In the following talk (see YouTube video, below), I guest-preached at message at Evergreen Church in which I tired as best I could to offer a biblical response to the challenging historical moment in which the American church finds itself. The topic was “the centrality of the human heart in crisis and the refining fire of God upon it.” The idea had been pressing in on me for a couple of years.

As I understand unusually challenging historical moments, they must be met with moments of deeper learning on our part than what we are accustomed to, which though prayers, grace, wisdom, and the mercy of God lead to greater redemptive responses to the crisis on our part than what we may otherwise typically rely on. That idea seems a good way to summarize what I hoped to make practical from some biblical narratives during the talk.

I should add, briefly, so that it’s not misunderstood when it occurs, there’s an unexpected time of quiet about 2/3 of the way through the talk when I was fighting back tears and couldn’t talk, my voice was then cracking a bit at times afterward. Also, do listen to the reading of the poem on the refiner’s fire which concluded the talk, accompanied by Art Stump, on keys. It surprised many of us that morning by how movingly relevant the 100-year-old poem became.

(A second talk is found here on responding biblically to our challenging historical moment is about “living our citizenship as American Christians on earth as it is in heaven.”)

Thank you to Pastor Wes White for the invitation to speak about this and to worship leader Brennon Carpenter for making it available to you online. Your comments, questions, or feedback is very much welcomed. (We are all in this as learners, that is to say as disciples.)

Here is the YouTube talk on the refiners fire:

©2020 by Charles Strohmer