Fireworks in Church

On the first Sunday of every month there is an all age worship service at our church. It's intended to appeal to people of all ages but infact it's real purpose is to encourage younger people to start coming to church. It's more of a welcoming and please come back service. I cannot recall a time when this service fell on November fifth before so I was wondering how the firework theme could be preached on.

If you're not familiar with the British calendar I should tell you that November fifth is the day when the whole country remembers the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes. Fawkes would have blown up the entire parliament and the king if he had got away with it. Please follow this link to Wikipedia if you would like to learn more, the whole story is there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot
The bottom line is that on the evening of November fifth when it's really dark and cold early in the evening the whole country has bonfires and lets off fireworks. So culturally this is a very prominent and common experience - a great platform for a sermon.

This Sunday in the Church of England is also all saints day and I was surprised to hear our priest telling us that saints were like fireworks. He began by holding a sparkler, which is a little steel rod that fizzes and sparkles when lit. He then challenged us to call our the names of fireworks, Catherine wheel, banger, rocket, Roman candle and of course sparkler. Then he ran through the list comparing the saintly behavior of saints with different fireworks. Some saints like rockets traveled far and brought sudden action of great energy, some saints like roman candles performed exactly where they stood and brought the light of God to their area in the beauty of their deeds. Some saints like bangers made sudden loud noise frightening and challenging us. Catherine wheels whirling were likened to saints that worked tirelessly to bring the word of God to people. Lastly we were challenged about ourselves and reminded that we are all saints in our own way and that just like a sparkler we have a light to share. Despite the fact that we may only feel like it is a little in a great darkness to the beholder that little is very precious.
Of course a firework is an inert object until it is lit by a flame and this was the core theme that for us to behave like a saint or a firework we need to be touched by a flame and in that he meant the holy flame evident at Pentecost. I thought that this was an excellent sermon and I might add that the delivery was very good too. I really like the theme and may even try to generate a poem from it one day.

The question is what kind of firework are you and have you been lit yet ?

Peace Dave.