Preached at Highland Avenue CoB, May 27, 2018
Isaiah 6:1-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
6 In 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. 2 Seraphs 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. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 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!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 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.” 8 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!”
When I was growing up in Centre County, PA, late August meant spending a week camping at the Great Grange Fair. Begun as a picnic in 1874, this large encampment, amusement park, and agriculture showcase, is still probably best described as a 264-acre family reunion for the descendants of the Western European immigrants who settled there in the nineteenth century. There is a permanent food stand that sells perogies all day every day for the entire week of the fair, and it’s rarely without a line. The same was true of the apple dumpling stand when I was growing up. People come to catch up with their extended family, partake of comfort foods, and to enjoy the last breaths of summer.
When I was little there were two annual events I looked forward to the most. Christmas and the Grange Fair. Both meant lots of relatives, lots of good food, and lots of good fun. One of my favorite memories as a young child at the Fair was staying up late into the evening until the lightning bugs came out and the grandstand music wafted toward our camper on the late summer breeze. While the adults chatted in lawn chairs under the camper awning, my sister and I were part of a circle of children who picked up the long dancing ribbons that were probably won by one of us at the concession games that day, and gleefully galloped, twirled, and twinkled on tiptoe through the soft grass, the ribbon trailing behind us, cutting rainbow colors through the evening air. Those moments still shine with a holiness in my mind, as if there is something sacred to dancing freely together on the soft summer grass.
I wonder if that’s not too different from the way ancient theologian, Basil of Caesarea imagined the three persons of the Trinity. For Basil, the first, second, and third persons of God, the Holy Parent, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, could not be fully understood as separate from each other but rather best understood in relationship with each other, as he imagined these persons of God dancing in community with each other.
For the early church, this scripture story we read today was cited as further evidence of the Trinitarian nature of God since the Seraphs sing of God with three “holies” and God speaks as God does elsewhere in the Bible with the plural “us.” Could it be that God loves relationships so much, God is in a holy dance of relationship and community with Godself?
The Church of the Brethren has long valued community as a place where one may powerfully experience God. About dancing though, we have been more suspect, which I would argue is our loss. After I had my second child, I was looking for an exercise routine that would work for me when I passed an advertisement for a Zumba class. For the unfamiliar, Zumba is a mix of hip-hop and Latin dance moves that have become a global fitness sensation. I couldn’t imagine at the time, how much finding that class would mean to me.
Not only did Zumba turn out to offer a healthy amount of exercise. It gave me a regularly meeting community outside the church. And, it gave me an opportunity to grow more comfortable in my own skin. At first, though, I was absolutely miserable at it. I had taken dance classes as a child but they were using muscles I had forgotten I had. I missed steps, ran into people, and left absolutely exhausted. But I kept coming back. I came back every week, sometimes twice a week for months until one day I was staring at myself in the mirror dancing with confidence and ease. My smile widened as I realized there we all were a bunch of Midwestern moms dancing like divas and loving every minute of it.
In the dance of community, we don’t get all the steps right. We often have to practice, and even then perfection cannot be expected as we will inevitably bump into and even hurt each other from time to time. Yet, if God dances in community with Godself, perhaps the more we keep coming back to that dance, the more fully we can experience the fullness of the glory of God whose presence is so beautiful even the angels hide their faces. Those mysterious angels respond to Isaiah’s despair in today’s story by touching his lips with a hot coal and by blotting out his sin.
I can’t say I’ve ever tried that or that I would particularly recommend it,
but it must have worked to assuage Isaiah’s fear. For when God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah responds like Moses and Samuel before him, “Here I am, send me.” God does not call each of us the same way but I believe God has a spot for us on a holy dance card, extending a hand to step away from the wall and get in the dance. I don’t believe we have to actually know how to dance. I don’t believe we have to always get it right. But I do believe each of us is invited to experience the fullness of the almighty and all-loving presence of God.
I do believe each of us is invited to open our own hearts and our own mouths and to answer, “Here I am, send me.” In today’s story, the Seraphs proclaim “the whole earth is full of God glory” and indeed, I believe that is true. Yet, I suspect six-winged flying angels were not a common sight in Isaiah’s life even if he did spend a good amount of time in the Temple. No, indeed Isaiah is properly terrified upon realizing he is in the presence of the Lord, crying out, “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!’” The whole earth may be full of God’s glory, but in this moment for Isaiah God’s glory is super-charged and God’s presence is super-concentrated or perhaps we might say uniquely revealed. Some of the most super-charged God moments in my life have been in community with other people from church worship services that brought me to tears to dancing with my dad at my wedding to dancing through summer puddles with my two little boys.
Maybe your moments don’t include dancing, but I suspect there are people in your life who have brought you closer to God. I suspect there are places in your life that have brought you closer to God. Perhaps the memories dance past your eyes as the Seraphs flew in intertwining, dancing paths. For whose presence in your life do you give thanks? What places have made the presence of God more fully known to you? What parade of memories brings you closer to the glory of God? May we give thanks for the holy presence of God found dancing in special places, people, and times and in all the earth.
May it be so. Amen.
Devotional/Application Questions
- What events, like the Grange Fair, have become lasting memories in your life?
- How do our memories inform our understanding of the sacred? Conversely, how does our understanding of the sacred inform our memories?
- What does it mean, for you personally, to worship a God who is eternally in community/relationship with Godself?
- What in your life do you love even when you “don’t get all the steps right?”
- When and how have you responded to God’s dance invitation? (Give a specific example.)
- Apart from church and home, where do you encounter community that brings you closer to God?
Katie Shaw Thompson is pastor of the Highland Avenue CoB. Having earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from Lycoming College in Williampsort, PA in 2007, Pastor Katie went on to complete her Masters of Divinity in 2012 at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, IN, with a Peace Emphasis and Distinction in Ministry Studies. That same year, she was ordained at the Ivester Church of the Brethren in Grundy Center, IA, where she served as a pastor for three years. With her spouse, Parker, Katie parents two young children and lives in one of Elgin’s historic districts, where she enjoys walking around the community with her dog, learning Spanish, and practicing yoga.