Day 81 - As a fire is meant for burning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f0nmE7I020

Today, many of us will be meeting together in-person and online for the annual CF Assembly, held this year in Sheffield. And so, I wanted to find a hymn that might sum up the mission of the Church and should have realised that given the vast number of hymns on that topic, such a task should really have been undertaken at least a month ago! But thanks to Google, hymnary.org and YouTube, I have managed to find something that fits the bill – “As a fire is meant for burning” by Ruth C Duck (b.1947)

The hymn is found in a number of hymnals including the Church Hymnary Fourth Edition published by the Church of Scotland. I am indebted to the Church`s website for the following information.

Ruth Duck is professor of worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Illinois. This hymn embodies a modern take on the nature of mission: that it does not ‘bring civilisation’ but Christ; that it is passed between ‘neighbours’ and not from those who tell to those who listen; that we all learn as well as teach; that we share the Gospel in humility, listening at the same time to those who receive.”

Written in 1982, following a trip visiting United Church of Christ missions in Turkey and reflecting a desire to rethink the nature of mission, she draws from 2 Corinthians 4:7 and Matthew 4:14-16, and a passage from theologian Emil Brunner in 1901,

“Mission work does not arise from any arrogance in the Christian Church; mission is its cause and its life. The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith.”

The tune "Beach Spring" first appeared in an 1844 collection of tunes called The Sacred Harp. It can also be sung to other 87 87 D meter tunes.

May the words of this hymn focus our minds today as we reflect on the work and witness of the Congregational Federation in England, Scotland, Wales and further afield.

As a fire is meant for burning

with a bright and warming flame,

so the church is meant for mission,

giving glory to God’s name.

Not to preach our creeds or customs,

but to build a bridge of care,

we join hands across the nations,

finding neighbours everywhere.

We are learners; we are teachers;

we are pilgrims on the way.

We are seekers; we are givers;

we are vessels made of clay.

By our gentle, loving actions,

we would show that Christ is light.

In a humble, listening Spirit,

we would live to God’s delight.

As a green bud in the springtime

is the sign of life renewed,

so may we be signs of oneness

’mid earth’s peoples, many hued.

As a rainbow lights the heavens

when a storm is past and gone,

may our lives reflect the radiance

of God’s new and glorious dawn.

Alan Kennedy