Loving God, you continue to be at work in this world, often using people just like us in order to communicate your love and mercy.  Empower us by your Spirit and teach us to listen for your voice, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    For most people, when they hear the story of Isaiah’s call to be a prophet, it raises a lot of questions for them.  One of the first questions is, what the heck are seraphim (or seraphs) and why do they have six wings?  Another common question has to do with the live coal that touches Isaiah’s mouth.  Wouldn’t that be excruciatingly painful?  And some wonder if Isaiah really had any choice in the matter when the voice of the Lord says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isa. 6:8).

    This week, in trying to imagine themselves in Isaiah’s position, a number of people said they would have run away long before there is a seraph bringing a live coal from the altar.  However, in searching for images of seraphim this week, I discovered at least a few artists that imagine Isaiah falling down on his knees to worship as soon as he sees this vision of God in the temple.  He falls on his knees, and he is immediately overcome by a sense of his own sinfulness and the sinfulness of his people as he is reminded of the holiness of God.

    As for the seraphim (which is the plural of seraph), most of the images I could find show six wings and a face.  They seem to be one of the orders of angels, and are often named with the cherubim that appear in Ezekiel’s vision.  The seraphim are often associated with fire, which is certainly the case in Isaiah’s experience.  However, as for Isaiah actually being burned and left in excruciating pain, this seems to me highly unlikely.  It seems more likely that this was part of a vision, and while he might have experienced it as painful, he was immediately healed.

    As for whether Isaiah had any choice but to say, “Here am I; send me!”, these are not the words of somebody who is terrified, or who has been coerced.  In fact, the God that I know always allows us to choose.  We are free to say yes and we are free to say no.  It just depends on whether we are willing to serve and to worship God, or not.

    While Isaiah’s experience might seem totally unlike anything that would happen today, I’d like to share with you a more current experience of God’s call into ministry.  One of the people that we met in Cameroon is named Marie.  She is one of the women who has been ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Cameroon (EELC).  However, there was a time in her life when she didn’t go to church at all.

    Her husband had been a teacher and then felt called to serve in ordained ministry.  When he shared this with Marie, she told him that if he pursued ordained ministry, she would divorce him.  Over the next little while, whenever her husband went to church, Marie would make excuses not to go.  She would say she had cooking to do, or washing, or something else, and then eventually she stopped giving any excuses at all.

    One day, when she had once again stayed home to do some cooking and washing, she had put most of the wash on the line and was going to the well to get water for the last little bit.  As she headed to the well with her bucket, a whirlwind started up near the door of her house and came straight toward her, picking up dust as it went.  She crouched down by the well and covered her head and screamed as the whirlwind tore down all the clothes and knocked the bucket away from her.  Then, while the wind swirled around her, she heard a voice saying, “You, too, will go into the ministry.”

    After this, she spent two years in Veterinary School, but soon realized that it wasn’t for her.  However, she used her time there to evangelize the other students, encouraging them to go to church and to study the Bible.  Then she, too, started studying theology and eventually was ordained as a Lutheran pastor.

    The thing is that God still calls people into service in some pretty amazing ways.  In fact, it strikes me that perhaps this is what it takes to get people to answer God’s call, especially when the way is going to be difficult and when people are going to resist listening to your message or even accepting you as God’s messenger.  God rarely calls people to do things that are easy.  However, when the call comes with a revelation of God’s holiness and power, it also reminds us to look to God for all that is needed.

    In Marie’s case, she experienced God’s call into ministry at a time when women were not yet being ordained in Cameroon.  And now, even though she is ordained, she has not been given the opportunity to use her gifts for ministry as a pastor in a congregation.  For Isaiah, too, he is told almost immediately that he is being sent to people who have hardened their hearts and who will not listen to him.

    We are told right at the beginning of Isaiah what a sinful nation Judah has become and how it is full of wickedness and depravity.  It is also a fearful time, as King Uzziah has just died after a 50 year reign, and the Assyrians and other nations are constantly threatening to attack.  And so, in the midst of fear and uncertainty, Isaiah is called to speak God’s message - a message that sometimes is full of judgement, and sometimes is full of hope for the future.

    The thing is that many of the same things could be said about today.  People still live in fear.  People still act in depraved and wicked ways.  People continue to face uncertainty about the future.  And there continue to be people who have closed their minds and their hearts to any message that has God’s name attached to it.

    And so, what is God’s call to us, today?  Where would God like to send us?  What is the message that God would have us communicate and share with others, not only through our words, but also through our actions?  For God continues to call people into service - not only as prophets or pastors or teachers, but to serve God and others through whatever work you might do and however you choose to spend your time.  The trick is to learn to listen to the nudges of the Spirit.

    Whether it is an inner voice that leads you in a certain direction, or some verses in the Bible that seem to be meant directly for you, or even a dream or vision that you have experienced, God’s direction is often there for those who are open to God’s leading.  And so, what is God’s call to you right now?

    Whatever it is, you can be sure that where God guides, God provides.  “For we are what [God] has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Eph. 2:10).  Amen.

Pentecost 26 (NL 3)                                Isaiah 6:1-8
November 13, 2016
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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