Some years ago the "town fathers" of Providence, Rhode Island were desperate to find a way to revitalize the city's downtown, and especially its dangerous waterfront. So what did they do? They hired an artist. The artist they chose was a multi-media public artist named Barnaby Evans, who is known for combining science and art, nature and the senses, especially soundcapes, to generate something magical.

The magic in this case took the form of a sculpture, a sculpture installed on the three rivers of the capital city of Rhode Island. This one sculpture has 100 component parts. Each part is a giant metal basket into which fire tenders place wood and light the firewood. These sparkling bonfires have attracted millions of people to Waterplace Park. Anyone who has ever walked the river during WaterFire will never forget the experience of how "opposites attract."

Here's a city that set fire to its water, creating a crowd-pleasing, family-friendly WaterFire Festival (www.waterfire.org). 100 "fire-pits" kindle a roaring, but carefully contained, fire in the middle of the water. People flock to water-fire and watch the flames from the shore while they dabble their toes in cold water while warming their faces by firelight.

Note: it didn't take the construction of fancy shopping centers, or giant skyscrapers, or a big urban sports stadium, or a bells and whistles amusement park to bring people back downtown. All it took was the unquenchable artistic combination of two symbols that were allowed to spread their magic: fire-powerand water-works.

Why is it that what city planners could see so clearly has been firmly forgotten by twenty first century Christians? Water and fire, that powerful, awe-inspiring combination of opposites, is the birth-right of all Christians. If anyone ought to know the power of life lived out of these two forces, water and fire, it ought to be us.