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Sunday 9 February 2025 Epiphany 5, Fifth in Ordinary time, Fourth before Lent, Proper 1
In the year that King Uzziah died
Isaiah 6:1-8
Context: a mostly older congregation - many who have recently lost family or friends, some suddenly
Aim: to encourage the congregation to take stock – and to do something about it
In the year that King Uzziah died.
Or in the year that Diana died. Or Elizabeth II. Or Martin. Or John.
Or in the year that someone you loved died… (Fred Buchner [2006] Secrets in the Dark. HarperOne)
Uzziah had been king for 52 years - and for Isaiah, the old certainties were suddenly gone. The same can happen to you and me. Something stops us in our tracks, and in the shock, we take stock of what we’re doing with our lives. We ask questions about the future and our part in it. Perhaps like Isaiah, we’re in a temple or in a church. Or we’re clearing a home of someone else’s possessions. Or we’re looking into the distance out to sea.
And a voice says: ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’
And, despite ourselves, we may just hear ourselves say: ‘Send me’. And then we may just hear a voice in reply saying: ‘Great. I’ve been waiting for you. Now go.’
VOCATION
The word ‘vocation’, or ‘calling’, is often used when we talk about those who yearn to be teachers or doctors or priests. It’s a summons to spend our lives doing a particular something. And often those who feel led to do that ‘something’ feel as much that the vocation has chosen them as the other way round.
Most of our lives are full of all sorts of voices calling us in all manner of directions.
IGNORED
I once went to a school reunion. The years had been kind to some and less generous to others! Some were doing exactly what I thought they would be doing. Their future seemingly inextricably mapped from birth. There were surprises too, though. People that you’d have least expected, doing the most extraordinary things. But others had lost their way and were doing work that was unfulfilling or making poor use of their gifts. And I wondered if they’d heard a voice but ignored it.
To Isaiah, the voice said ‘Go’. And for each of us we may hear many voices throughout our lifetime saying that word. And the question is: which do we follow, which do we obey with the way that we spend our lives?
NUDGE
I can confidently say that most of us have not had the same dramatic experience as Isaiah. No flying beasts or smoke or earthquakes. A distinct lack of seraphs and burning coals.
Many of those that I know who preach on a Sunday got here from the quiet persistence of family and friends repeatedly tapping us on the shoulder. So, more of a ‘nudging’ than a ‘calling’. But there is a common thread with Isaiah. At some point in time, God’s plans intersected with our own particular sense of being and purpose.
And I believe that’s true of every single one of you here too. At some stage, God’s plans will intersect with your own sense of being and purpose. You just need to listen and to hear and to respond. For as Christians, we each have a vocation or ministry - and that might be at work, or at home as well as at church.
PASSIONS
Our vocation is where our passions and talents coincide with the world’s needs. Going somewhere with our lives where we most need to go and where we are most needed. That’s the voice that we should listen to.
Maybe it’s something creative like baking cakes or painting pictures. Or perhaps it’s preaching, or caring for the sick, the hungry, the dying…
Or it could be getting on a bus and visiting the housebound. If you struggle to get out, then it might be sitting at home and praying for people. As Milton said: ‘They also serve, who only stand and wait.’
Do you hear a call? Are you getting nudged? We each have a ministry: to be the hands and feet, the heart and the voice of Christ. He needs us. Because there are words of truth and healing that will never be spoken unless we speak them. There are deeds of compassion and courage that will never be done unless we do them.
‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’
‘Here I am, send me!’
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Issue 195: Speaking of Last Things
