The Kindlings: A Reflection

The Kindlings

Recently, some friends and I decided to stop cursing the darkness of modern society and start rubbing some sticks together in hopes of generating a little light and a little heat for the cold, dark world in which we find ourselves. We formed a writer’s group called the Kindlings designed to help one another grow in our craft and to encourage one another in our respective campaigns in the Culture War. We’re not that impressive so far, but the fact that we’re drilling means something.

I had a few ideas in mind when I first proposed the idea of a writer’s group to my friends. Originally, I hoped the group could mimic in some way the famous Inklings of which both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were members. Those two seemed like good models of the kind of writer I wanted to be: profoundly Christian, and earnest beer-drinkers. Also, I had heard somewhere of a “famous” cardinal prophesying that the revival of the Church would begin in the American Southwest. Since I’m from Phoenix, I thought maybe I could have a part in this revival—I loved the image of the Church, like a Phoenix, rising from its own ashes, and since I’m a good boy, I wanted to do my part. Exactly what my part will be remains to be seen.

The word kindling kept coming to me as a possible name for the group. Its obvious resemblance to the Inklings satisfied one of my hopes, and the association with fire seemed to make it an appropriate match for the other hope as well.

The more I considered the name kindling, the more I liked it. I liked that it was both an action and a noun. What is kindling? It’s the act of setting fire to something else. What is kindling? It’s the small pieces of wood that are too small for anything other than being used to start bigger fires.

The original meaning of the word “holocaust” is “an offering that is wholly consumed by fire”. Since WWII, the term is also associated with the murder of millions of Jews. How strange that holiness and death are so closely associated in one word. What a fascinating juxtaposition!

Christ and the Christian artist marry both of these ideas in their persons. The artist is meant to be a light to the world—a reflection of the Light of the World—and yet the world hates him, just as it hated Jesus.
In some sense, the Christian artist is like Isaac, who carries the kindling for his own sacrifice up the mountain. Our art, our lives are the kindling we carry.
These may seem insignificant or too small for anything worthwhile. Nevertheless, we trust that God will accept our offering and that the Holy Spirit will ignite both with the fire of his Love so that our small role in the culture can lead to something bigger than ourselves and that somehow we can make of ourselves “an offering wholly consumed by fire”.