From Tentative to Tenacious

It was years ago I began to see the summer full of Sundays as a season of mission. The altar frontal, all the appointments, and vestments in the church go to green, a color of life and growth for people noting regions of verdant landscapes.  I adopted pairing this season with the theme of Mission after reading an article by protestant theologian, W. Paul Jones called “The Rhythms of Life.”

In truth, it is more than the summer Sundays. All the Sundays from The Day of Pentecost to the final day before Advent begins at the end of November—their Scriptures train us in the art of Christian Mission. They gift us with the Love of God, the Good News of Christ, and the empowering Gifts of the Spirit. The Body of Christ is the entity in this universe that lives for the benefit of those outside the body, to borrow from the writings of Archbishop William Temple. The Church exists and works for those not in the church. For work like that, we must be well equipped. We must be tuned into the mysterious, powerful Life of God.

Fr. Stuart, on Trinity Sunday referred us to the challenge of the Almighty to the prophet Isaiah. In the prophet’s vision (Isaiah 6) the Holy One asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? The prophet responds, “Look here, send me!” Ingest the whole passage. The seraphs, the highest of angels, were seen and heard singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; God’s glory fills the whole earth.” Then this is how Isaiah further experiences The Holy:

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!”  (Isaiah 6:4-8)

Like other prophets, Moses, Jeremiah, and Amos, Isaiah’s first reaction is reluctance. This is a response familiar to all of us, faced with a challenge: “You can’t mean me. How can I accomplish such a thing? I don’t have the right stuff for that.” But the action of God is to prepare the servant and move the believer from reluctance to resolve, from tentativeness to tenacity. The seraphs bring glowing coal from the altar and purify the human’s lips to be able to take upon them the words of God for the sake of the people. The Russian poet, playwright, and novelist from the Romantic era, Alexander Pushkin expands the image. In his poem, “The Prophet”, God not only cleanses Isaiah’s mouth but gave him a heart transplant, altogether. The ember from the fires of the altar replaces the prophet’s heart; here is a portion, translated to English:

And with his sword he cleft my chest
And ripped my quaking heart out whole,
And in my sundered breast he cast
A blazing shard of living coal.
there in the desert I lay dead
Until the voice from heaven said:
"Arise O Prophet! Work My will,
Thou that hast now perceived and heard.
On land and sea thy charge fulfill
And burn Man's heart with this My Word."

After God does what God does for us, then shall we know metanoia: full transformation. Then we are people of God’s Mission of Love. Shall we surrender, and thus be changed? Shall the ribs of your chest, open to contain God’s treasure of light and heat?