Pastor's Blog
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 30 October 2011 16:53
Peter Benson recalls Plutarch, a Greek philosopher, as saying humans "are not vessels to be filled, but fires to be lit." If that is the case, then the question becomes what is that spark that will set you on fire?
Peter Benson of the Search Institute talking at a TED conference.
While Dr. Benson is talking about youth and our obligation to help them thrive, I would argue that this same concept can be applied to all of humanity. It's not just youth who need to identify their spark, have a few people who will support them, and the opportunity to nurture it – we all do, no mater if we are 19 or 99.
As I watched the above video, I found myself developing the kernel (some might say spark) of a theology of sparks. So lets see where this goes and if you can help me develop it further. After all, Christianity does seem predisposed toward sparks, it's in our DNA. Acts 2 is all about sparks. There we hear the story of Pentecost: the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples and tongues of fire. Typically we interpret the tongues of fire as a symbol for the Holy Spirit – so much so that it's one of the fundamental symbols for the Holy Spirit and why we use the color red to symbolize the Holy Spirit. But what if the tongues of fire were not the presence of the Holy Spirit, but rather a symbol of what the Holy Spirit gives? What if Luke is trying to describe what the Holy Spirit is doing rather than where the Spirit is? If that is the case the tongues of fire become "sparks" - the ignition of calling and talent in the disciples. It is God the father and creator that gives them to us, dormant and waiting to be ignited, and God the Holy Spirit who ignites them. A gift from beginning to end. Ours is to simply to burn and in burning – in using the spark that God has ignited in you – we give back to God the greatest gift we can. We give back what has been given to us: our lives. Lives not just in belief, but lived in the fullness of creation, how we were created, and the way we were created.
In this theology of the Spark, God creates us with a spark (a calling), ignites our spark, and in praise of what God, in a gift given back to God, we let that spark burn within us. In the work of the Search Institute they've identified 220 sparks that teens (their focus) possess. The top ten:
- Creative Arts
- Athletics
- Learning (e.g., languages, science, history)
- Reading
- Helping, serving
- Spirituality, religion
- Nature, ecology, environment
- Living a quality life (e.g., joy, tolerance, caring)
- Animal welfare
- Leading
- How do you view the spark? How would you develop the theology of the spark?
- What is the spark(s) that God has created within you?
- Who has been instrumental in igniting that spark in you (whom has the Spirit used)?
- How do you burn with that spark to the glory God?
