2026 EcoFaith Summit: Biblical Images and Texts

Devouring Fire           Joel 1:19-20

To you, O LORD, I cry, for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,        and flames have burned all the trees of the field.Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up,        and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Burning Fiery Furnace           Daniel 3:16-18

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up."

Baptism by Fire                      Matthew 3:11-12

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Pentecost’s Fire of the Holy Spirit      Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability

Burning Bush             Exodus 3:1-3

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.”

Refiner’s Fire and The Great Day of the LORD         Malachi 3:2b-3; 4:1-3

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness….

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Hearts Burning on the Road to Emmaus      Luke 24:28-32

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…?”

Six Reflections by Dr. Deacon Diane Jacobson

These six reflections were written for the Lenten toolkit series, From Ash to Action: Even the Stones Cry Out in preparation for both ISAIAH's Palm Sunday Path and 2026 EcoFaith Summit of the Upper Midwest,

The Seventh Text “Hearts Burning on the Road to Emmaus” Luke 24 will be reflected on throughout the summit.

An introductory note by Diane Jacobson: I am professor emerita of Luther Seminary where I taught Old Testament from 1982-2010. I also served as director of the Book of Faith Initiative for the ELCA from 2008-2016. I am writing these biblical reflections as a long-time member of the planning team and participant in the Ecofaith Summit of the Upper Midwest. 

Reflection #1 Devouring Fire  Joel 1:8-2:14           Lamenting is true prayer. Our laments speak to God directly about evil, unfulfilled promises, personal and communal pain, and the world being seriously broken. I am writing this reflection on the day after Renee Nicole Good was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.  Lament is the truest response, the truest form of prayer.  The prophet Joel understood this. In v.1:8 he calls for us to lament, like a virgin who has lost her betrothed. We are, through his direct call to us, enjoined to consider what it is we are now lamenting.  What calls forth our present laments?  What are our individual laments? What are our communal laments?

Joel speaks directly of a locust plague – real or symbolic.  Created beings are thereby the agents of destruction, but also, most assuredly, they become the victims of destruction. The fields, the grain, the vine, and the fig tree, the pomegranate, palm, and apple tree are as withered as the joy of the people (1:10-12). The animals - herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and even wild animals, both perish and themselves voice lament (1:18, 20). Joel shows us various parts of the created world as victims, lamenters, and truth tellers.  Where do we hear their voices today?

At the center of Joel’s imagery of lament, we find fire.  In Joel, fire is the instrument of destruction.  Listen to vv. 19-20:

19 To you, O LORD, I cry, for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,

and flames have burned all the trees of the field.

20 Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up,

and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Joel describes fire in front and behind, changing a land “like a garden of Eden” into “a desolate wilderness” (2:3). Destructive fire becomes the image of lament.  And I call to mind so many destructive fires the world has experienced.  I think particularly of the California fires of 2025 which destroyed so much.  And I am reminded by Jacob Soboroff in his new book, Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster, that we humans, through our contributions toward climate change, might well have contributed to causing the extremity of the fires. Thus, our lament becomes tied to confession. Joel refuses to leave us there.  In 2:12-14 he says this:

12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the LORD your God, for our God is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,

and relenting from punishment.

14 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent

and leave a blessing behind,

a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

Where are our own laments ending?  Is our despair met by promised hope?

Reflection #2 Burning Fiery Furnace   Daniel 3:1,4-6,12,16-30

Many among us read the story of King Nebuchadnezzar throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the burning fiery furnace every Easter vigil.  I confess it is my favorite passage to read because of the capacity to read it as a spoof on all human pretense to power.  At the center stands a king who sets up a golden statue which he commands all people to fall down and worship (vv.1, 4-6).  We are reminded of Aaron setting up the golden calf in the wilderness in Exodus 32.  Gold everywhere!  What are the ironies that you notice?

King Nebuchadnezzar believes himself to have the power of judgement over all who oppose him, the power to destroy them at will.  The instrument of the supposed powerful destruction is fire.  In this case the fire comes not from nature but rather from a human made furnace, meant only for destruction of the king’s enemies.  This burning fiery furnace can be overheated at will if the king expresses anger, and who can withstand its heat? (note v.19)

Enter the three protagonists - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the faithful three.  These three are not afraid of the king or his fire.  These three are more interested in resistant faith than in living any life unfaithful to God. Listen to their speech in vv.16-18:

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up."

Thus, the three are cast into the burning fiery furnace, so overheated that even those casting them into the furnace are killed by the flames.  At the heart of the story is faithful resistance which withstands the flame, no matter the heat. What stories of resistance do we share?

Then, miraculously, into their midst, in the midst of the fire, comes God in the person of a fourth human resistor, unbound and unscathed. The appearance of this unexpected fourth becomes the instrument of repentance. Ironically, the repentance in our fiery passage comes not from the faithful, but rather from King Nebuchadnezzar who declares in v.28:

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

The king seems to recognize that his power is useless in the face of true faith and righteous resistance. But there is reason to doubt the sincerity of his repentance as it leads him to yet another decree promising continued violence. There is in his repentance an edge of show rather than sincere change of heart. We are called on to ask, what does true repentance look like?

Reflection #3  Baptism by Fire  Matthew 3:7-12

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

What might it mean that Jeus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire?  How do you hear it – as threat or as promise?

Can we discern how John the Baptist intended it? John states that while he baptizes for repentance, Jesus carries a winnowing fork which will gather the useful wheat, but will burn the useless chaff with unquenchable fire.  We humans are either useful wheat or useless chaff.  John seems to imagine Jesus’ baptism of fire to be a baptism of judgment.  Fire as judgment separating the wheat from the chaff.

Does John have it right?  Judgment, for John, assesses the worthiness of one’s repentance, and so he cannot imagine a different outcome of baptism. Is it possible that John is so oriented towards the notion of repentance leading inevitably to judgement that he cannot hear the blessing of his own proclamation?

I hear the promise of baptism by fire quite differently, and perhaps you do as well. I hear John correctly claiming that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  But I also hear him not fully understanding what he himself is saying. 

John has not seen Jesus as healer, Jesus as teacher, Jesus dying on the cross for the sake of the world.  Living on the other side of these realties, I understand being baptized with fire as a wakening and energizing start to live into our service to and within the community of the baptized.  We are on fire to live lives of service to God and neighbor.  We are on fire to live as sisters and brothers to all of creation.  We are fire to stand up to the unjust powers of the world.  Can it be that the meaning of baptism by fire is not found by digging into the history behind our passage but rather in the resonance that rises from the passage as we are baptized into a living community marked by the Holy Spirit and fire?

Standing on the other side of history, how do we hear it?  Fire as judgment or fire as calling: what say you?

Reflection #4 Pentecost’s Fire of the Holy Spirit Acts 2:1-4

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Here we are in Lent thinking about the day of Pentecost, a celebration that comes 50 days after Easter. Church time is rather like that… we think both forward and backward to ensure that we remember the lessons of history that undergird the promises and tasks of the future.  The original Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival that came 50 days after the celebration of Passover.  Passover was the day that celebrated God’s deliverance of the Hebrew slaves from the tyrannical pharaoh. Pentecost (AKA The Festival of Weeks, see Deuteronomy 16:9-12) was a day of thanksgiving and offering of life-giving wheat that gives nourishment to us in order that we might give nourishment to God and to others.  So looking both backward to the original saving activity of God and forward to our expected response prepares us to think about our Pentecostal calling.

What do you think of Pentecost?  What calling comes to mind? For the Christian community, Pentecost becomes the day celebrating the gift of the Spirit, God’s gift to us.  What does this gift look like, feel like?  And do we give something back to God and to others in response? Are you surprised by what happens on the very first Pentecost gathering of the new Christian community?

Acts 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,

                              and a tongue rested on each of them.

What manner of gift is this? The principal metaphor for the gift is “tongues, as of fire” resting on us.  What does fire do in this case?  We are lit on fire; this fire ignites constructively rather than destructively.  It enables us to communicate beyond our wildest imaginings. The gift of Pentecost involves individuals, each touched by the Spirit.  And in this case the gift to individuals enables the formation of new community. We are given the gift of speaking in such a way that others understand us, and all of us are given the gift of hearing as well. We are speaking to one another and hearing from one another.  Pentecost becomes a reverse of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) when God created different languages to prevent people from building a name for themselves.  Now understanding one another is not for the sake of ourselves but for the sake of all others.  We are not one chosen people, but instead all people are chosen - a new community.  If the gifts of Pentecost lead us to think of ourselves as exclusive recipients of the gifts, then we have not reversed Babel. We are now radically inclusive - in relationship with one another, on fire to take care of one another, to serve the community and the world. As the name of our upcoming 2026 EcoSummit proclaims, we are moved “From Fear to Fire: Igniting Community for a Planet in Peril.”

Reflection #5          Burning Bush            Exodus 3:1-14

Exodus 3:¹Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶God said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt;

I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,

⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey...

⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²God said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” God said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

We, like Moses, come to the burning bush.  What do we see?  What do we hear?

We see a bush burning, in flames but not consumed.  What manner of fire is this? 

A fire of calling from which we cannot turn away. Notably, the mountain where the bush is found is called “Horeb,” which in Hebrew means “waste” or “desert.”  And the word for “bush” in Hebrew is sineh. Do you hear that?  Say it out loud.  The bush is a pre-figurement of Sinai, the mountain of God.  The divine encounter with the individual is tied to the divine encounter with the community.  Moses' personal theophany is tied inexorably to Israel's corporate theophany and beyond. The voice of the Lord comes from unexpected natural places, bushes and mountains ablaze in the wilderness, urging us to see and hear God.

And what do we hear? We hear the voice of God from the midst of the burning bush calling Moses (calling us?) to live into his/our calling:

“Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (v.4)

Moses answers the call just as all prophets, all who are called, answer God’s call, “Here am I, Lord.” And like so many before and after, Moses’ presence, our presence before God is mixed with fear.

Then we hear, from the midst of the flame, the very voice of God telling us about divine compassion, divine identity, and divine calling.

The divine compassion is this:

⁷“I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey...

In the midst of our hearing is God’s own hearing of the cry of the enslaved.

The divine identity is this:

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

This reply is some play on the divine name for God, YAHWEH. Despite centuries of inquiry and oceans of spilt ink, we cannot know what the divine name means, nor even how it is best translated.  Here are some possibilities:

“I am who I am”; “I will be who I will be”;

“I will cause to be what I will cause to be”;

“I will be present where I will be present”.

Not knowing can be lots of fun!  But while we do not know what the name means, we do know the context in which it is given. In giving the name, God is giving assurance and giving a promise.  God is giving assurance of divine presence (I will be with you; it is I who have sent you) and assurance of divine deliverance. The name is given for the purpose of the mission, God's mission. The revelation of the name is not so much information as an invitation to a relationship, to a mission, to a community task.

Hence, the divine calling is this:

10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites,

out of Egypt.”

Moses' experience at the burning bush is not a private, spiritual cleansing, but a call to action within the community.  Where have we seen a bush burning, calling us to hear the voice of God?

The flame of call is available at all times.  One might encounter the flame when reading scripture, when gathering in a community, when struggling with vocational direction, and most definitely, whenever we face Pharoah head-on. But be warned -- if this image is true to form, the encounter will not always be comforting or inviting.  The encounter with the divine presence is likely to be frightening and life-altering.  We may have to remove our sandals.

Reflection #6 Refiner’s Fire and The Great Day of the LORD Malachi 3:1-5; 4:1-3

3:¹ See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. ²But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; ³he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness., ⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in the days of old and as in former years. ⁵Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

4: ¹See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ²But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. ³And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

We end our Lenten images of fire with a message from Malachi, whose very name (if it is a name rather than a title) means “my messenger.” Malachi is the final prophetic messenger of the Old Testament. And the message is this: God is like a refiner’s fire, so beware!

How do we hear the image?  Is this good news or bad news?  Do we look forward to such a divine appearance or dread it (a day of “delight” or a day to be “endured” 3:1-2)?

The parallel to this refining fire is cleansing or scouring soap. So the intension of the refiner’s fire is a deep cleansing.  In addition to a personal or societal understanding, the refiner’s fire might be considered a divine controlled burn designed to restore ecological balance, clearing the world of unproductive, decaying, or destructive growth.

The context in which this image is given is yet another time (years after the return from exile and after the temple has been rebuilt) when the people of God have strayed from the path God has called them to follow, and God is calling for judgment:

3:⁵Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

The people once again were disloyal, adulterous, spreading falsehoods, and oppressive to the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the resident alien.  The accusations sounds all too familiar.

So again I ask: How do we hear the image?  Is this good news or bad news? 

When we hear the nature of what and who are judged, we might well hear this as good news… the unrighteous deserve such judgment.  We might be called to sing the aria from Handel’s Messiah! Handel painted the Malachi text “For He is like a Refiner’s Fire” (bass aria, Messiah, 1741) with fiery virtuosity, creating a vivid image of justice and judgment. (Handel’s theme for this powerful aria may well make an appearance during our EcoFaith Summit worship).

But then again, we also yearn for a God who brings peace and healing rather than judgment. We know how often we stand with those who deserve God’s judgment. 

I crave other images of fire, such as the fire which calls us (Exodus 3) or gives us speech (Acts 2). I look forward to the post-Easter image we will explore at the Summit, of our ignited hearts burning within us as Jesus speaks to us on the road (Luke 24:32).

How we react to and hear the image of the Refiner’s Fire depends centrally on the present context in which we are hearing the words.  The meaning of Scripture is always marked by what we are experiencing around us.  I wrote the first of these Lenten reflections on the day after the murder of Renee Nicole Good.  I write the last of these reflections on the day after the murder of Alex Pretti, whose professional calling was the healing of others.  Was there healing in his wings?

4: ²But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. ³And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

What will the ashes under our feet look like on the day of the divine action? Do we find hope in judgment?