Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13) (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13) on biblegateway.com
Chapter 6In 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. Verse 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. Verse 3And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Verse 4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
Verse 5And 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!" Verse 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. Verse 7The 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." Verse 8Then 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!"
Verse 9And he said, "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' Verse 10Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed." Verse 11Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; Verse 12until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Verse 13Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.
Devotion
Here I am. Send me! Perhaps you resonate with Isaiah's call story. Perhaps not. Either way, God equips each of us for a particular vocation. Like Isaiah, we are called to "go" and "say." God calls us to speak to a particular people in a particular place. It can be as important as teaching our children to respect one another's bodies. It can be as challenging as speaking up for the vulnerable in our community whose voice is often forgotten. It can be as meaningful as caring for a loved one in her last days of life. To "go" and "say" is to live into the gifts God has given us in all the areas of our lives—home, work, school, the grocery store, the neighborhood. It will not be easy—Isaiah's ministry certainly wasn't easy. But God promises to work through us to bring about God's dream of life for all.
Prayer
Loving God, you call us to people and places to share your good word. Equip us with courage and compassion so we might see all our interactions as opportunities to use our God-given gifts for the sake of the world. Amen.