Who Will Go for Them?
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 6:8 (NRSV)
In my “call story,” there is no temple filled with the hem of God’s robe. There are no six-winged seraphs, no over-the-top drama.
In my story, there’s just an ever-unspooling thread of grace that connects the disparate dots of my life and draws me deeper into Love. There’s a gentle but persistent voice calling in the night.
Less than a month after leaving a long journalism career, I found myself echoing the prophet Isaiah, singing “Here I Am, Lord” with tears running down my face. In that moment, the song felt like the convergence of every hard and holy thing that had brought me to my first day of seminary.
Yes, I understand that a 40-year-old Jesuit hymn can feel sappy in a nation beset by white supremacy, gun violence, economic injustice, and the politicization of everything, even public health. I realize that this day, which many churches observe as Trinity Sunday, is not primarily about us.
It is about a Love that listens, a Justice that calls, and a Breath that empowers. It’s about the Holy One who manifests in myriad forms and is known by many names, a Glorious Presence who dwells in our brokenness and a Gritty Savior who seeks mere mortals to go for Them into the heart of humanity.
On this day and every day, the Great Mystery, whose preferred pronouns are sometimes plural, invites our full participation in an epic story, asking, “Whom shall I send?”
Prayer
“I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
About the AuthorVicki Kemper is the Pastor of First Congregational, UCC, of Amherst, Massachusetts.