Sermon Transcript: November 17, 2024
We have been, for a few weeks now, hanging out with the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. And today we get to hang with one of the big boys—Isaiah, one of the prophets who is most recognizable. The time period is very similar to where we were last week with Jonah. The Kingdom of Israel has split into two, and our reading for today is located in Judah. It takes place at a momentous time in the life of those people.
So let us listen for these words from our friend Isaiah, and let us listen for God speaking to our hearts and minds today as God’s Word to us:
Isaiah 6:1-8:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him. Each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said:
“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said:
“Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed, and your sin is blotted out.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
And I said:
“Here am I; send me.”
For the word of God in scripture, for the word of God among us, for the word of God within us, thanks be to God.
Six words. And it would be so easy to overlook those six words, especially in light of the fantastic vision that follows them: In the year King Uzziah died. Uzziah ruled for nearly five decades, and he was an incredibly successful and well-loved leader. Nearly five decades! Most people had never known another king.
And so this was a very anxious time. People were concerned about what would happen next. Now, we know that at times of high anxiety and uncertainty, what we desire most is clarity and reassurance. Many of those who have been disturbed by recent events find comfort in the claim that “God is still in control.” But what does that even mean? If God is in control, does that mean that God allows hurricanes, hunger, poverty, injustice, war, and genocide to continue? If God is in control, we must wonder: What kind of God is God?
If only God would reveal God’s self. If only we had a vision of God that removed all doubt. Well, that is exactly what the prophet Isaiah receives—a vision of God. But did you notice? Instead of comfort or clarity, what Isaiah receives is a healthy dose of awe and humility.
What he sees in this vision is the Lord seated on a throne, high and lofty, and the mere skirt of God’s robe fills the temple. And then there are these weird, burning creatures—seraphs, which literally means “burning ones.” Each has six wings: with two, they cover their faces; with two, they cover their feet; and with two, they fly.
If that’s not enough, these multi-winged, flaming, flying creatures are hovering around the throne, singing responsively: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And then, in all of this, the thresholds of the temple shake, and the house is filled with smoke. If we were directing a scene in a movie about this encounter, I’m not sure we could come up with a more dramatic or majestic one than the one Isaiah portrays here. It conveys so much about God—God’s majesty, God’s grandeur, the otherness and strangeness of God.
In her book On God’s Silence, Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “Many people pray for an encounter with the living God. Those whose prayers are answered rarely ask for the same thing twice.”
I don’t think Isaiah said, “Yeah, let’s rewind and do that again. How many wings did those seraphs have? Was it six? Did I count right? Was it eight?” I think Isaiah had enough.
But it’s interesting, isn’t it? We tend to think that having a genuine spiritual experience or vision of God will provide us with clarity and assurance—that it will provide us with answers. But the Bible seems to have different ideas. When God appears in the Bible, it often results in more questions than answers. And often, it is more than just a little bit terrifying.
You know, I can’t think of one example in scripture where God being revealed to someone really resulted in reassurance and clarity. The prophet Isaiah’s first response is: “Woe is me! I am lost.” In other words, “I should not be here. I’ve somehow ended up in the wrong place.”
But Isaiah knows enough, at least, to show deference and humility before God, to say:
“I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
So one of the seraphs takes this bit of coal and touches his lips, saying:
“You have been made clean; your sin is blotted out.”
And then God says:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
And Isaiah says:
“Here I am, Lord. Send me.”
Richard Rohr writes, “People who’ve had any genuine experience of God always know what they don’t know. They’re utterly humbled before mystery. They’re in awe before the abyss of it all, and they wonder at eternity, depth, and a love which is incomprehensible to the mind.” I think that comes pretty close to describing Isaiah’s response, doesn’t it?
God doesn’t seem to be persuaded by our need for answers or clarity. God seems perfectly okay with letting us figure it out on our own. But maybe this is yet another sign of God’s love and grace. After all, Frederick Buechner writes, “Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine, self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow involving me in the process, how could God reveal God’s self in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.”
I don’t know why God doesn’t just show up in ways that are plain and clear for all to see. Maybe it’s disorienting. Maybe it’s destructive. Or maybe it’s to make room for us. Maybe it’s so that we can learn humility and eventually trust.
So what assurance do we have? And what comfort might we take in saying that God is in control?
Are you ready for this? Believe it or not, I think the infamous doctrine of predestination may be of some help here. Yes, we bristle against predestination because it just doesn’t seem to mesh with our lives and our lived experience, does it? Things don’t seem to follow some predetermined script. It sure feels like we have free will, doesn’t it?
But too often, we mistake predestination for predeterminism. Predeterminism is the belief that every decision, every event, everything that happens has already been determined, and that our free will is just an illusion. That’s not predestination. Predestination is different, and it’s right there in the name. You can hear it. Predestination isn’t in conflict with free will. Predestination doesn’t espouse that everything is determined ahead of time—only the destination.
It’s just another way of saying, “Love wins,” or “In the end, it will be okay. And if it’s not okay, well, it’s not the end.” Or that “The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice.”
Those are all sayings and sentiments that fit with predestination—with this idea that, man, it can get messy sometimes, and we can take the wrong path, but it’s all going somewhere, and God is in control of the destination.
Here’s a really important thing that I think sometimes we overlook—and probably one of the reasons we bristle against what we think of as predestination when we mix it up with predeterminism. Predeterminism is deflating, right? It takes us out of the picture. It says, “What you choose and what you do doesn’t really matter.” But predestination is actually empowering. It reminds us that we do have a role to play. What we decide and what we do does matter. It is ultimately God’s invitation for us to participate in God’s work in the world—to partner with God, to become co-workers with God, as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said.
I ran across this quote this week. It’s from the Reverend Tom Are, Jr. I had the privilege of knowing his father as an interim pastor of the church that I grew up in. Tom Are is a pastor out in the Midwest, and he said this: “We are living in uncertain times, and we may feel that our ministry is in vain. And yet, as people of faith, it seems to me that our work is as important today as it ever has been. When we lack the power to change the worst in the world, we double down on our faith to ensure that the world does not change the best in us.”
We see that in our passage today. After Isaiah receives this vision of God that has him humbled before mystery, that must have him asking so many questions about God, he does not simply resign to be passive. He says, “Here I am. Send me.”
And maybe that’s just it. Maybe God shows up when we choose to show up — not with our certainty, but in humble faith and trust.
Amen.
