deaf will hear,
the dead will live,
and the poor 
will hear God's good news.

Then one day Ricco,
its going to even better.
For the flame
of the one
 who's coming after me
will burn into
 and transform 
all human lives.
And they'll be embracing
the power
 love,
and joy
of that One's flame.
They'll be the ones
who'll help the 
blind to see,
and the lame to walk.
They'll be the ones
who heal the lepers,
and help the deaf to hear.
They'll be the ones
who say to the poor,
the imprisoned
and the oppressed
to look up
for their salvation is drawing near."

"God's people
 will stop doing any evil
and they'll turn aroun
d to do good instead.
That's when we'll see something
the world 
has never seen.
For on that day Ricco,
the dead will live
and the living will rejoice.
For on that day
God will reign 
on earth as king."

Nicci,
I've got to tell you,
John lit a fire in me 
when he said that.
Or maybe it's the One 
who's coming after him
who lit the fire.
And Nicci,
I'll try to drop you a line
 now and then
so we can keep in touch.
I'm not coming back
 to LaSalle.
I'm going to stay here with Johnny B.

I won't stay with him 
forever.
But for now 
I'll be here with him.
Together we'll be waiting.
We'll be waiting 
for the Messiah.
And we'll both
 be working.
We'll be working
for the day
when the Messiah
will reign
as King.

My best to the homies Nicci.

The letter's signed.

Ricco,
with love to all those
who wait and work
for the coming of the King.

May all glory be given to God.
Amen.

(Comments to Frank at f.fisher.obl.osb@comcast.net.)