RCL Readings Sunday 7 February 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

The Old Testament reading (Isaiah 6:1-8) and the Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11) both focus on an encounter which culminates in a call. Isaiah’s took place in a worship context and the fishermen’s took place in what we might call a work context. Isaiah might have had some expectation of encountering God in a worship context but clearly Peter and the other fishermen were surprised by their encounter. The importance of placing ourselves in a context where we are more likely to encounter God is underlined by the Isaiah passage, but equally God can and does encounter us in the world of work and leisure. The whole of life is the arena in which God is present to be encountered – how does that shape our attitude to worship, work, and leisure?

There are some interesting common elements about these two passages that for me can shape our prayers this week. Both are set in particular moments and places – God is present in the particular whether that be a place and time of worship or after completing the nightshift/long day at work. An overwhelming sense of being in the presence of holiness leads initially to a devastating awareness of sinfulness. For me one of the most challenging things about Isaiah’s confession is that it has a personal and corporate dimension: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips”. The realisation of my personal sin AND my part, or complicity in, the sin of the wider society and world to which I belong is a fundamental outcome of an awareness of being in the presence of a holy God. The latter is harder to face and accept, yet I believe it is vital if we are to see the Kingdom of God and the ways of that kingdom breaking into our world. Prayerfully explore this part of confession.

In both, confession of sin leads to an act of grace. In Isaiah’s case a powerful dramatic action symbolising the cauterising of sin, while for Peter it was a word of grace: “do not be afraid”. The act of grace is followed by the hearing of a call. Isaiah having been cleansed now ‘hears’ the conversation of the divine heart: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” What part of the divine conversation are you hearing? What do you sense might on the heart of God for the life of the church, the community, and the wider world? How can you respond?

The readings reminded me of a photograph I took of the debris washed up by the tide and a short meditation I wrote

Washed up

A mix of nature’s storms

And life’s detritus

Cast upon pebbles smoothed by countless tides

The entangled nylon of our sin and folly

The durable containers of our arrogance

Litter, scar, cry out awaiting the tide

Only to be tossed up again and again

Must we always recycle the same old matter

Or can the tide turn

Drawing away our stain

Leaving the pebbles to delightful chatter

As seas caress

Or storms pound

Smoothed testament to your labour.

Daniel Schutte's hymn I, the Lord of sea and sky is for me one that leads into intercessory prayer and action. Each verse ends with the question "Whom shall I send?" and the chorus becomes an act of commitment: "Here I am Lord ... I will go, Lord ..."