What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? Look at your Bible and it says, “Holy Bible.” What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called “The Holy Land,” and the city of Jerusalem is called “The Holy City.” Why? There is a quality about all three that they share. They all belong to God. The Bible is God’s book; Israel is God’s land; Jerusalem is God’s city. God is holy and so by extension what represents God we call holy. (Michael P. Green, Sermons.com).
Seraphis declaring God holy is found in Revelation (4:8) and our Isaiah passage. We sang the trifold proclamation this morning, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, Only Thou art holy, Perfect in power, love and purity.” Holiness belongs exclusively to God. The divine and sacred nature of God is so abiding that I think we sometime forget. We want to see if we can also be holy. Take this quote from John Brown, Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, “Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.” (J. Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 51). But that is wrong. We will never be holy, we cannot even strive to be holy because that is God’s true essence. God’s transcendence, God’s “other-ness” is what makes us gaze in wonder at God’s majesty and long to be in God’s full presence. The very fact that Seraphim, the highest of the angelic creatures, make this declaration shows we are not even able to comprehend God’s holiness.
John Calvin, the great reformer, declared God’s holy nature is a divine mystery. We do have glimpses into God’s holy nature. A nature that is sacred, hallowed and divine. The few times we get a glimpse of the holiness of God comes when God is calling someone into service.
I am a big country music fan. Florida Georgia Line, a Country duo, has a wonderful love song called H.O.L.Y. He sings about her being “an angel he can believe in.” It also speaks of love declaring, “You’re my saving grace, you’re my kind of church.” The title offers a wonderful acronym for holy: High On Loving You! H.O.L.Y. Holy. The chorus is “You’re holy, holy, holy, holy I’m high on loving you, high on loving you.” We can never actually be holy, but we can certainly sing to God: H.O. L.Y. High on loving you! Our holiness is being high on loving YOU God!
First point: God is holy. Second point: we are to be willing. When Isaiah experiences this theophany, God’s appearance, sharing of God’s glory, he instantly sees himself lacking. “He is lost, has unclean lips.” He is thinking I am not worthy to stand in the presence of the divine. A very human response, one I think we can relate to. But through an angelic agent, God touches the mouth of the prophet with coal removing his guilt and empowering him to take up God’s call. There is a sacramental aspect to this moment when Isaiah is touched, and his shortcomings are amended. As one commentator wrote, “Calvin saw here a sacramental dimension to the prophet’s encounter with God. The coal mediated grace; it served as a ‘visible sign of an invisible grace,’ to adopt Augustine’s understanding of a sacrament” (Feasting on the Word, C1, p.314). The same way water in baptism is the visible sign of God’s invisible grace, so it was with the coal. In that moment, Isaiah’s past is made clean, his doubts are addressed, standing in God’s glory he is made whole. Isn’t that what we all want. To have God’s grace touch us, heal us, so that we can willingly serve God.
So, when God asks, “Whom shall I send?”
Isaiah is complete enough in God’s grace, whole enough, to stand before the Almighty and say, “Here am I; send me!” He willingly serves God, he answers the call, he sees himself as enough to take on this challenge. But before you think well that is great for Isaiah, what does that have to do with me? Remember the sacramental connection. Through baptism, your baptism, you have abundant grace, you are infused with God’s grace to meet God’s challenge. Last week as my final act as Moderator, I installed the new Moderator of the San Jose Presbytery. The liturgy declared this truth: “Irene, the grace bestowed on you in baptism is sufficient for your calling because it is God’s grace.” Sufficient grace: our baptism grants us sufficient grace for all of God’s callings. So, when you feel like I can’t do that, or I’m not good enough to do something, remember that you have sufficient grace through your baptism so that you can willingly say, “Here I am; send me!”
God is holy, we are to be willing and finally, sometimes we are called to difficult tasks.
Isaiah responds willingly and what does God ask of him? Isaiah is to say, “listen but don’t comprehend, look but don’t understand.” What is that? Who wants to share that message from God? A message that says, I am going to preach but you have hardened hearts. It would be impossible to deliver. Isaiah goes on to ask how long, Lord, do I have to share this message? It gets worse! Destruction! Cities lying in waste! Even what remains gets burned to the ground.
Yet Isaiah says, “Here I am.” His faith in God sustains him in this challenging task. So, when you get a nudge to do something for God and it feels overwhelming remember Isaiah! I am feeling that way right now about a new ministry opportunity. It seems hard, like God is asking a lot of me and St. Andrew. And I want to do it! Many people are without homes in Santa Cruz County. We have the opportunity of allowing three cars to park in our parking lot overnight with people sleeping in them. People living in their cars have a difficult time finding a safe place to sleep. We can help. They would arrive and leave at set times, but for sleeping hours we provide a refuge, a place of safety for people trying to get back on their feet. We are seeking to serve women with children first. This is part of a larger county program with additional funding and supports. Questions remain. And even more possibilities for making a real difference in people’s lives. God is holy, we are willing and God’s grace is sufficient for our calling.
As we consider this opportunity, I am reminded of our gospel lesson with Jesus at the Sea of Galilee asking the disciples to cast their nets. (Sea of Galilee and Lake of Gennesaret are the same body of water.) The disciples had been laboring all night with no success. They had not caught a single fish. When Jesus directs them to “Put out into deep water” they are swamped with an abundance of fish. God blesses their efforts! This in the same water where all night they caught nothing.
Our personal efforts often catch nothing, or have little result, because we are trying to do it on our own, do it on our own steam. We can work hard, think we are doing the task in front of us, but still not get the desired result. But when we are doing God’s will, when we are saying yes to God’s ministry, then we are doing it with God’s steam, and anything is possible! Another name for God’s steam is the Holy Spirit! To do this parking ministry would be to put out into deep water for this congregation. It would be a stretch and one that with God’s help could be extremely beneficial. Staying in the shallow parts usually only gets shallow results! Session meets soon to look at this again. We are looking for a liaison to this ministry who connects with the people calling St. Andrew their home while sleeping. Someone who would like to get to know these individuals, their needs, how we might support them and build connection through relationship. This has the potential to grow into meaningful connections and real ministry.
When Simon Peter saw the abundance of grace, the abundance of fish provided by the Holy Spirit, God’s steam, he felt small, not good enough to be the one who received such an amazing gift!!! He said,
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” I love Peter, because he always shows his humanity, the real part, the hard part, of trying to be a follower of Christ. I am sure that we feel like we are not enough to be the one to receive the abundance of God’s grace. But both Isaiah and Simon Peter discovered that God’s grace is more than sufficient! God’s grace is abundant even when things are hard, even when you are facing a challenge.
I ask for your prayers, your thoughts, your compassion as we seek to move into the deep water. Seek to start this parking ministry. Seek to be enough for the task God is calling us to do and to rest in the faith that God’s grace is more than sufficient to get the job done! Amen.
