Homily from Father Randy Koenigsknecht
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Homily Short Reflection
Even in the midst of storms, the fire of faith endures. Just as the coals in a fire pit can withstand heavy rain when they are gathered together, so too can we remain strong when we live our faith in community. Alone, our flame can easily be extinguished, but together we shine brightly with the love of Christ. As members of the Church, we are called to be those glowing coals—ready to ignite the world with the fire of the Gospel.
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create a youtube description for this short video Father Randy: This past week, I was very blessed to go camping with all of my siblings. And, you know, I guess I should say camping more so than anything because I was sleeping in an air-conditioned cabin the whole time. But by defense, there was a campfire on which all the food was cooked. So, you know, maybe it is camping for real. I don’t know. But it was very interesting that one of the nights while we’re out there, we had a big thunderstorm came through, got a whole bunch of rain, all that stuff.
Father Randy: And in the morning, I thought for sure, you know, the fire in our fire pit’s gonna be out and we’re gonna have to work really hard to get it going again. And you know, I’m not much of a physicist, but I do happen to know that when you get a little fire and a whole lot of water, it doesn’t end well for the fire. But boy, was I wrong. Because when I put my hand close to the center of the fire pit, there was still a lot of heat coming off. And those coals that had been piled together in the center of the pit were still alive.
Father Randy: And another fire was easily started despite all the rain and there’s a good lesson for us in this. Jesus tells us that he has come to set the world on fire, that he wishes it were already blazing. If you’re going to start a fire, you need a base, you need something already burning that you can just feed more and more stuff into to grow your fire. That’s meant to be us, the members of the church.
Father Randy: We here at St. John’s, along with all the other Jackson churches, have been tasked with setting fire to our city, bringing our community to Jesus, welcoming the kingdom of God here and now in Jackson, bringing our community to Jesus. But we cannot do this on our own. Think back to the coals in the fire. A single coal is easily put out when the rain comes. But when the coals are pushed together together,
Father Randy: They can endure through. When the rain comes and passes, they burn yet again. We’re the same way. On our own, we can be easily smothered by opposition, whether it’s from just the general culture, whether it’s specific people in our life. But when we’re surrounded by people who are likewise on fire for the gospel, for making the kingdom present, we can persevere through that opposition and we can offer the world what we have discovered in Jesus.