Epiphany Reflections

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Eternal One sitting on a throne, high and lofty…..Seraphs were in attendance…..And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Sovereign One; the whole earth is full of God’s glory."
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 person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the Invincible God, the Sovereign over all !"  Then I heard the voice of the Most High saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"  [Isaiah 6: 1a, 2a, 3-5, 8]

These are the words of the prophet Isaiah, spoken after his epiphany—his encounter with the Holy.  All in all it is not a pleasant scripture passage.  Inspiring, yes.  Courageous, definitely.  But not pleasant.

Isaiah, after his epiphany, recounts to his people how he came to be a prophet.  The prophets were often criticized when they said disturbing things, which they usually did.   One of the taunts that people would throw at them was something like, “Yeah, so what makes you think YOU’RE a prophet?  Anybody can SAY they’re speaking for God.  Prove it, you troublemaker!”

So Isaiah tells the story of how he saw God, enthroned and splendid.  And there were these angels everywhere singing about how holy, how marvelous, how totally GOOD God is.  “And the doors shook, and the place filled with smoke.  And I said, ‘Whoa!’”  Actually, Isaiah said, “Woe is me,” but I think he was also saying “Whoa!” as in “Wow”  AND “Hold everything!  I’m not wise enough or good enough or faithful enough to be here.”

But when Isaiah listened a little more and heard God asking the angelic crowd “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah found himself blurting out “Here am I; send me!”  So, Isaiah explains to the people, “It’s not so much that I think I’m entitled to speak for God, to be a prophet, I’m kind of stuck with the job.”

“Here am I.  Send me.”  

Courageous words.  Inspiring.  But not pleasant in their application.

Particularly when the Author of Life gives Isaiah his assignment, in a taunting tone, “Go and say to this people, ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’  Make 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.”

“Uh,” Isaiah stammers, in verse 11,  “how long am I gonna keep doing this?”

“Until the land is utterly desolate,” God snaps.  “Until the emptiness in the midst of the land is immeasurable.”

Not at all pleasant.

There are places and times when we are all called to speak from the heart of the Gospel.  To voice the heart of the Holy One, the Great Love at the center of creation.  And in some times and some places this is not pleasant.  Neither enjoyable or amiable.  Indeed the discernment of the heart of the Gospel, the specifics of our individual epiphanies may be in conflict within our communities of faith.

As we tunnel our ways to the heart of the Gospel, can we keep in balance the ideas, inspirations, interactions and altercations that form the enterprise?

As we voice our sometimes shaky response, “Here am I.  Send me,” will we sing with the psalmist?
“I give You thanks, O God Most High, with my whole heart;
In the face of other “gods” I sing to You;
I bow my head before You and give thanks that You are Who You are,
I give thanks for Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness;
Which promise to surpass even what You have already done.
On the day I cried out, You answered me, You increased my strength of soul.
Your steadfast love, O God Most High, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of Your hands.”

Psalm 138: 1-3, 8b
Redemption Songs,
available under Worship

Your steadfast love, O God Most High, endures forever,

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“…The priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding…..[Ezra and other priests and scribes] read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation.  They gave the sense so that the people understood the reading…..And all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.”
Nehemiah 8: 2a, 8, 9c

We have moved into the third week of the Season of Epiphany.  “Epiphany” itself is “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.” [The Sage’s English Dictionary] The church’s Season of Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of the Almighty through the infant body of a peasant born in a barn in occupied territory and keeps us ever seeking the way to this revelation, this light at the end of the tunnel.

Tunnels.  From development in utero to birth, from death to new life, from salvation to discipleship, from wilderness to welcome table, we navigate subterranean passageways.  Tunnels.  “At its most basic, a tunnel is a tube hollowed through soil or stone…..A tunnel is a horizontal passageway located underground…..The basic geometry of the tunnel is a continuous arch.  Because tunnels must withstand tremendous pressure from all sides, the arch is an ideal shape…it simply goes all the way around. 

“Tunnel engineers, like bridge engineers, must be concerned with an area of physics known as statics.  Statics describes how the following forces interact to produce equilibrium on structures such as tunnels and bridges:  tension, which expands, or pulls on, material; compression, which shortens, or squeezes material; shearing, which causes parts of a material to slide past one another in opposite directions; torsion, which twists a material.  The tunnel must oppose these forces with strong materials, such as masonry, steel, iron and concrete.  So that the structure can withstand the load that is placed on it.”  [from  Yahoo’s “How Stuff Works”]

It’s probably best not to get too literal and meticulous in our application from engineering to the theological, but some of those descriptive words can definitely speak to us as we engage in our dig toward the heart of the Gospel.  In the conversations that have begun—whether face to face in our churches or homes, individually in study and reflection, or through various electronic means of communication—we may be tempted to distort the material we work with.  In working together our ideas “may slide past one another in opposite directions.”  Yet the tunnel and the tunnelers can “oppose these forces with strong materials” such as commitment and mutual respect.

Ezra stood with 26 others to “give the sense” of God’s word to “all who could hear with understanding.”  “And the people wept when they heard the words of the law.”  The proclamation that went forth that day was a reminder of the covenant that the Holy One lived and breathed and that gave life and breath to the people.  The weeping, scholars speculate, may have been prompted by the recognition of how far they had strayed from that covenant.  But those tears of regret and realization were swept away by the directive in verse 10 “Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything.  This day is holy to God.  Don’t feel bad.  The joy of God is your strength!”  [Message Bible]

What does this tell us about the heart of the Gospel?

What is the heart of the Gospel?
How do you find it?
How have you found it?
Who are your guides?
What are your tools?

You are most cordially invited
to enter into reflection and conversation
on these questions
that are so vital to us
as a faith community.
 
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whether individual or from a group
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