God's Calling Isaiah Take One

 

This week I want us to focus and frame our conversation on calling around the story in Isaiah 6.  This is ONE of my favorite stories in Scripture.  I encourage you to read Isaiah 6:1-9 (or the whole chapter.  But be forewarned that Isaiah’s first sermon is not what anyone who describe as, “Warming the cockles of my heart.”   It is certainly not the feel-good sermon of the century.)

 

Part of what I love about chapter 6 is I have always wondered, what was Isaiah expecting when he walked and waltzed into the Temple that day to pray?  What was running through his mind when he wandered into worship? 

 

We all carry expectations with us every day.  Expectations are like the wind in our sails.  Expectations are like the wind in that you cannot see them always, but they do guide you.  Try this experiment with me.  Have you ever watched a movie everyone was raving about, and your reaction was, “Well it was no Star Wars”?  Ever hear a song that moved someone else’s soul, and you couldn’t even understand the words?  Ever buy some food that your neighbor said was like tasting heaven while on earth, and you thought, “Um it tastes a bit like seaweed.” 

 

We all haul around our hopes, drag around our dreams, carry around a carton of expectations about all sorts of things in life.  Expectations are BOTH the wind in our sails and the headwinds we face.  Expectations can both push us forward and push against us. Some expectations give me energy to guide my life.  Other expectations work against me and creating uncomfortable struggles.  For example, if I sit down to write these meditations in the morning (which I do) when I am at my most creative and energized, I feel the winds of expectations in my favor.  On the other hand, if I try to convince someone how s/he is wrong, why his/her perspective is all bent and broken, chances are good that I am working against a strong headwind of certainty in our culture.  More and more I realize through our constant criticism, we are creating canyons of certainty between ourselves and others. 

 

One of the most heartfelt, honest questions we can ask ourselves is, what do I want?  Truthfully.  Deep down desires.  What we want begins to give voice to our expectations. When we do this in worship, we begin to unpack, notice, name something sacred, even if we are uncomfortable with being so honest.  Yesterday when you came to church, what expectations did you cart and carry with you?  We can think about this musically or in terms of the sermon or what kind of greeting we will receive. On Sundays, do we desire a dance with the Divine where our toes might be stepped on or for God to keep some distance so as not to disrupt our lives, like the divine did to Mary?  Do we want God to bless, baptize our ways or are we willing, like Isaiah to have our whole lives upended by the Eternal?  All this stirs, swirls, speaks to me because I wonder what Isaiah thought would happen in worship that day centuries ago?  Did he expect to be wrapped in the hem of the Holy?  Did he expect angels would start singing?  Did he expect God to show up, interrupt and disrupt his life by calling him to be a prophet?  The text doesn’t say.  But I guess that most of us would say, “Um, that’s a hard pass on completely changing my life, God.  But thanks anyway.”

 

Today, spend time prayerfully pondering ~ exploring and examining your expectations ~ your deep desires.  Name and notice them.  Write them down.  What do you expect of yourself?  Your friends or partner?  Our church?  Our community?  Our country?  God?  Be honest about the hopes you haul around, the dreams you drag, and the carton on expectations you carry.  Tomorrow, we will continue to let Isaiah awaken us to the expectations of how we live our life ~ and how we enter our calling.