The following is a lightly edited transcript and a video of Rev. Wesley Morris’ talk from our 2021 Enfleshing Witness gathering.  

Wesley preaches because the pitch, tone, words, cadence, movement, shifts, and emotion in the voice or expression is another way to communicate a finite witness to the infinite proposal of love from God found in Jesus Christ.  Wesley preaches to the seen and unseen without prejudice, city and residents of Greensboro, our local community, while heighteningly aware of the borderless world around us.

As a chaplain, He is deeply invested in the personal, while embodying the public. He views ministry like a note found in a cork bottle floating to a distant shore. Our words may very well be equally, for this or another time.  Wesley preaches among the least, the lost, and the left behind, intentionally. I am among a generation of preachers and ministers, seeking a way out of, through, and with, what looks like no way, to the natural view. 

Early in the morning, early in the morning.

Be fire baptized

Early in the morning, early in the morning, early in the morning. 

Be fire baptized. 

Peace. My name is Wesley Morris. I'm the senior pastor of Faith Community Church here in Greensboro, North Carolina. And I greet you on behalf of our entire congregation, and I welcome you in the joy of Jesus.  

I want to begin by sharing with you a story. In 2006, I was part of a gathering in Bowling Green, Virginia. 

It was a gathering of folks who were Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. And we came at the invitation, at the theme, of our spirituality.  It was those who were concerned with the social, emotional, psychological health of Black and Indigenous people.  And while there, we had a schedule of events.  On this schedule of events my young mind became very curious.

On Saturday morning, we saw the opportunity for tai chi. In the afternoon, there was meditation. There was a vegetarian meal prepared for us in the evening. And at nightfall, we would gather around a fire for a fireside chat.  

At this fireside chat, which was probably the most intriguing thing to me, Baba Antonio (Antonio Carpenter) came over to me and he put his hand on my shoulder, and he guided me through a meditation.

He said, “Look into the fire and pick a piece of wood.”  

And so following his commands, I looked at this piece of wood and. Lo and behold, a face began to emerge on this piece of wood.  

He said, “Just keep looking at it.” 

And I did. And as time passed and I grew deeper and more intimate into the meditation, I began to see this face and it became all the more beautiful to me. 

And I just kept looking at it and I didn't know what the end was going to be. I just knew to keep focused. On this face, the fire and the crackling and  the whispers of the wind and the stars and their fixed positions all added to the environment. But I just kept my eyes on that fire and that wood. I saw that as an opportunity to understand that the unauthorized separation between the heavens and the earth, between the cosmic and the material, really does a detriment to what's possible.

You see what stirred inside of me was a way to view change and transition.  I began to also really appreciate more deeply the material sense in which I live. My body, the broadness of my nose, my skin, my hair. I began to fall in love with myself and understanding that falling in love with yourself is part of the process of understanding what it means to fall in love with Jesus. 

Let me take you on this journey. In Exodus chapter 3, Moses walked up on a bush that was burning, yet it was not consumed.  In Colossians chapter 2 verse 9, Paul writing from a prison to people he never saw says, “For in Christ, the fullness of deity lived in bodily form.” 

I myself began to reflect on these times in which we live. 

As we pass through the fires of our country, of pandemic, of sickness, of hurt and harm and danger, which is not unlike that of times past, we are not consumed and that the fire itself that comes to burn may also be a baptism. So in many regards, that which you are passing through internally and externally, may it cause us to deepen our love and our appreciation one for another. 

Particularly when we get to tell our stories on our time, and in our way, and in our language, it builds up the unity that we need to pass through the fires of even our own faith at times. 

So I believe the calling of Sonia Sanchez and her poem, “Catch the Fire,” is so timely for us now.  So yes, indeed. Catch your fire. Don't kill.  Yes. Yes. Yes. Hold your fire. Don't kill. Yes. Yes. Yes. Learn your fire. Don't kill. And yes. Be the fire.  

So after that night, I had a beautiful night of sleep. But even better than that, I rose early in the morning, and I believe that I was not consumed by the fire, but baptized by it. May we see each other in the fire.

God bless you.  Amen. 

We are excited to announce a new chapter in the Enfleshing Witness movement: “Enfleshing Witness: Rewilding Otherwise Preaching.” Learn more about this new grant opportunity and sign-up to stay connected as the project unfolds.