God Calls Partners for God's Mission
Holy Trinity Sunday – June 3, 2012
I'm kind of astounded by the lesson from Isaiah this morning. I must have heard and read it dozens of times before, but there's so much in it that I never really noticed, never really thought about or tried to imagine before. Here Isaiah is, in the temple. I can't really imagine what the temple looked like, I just know it was huge and majestic. So think of a place like that, whatever it is for you, and then think of meeting God there. God on a high and lofty throne, God who is so big that the hem of God's robe alone fills all of that space, a God who is too immense to be contained in a building, that's the God Isaiah is dealing with.
And not only is there this tremendously huge God, but there are these weird creatures, the seraphs, who we sometimes sing about in worship, but never really visualize. One description I read is that they look like winged cobras, fiery beasts with their six sets of wings – not quite what I ever thought of when I read this scene. And as they hover around God, they cry out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory”, making the ground around them shake at the sound of their voices. Smoke fills the house, getting in your eyes, filling your lungs.
This is a wild vision Isaiah has. Plenty there to inspire awe and fear and terror. One author suggested it was kind of like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the ark is opened and calamity hits all who dare to look on it. Remember Harrison Ford telling the woman with him – “Don't look at it. Keep your eyes closed.” There is a sense of danger in casting your eyes on anything so holy. - And yet Isaiah has, even though he is a man of unclean lips – his eyes have “seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” He knows what a precarious position he is in – it is a rare thing for a human being to look on God and live. Yet God does not reject him. A seraph comes with a live coal from the altar and cleanses Isaiah, removing his guilt and blotting out his sin.
It's at this moment that Isaiah hears the voice of God, looking for a volunteer, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” I don't know about you, but I'm shocked at how Isaiah responds. I can't believe that he answers. He's like the kid in class who knows the answer and really wants the teacher to call on him, “Oooh, ooh! Pick me!” Here am I; send me!
Whew! Not too many people I know, including me, are that eager to say yes to God's call. We're more like Moses, who gave God excuse after excuse, or Jeremiah, who protested that he was too young. We are filled with our own reasons and excuses about why God should go with someone else this time around, perhaps feeling, like Isaiah did at first, that we aren't quite holy enough to go on behalf this unfathomably holy God. Or maybe you have some other reason that you think disqualifies you from speaking or acting for God. Or maybe you just feel overwhelmed by the things that are already on your plate and can't even begin to imagine volunteering for one more thing, even if it is God who is doing the asking. It's easy to read these call stories in the Bible and think that God's call is for someone else, anyone else but you or me.
But that's not true. God's call is for everyone who seeks to follow. God has gifted you; God has set you apart from the moment of your baptism to go into the world. That's just one more amazing dimension to this story, because really, God doesn't need human beings to accomplish what God wants to do. God could figure out another way. But over and over, in the Bible and in our own world today, that's how God chooses to work. God invites; God calls; God asks for volunteers: people who are willing to step up and partner with God in going to a dark, hurting world; people who have stood in the place of God's holiness, God's power, God's majesty; people who have experienced the immense depth of God's grace and forgiveness and love; people who have been caught up in God's vision for healing and redeeming and loving the world. God is on a mission to save the whole world – and God wants us to be a part of that! God has a job for you to do, something that you and you alone are uniquely qualified for!
And it doesn't necessarily mean you have to start your whole life over in some new place to do it either. It could be that the world God is calling you to is the world you are already living in. The work God has for you could be the work of teaching Sunday school or leading the youth group. It could be the work of visiting the homebound and the sick or anyone else who needs to know they are not forgotten or alone. It can be the work of parenting children – little kids, teenagers, adult kids – of helping them trust in God's unconditional love through they way you love them. It can be the work of accounting or carpentry or waiting tables. It can be the work of teaching or fixing computers or answering phones all day. It may just be that God has called you to exactly where you are now. The trick is to be on the lookout for God, to learn to see the world around you and the people in it with God's eyes, so you can be ready to reach out with God's love wherever you are.
Are you listening? As we stand in God's holy presence in this place of worship today, do you hear God speaking? God's voice is calling you, me, all the people of God into action for the sake of the world God loves so much. How will you answer the call?
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