Introduction
This is a great text, right? It’s about vocation, but more specifically it’s about a call: “Whom shall I send?” With that wonderfully soulful line: “Here I am Lord, send me.” Yes, many a great sermon has come from this text—probably not this one—but others for sure.
Nonetheless, across generations the prophet Isaiah has been lifted up as the heroic model of the servant of God. He comes into the presence of God, sees the awesome power of God, cries out his unworthiness, and then proclaims his willingness to go and serve God.
It is a great text. It is an exemplary text of how God wants us to respond. “What’s that you ask, God? Who will go for you and the heavenly court?
I picture Isaiah as a kid in a classroom wanting to be the one who gets picked by his teacher for a special job— “Me! Here I am. Send Me!”
The only problem that happens with this text is that it is used strictly as a means to get people motivated to rise up and say, “Here I am. Send Me!” But rarely, if ever, does anyone say to those who say, “Here I am. Send me!” there will be times when this vocation, this call is really hard. And probably so because if people were told this truth, then it’s likely the enthusiastic “Here I am, send me” might just turn into, “Um, gee, well. I’m really busy.” But it’s actually within that busyness of real life where our willingness to say, “Here I am, send me” can have a profound impact.
Move 1
Our text for today is a chaotic and crisis filled time in Isaiah’s life. King Uzziah, a favorite of Isaiah, had ruled successfully for over fifty years and was not only a good king in God’s eyes, but was probably the last great king of Israel. Under his reign Israel prospered. But now Uzziah has died and the future for Israel doesn’t look great. And so, in need of a place of refuge, Isaiah enters the temple in order to make contact with God concerning this critical time. But to his surprise, Isaiah comes face to face with God. “For behind the earthly throne is the heavenly throne.”
And not surprisingly the very sight of God high and lifted up surrounded by Seraphim crying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory” had a profound impact on Isaiah.
That’s kind of an understatement, isn’t it? Of course it was profound. Seeing the holiness and majesty of the living God knocked Isaiah off his feet. It would knock anyone off their feet. Stepping up before the glory of God, coming into the presence of such holiness, hearing a call of “Whom shall I send?”, and then saying “Here I am. Send Me!” and thus becoming a prophet, a messenger of God, ought to have a profound impact! But profound impacts don’t always have to be so profound.
Move 2
All of this makes me recall a time when Julie and I were given a pair of tickets for amazing seats at a Pittsburgh Pirates game—three rows behind the dugout—you could hear the hiss of the pitches.
Sitting in front of us was a family with four energetic young boys who were constantly dancing around their seats in hopes of getting on the Jumbo Tron. The parents of the boys kept apologizing but no one was put off by the boys and their antics as we were rather entertained by their “kids at a baseball game” charm.
Now the youngest, who was all of six years old, was the most charming—rambunctious and fidgety, never sitting down for longer than a few seconds. He cheered and screamed anytime a ball was hit—didn’t matter if it was fair or foul, the Pirates or the other team. His face and shirt were stained with ketchup from his hot dog, and cheese from his nachos.
At one point I I asked him his name. He said, “Amos.” Now I really liked this kid, as Amos is my favorite prophet.
I said, “That’s a very unique name. Do you know where it comes from?” Little Amos replied, “From the Bible.” I said, “That’s right. Do you know who Amos was?” He shook his head no, so I said, “Amos was a prophet.”
Little Amos then asked, “What’s a prophet?”
Admittedly, I panicked a little bit—and many of you know why. Some of you know not to ask me questions like, “What’s a prophet?” because you know you’ll have to pull up a chair as you will undoubtedly get more information than you want. But this was a six year old, at a baseball game— I had, at best, two maybe three seconds.
So I responded, “A prophet is someone who speaks for God.”
I can still see little Amos’ face, his jaw unhinged from his mouth. The realization that he bore the name of someone who speaks for God shocking. You could say it had a profound impact on him.
But he was six, so the profound impact quickly wore off, and young Amos was back dancing at his seat trying to get on the Jumbo Tron.
*******
A profound impact. We’ve all had moments when something had a profound impact upon us. But what has had the most profound impact upon us is our faith life. No, not constant, unhinged jaw dropping moments, but rather a vast collection of moments over the course of our years. Time after time God blessed us with love and grace—none of which we deserve— blessings that gave us new and renewed life, healing, and wholeness when we were broken. And each time it was a profound impact upon our lives. Without them…where would we be?
Move 3
God has been calling our denomination… calling First Christian Church of Stow, saying, “Whom shall I send?” Whom shall I send so the broken and fragmented find healing and wholeness? Whom shall I send so the hungry are fed? Whom shall I send so children, youth, and adult ministries happen? Whom shall I send so the technical and physical needs of the church are met?
God is asking this church “Whom shall I send so this community knows who the Disciples of Christ are, and that they are doing ministry that is having a profound impact and changing lives for the better?”
Now, many of our church denomination, and of our little church here in Stow, have said, “Here I am, send me.” Many have stepped up and responded by offering time, talent, energy, and resources. Many helped with Vacation Bible School, Membership opportunities, home bound connections. Others still, have developed and furthered our technical needs, while others make sure our grounds are cared for. Today we celebrate and give thanks to God for a new ministry beginning as Katie Taylor comes on staff as our Director of Youth Ministries.
All kinds of people are doing all manners of ministry, and are being effective at it. We are doing great things here at FCC Stow—no doubt about it. But we need to understand this work, this ministry, this witness of telling, sharing, and living never ends. It’s never an option to say, “Someone else can do it” because as followers of God we are all someone who speaks for God—someone who is sent to bring a message that will have a profound impact and change a life for the better.
Move 4
Now I realize I am teetering on chastising—but I’m not trying to. On the contrary, I’m acknowledging this vocation, this call, is a challenge to maintain, difficult to constantly be doing. Saying, “Here I am Lord” all the time is a challenge because we are agreeing to do work that is, yes, rewarding, but at times it can be really hard.
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and all the prophets would tell you that. Just read their stories. They often had to say and do the hard things they didn’t want to say or do; they had to offer grace, and hope, and reconciliation to those who really didn’t’ deserve it and often weren’t even interested in such. But they did it, because God called them to do so.
It’s also hard to do and be church today because we have so many other plates to keep spinning and keep from falling. It’s hard because we are just trying to keep our own lives from becoming broken and fragmented.
But that’s actually why, and how, we can respond to this call most effectively— because we are just trying to keep things together ourselves—but we do it with the grace and love of God we know will see us through. And by sharing with others this way of life—a way of life that keeps us going when everything else is beating us down—we discover we really don’t have to do anything extra. We discover we are already doing the hard thing. We can just tell, share, and live how it is we keep going and who it is that keeps us going.
Conclusion
Seeing and hearing God had a profound impact on Isaiah. So much so that when God asked, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah was eager to say, “Here I am, send me!”
Today God is asking the same of us, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Whom shall I send to feed the hungry and heal the broken?
Whom shall I send to wade into the deep waters of tenuous hot topic issues where dividing lines are clear and a presence of peace is needed?
Whom shall I send to embrace differences, and see them not as deficiencies but as blessings—and tell others it is our differences that can spur our God given mission to great success?
Whom shall I send to be a movement for healing and wholeness in a fragmented world—but not by fear, not by hate or judgement, not by giving into those who shout the loudest?
Whom shall I send to speak for God who is love; who offers grace, and hope, and reconciliation to those who really don’t deserve it; which truthfully includes us.
That is what God is asking today—of the Church and of this church. And yes, it is hard. But our response can simply be showing others the profound impact God has had on our lives. And that alone can be how we speak for God, have a profound impact and change a life for the better. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, August 29, 2021
Gracious and eternal God, the world is so much with us and we frequently lose our sense of perspective of your ways and your call within it. Sometimes we engage in frantic activity simply to avoid looking inward.
And sometime we are so stressed by all our commitments we can’t bear the thought of trying to do anymore.
So help us we pray… help us to hear the Psalmist who tells us to know the number of our days are finite so that we might more firmly embrace the opportunities in each of them. Help us to find time to nurture the interior journey of our spirits and to make moments when we can be in touch with the eternal. Help us not to fear the quiet and silence but instead to see it as a time for centering our lives once again on you. Help us when we have found quiet place and rested awhile, to then go forward again to reach out in service to this world of people and its needs.
Holy God, we often feel the needs of the world are so overwhelming and there is little we can do. So we pray you enhance both our vision and our will, reminding us our needs are the same as others—the need to be safe, healthy, well, and loved. Remind us you faithfully tend to those needs, and that we can share those blessings with others through opportunities presented to us each day. Then remind us too, how you are calling us to share those blessings, to share an invitation to all who, like us, need their needs tended to faithfully.
In all these ways, and in the ways not yet spoken, help us O God. Help us to be the church you called us to be—a church that strives to bring healing and wholeness to a fragmented world, a church not afraid or ashamed to preach and share the Good News of your son, our savior.
Hear now O God, the prayers of our hearts as we offer them to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our Creator…”