Based upon readings from Isaiah 6 and Luke 5
Offered to the First Presbyterian Church of Long Valley, NJ – February 6, 2022
Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA
“Here I am.” Out of curiosity, I googled the phrase. It has been used as a popular song title by artists such as Bryan Adams and Air Supply. It’s even the title of a gangster rap song by Rick Ross. Dolly Parton uses the phrase for the title of a documentary on her life’s journey. As romantic love songs, it seems to be used as a lament to tell the world, Here I am, broken hearted. Rick Ross uses it to announce to the world, Hey!, Here I am!. I’ve arrived. Dolly Parton wants it to reflect on her life experiences and how they had brought her to where she is today as a performer, activist, feminist and Christian. Each one uses the phrase in one way or another to announce that they are here.
It’s a Hymn in our own faith tradition and we often use it during confirmation and ordination ceremonies as a pronouncement of our faith saying “Here I am, Lord. I’m ready to serve.”
These are very recognizable words from our Bible tradition. I did a little investigation and found that the phrase, “Here I am” appears over 800 times in the Old Testament. It is Joseph’s response when his father Jacob calls him to check on his other sons and his flock. Jacob calls Joseph. Joseph responds, “Here I am” and Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his brothers and as you may recall that begins for Joseph a most tumultuous life’s journey. Most notably, we recognize it as Isaiah’s response to God’s call when Isaiah experiences a vision that has him at the throne of the Most High.
The two readings selected for today’s lectionary focus very clearly upon the action of being called and the responses of Isaiah and Peter.
Being called, what does that mean? It would be an understatement to suggest that being called is different for each of us. A call to ministry such as the one that Pastor has answered is different from how one responds to leading our music ministry or to leading our Youth ministry. A Deacon’s call is different from a Ruling Elder’s call. Our Bible study leaders have responded to calls by bringing their strengths to this congregation. Our Building Care Elders tend to the physical plant of the church making sure that we have a well-maintained structure to worship within and bring our ministries to the community. And let’s not forget how we use the buildings. We house the Food Pantry which brings food to the needy in the Long Valley community. We allow community groups to use our facilities for their activities. All of these ministers have responded in different ways to answer calls to ministry.
It is as Paul suggests. We all have different strengths to exploit and employing them all is what builds up the body of the church. Many have heard God’s call; and many have stepped forward to find some way within this church community to be a part of the work of the Body.
Hearing or experiencing a “Call” can be different for each of us. Take Isaiah. He sees a vision. And in that vision, he sees the God Most High sitting on a throne. God is attended by Seraphs, and they are calling out praises to the God Most High. Their voices are so powerful that their sound shakes the foundations of the throne room. Isaiah feels and sees all this and falls prostrate and cries out, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclear lips.” In other words, I am not worthy. I am not clean; I am a lowly human from a people who are unclean. He must be thinking to himself, “What am I doing here?” Isaiah might be suggesting, if anyone is unworthy of being brought into the presence of the Lord, it is me! Does that describe you? Most times, I think it describes me.
Yet, yet, that does not seem to bother God. God does not look down on the lowly [we sinners] and grunt at our lack of worthiness. God sees within each of us a talent, an ability to contribute to God’s plan of bringing all of creation back into Shalom, back into God’s peace. One of the Seraphs comes down to Isaiah, who is lying face down on the ground, and puts a coal to his lips to purify him, to make him worthy. This is an act clearly initiated by the God Most High. For it is only God’s grace and mercy that can purify us of our sins.
What is the significance of this? It can be suggested this is no mere coal. It is a symbolic representation of the Messiah Yeshua [Yes-shu-a -that is Jesus]. It is symbolic in that it displays how something very low [a mere piece of coal] is raised to the heights of being able to forgive and wash away the stain of sin. That is a foreshadowing of the ultimate work of the Christ. So, here in Isaiah, we have both a Messianic prophecy [the forgiveness of sins] AND an example of how one should respond to that forgiveness and that cleansing. After receiving God’s mercy, when God calls and asks, “Whom shall I send?”, Isaiah responds, “Here I am. Send me.” He had gone from feeling woeful to being boldly and fully filled with grace.
Now what happens when God calls us? I am not going to suggest to you that there might be a dramatic earth-shaking event such as Isaiah had experienced before the throne as a sign that we are being called. That would be too easy for us, wouldn’t it? I mean it would make it too easy for us to refuse a call because it isn’t bombastic enough. Instead of committing when asked to serve, we can respond by saying, “Well, the earth didn’t move”. I mean, picture our Gifts & Talents Elder coming to you and asking if you could serve as a member of some work group within the ministry of the church. And you put out your hands to steady yourself, and look around, then when nothing happens you respond, “No, I think I should wait.” That would make it too easy to say, “No.”
No, it might be something simpler like Jesus suggesting to Peter, “Hey, that spot looks good. Go fish over there.” That is when we experience something, feel something, and a bell of recognition goes off in our head and we realize that in a very quiet way that small, faint voice of God has called.
In the Gospel passage from Luke this morning, many people refer to the amazing catch of fish by Peter as a miracle. I read in a commentary that there are three conditions for a miracle. The first is that the eye needs to see. What I mean by that is that we have to take the time to see what is happening around us. We need to see the need, the hurt, the places where God is pointing us to. Take for example, Jesus’ suggestion to Peter that he fish over in some spot that Jesus was pointing to. Now, we can think that Jesus miraculously created a shoal of fish in that spot and directed Peter to fish in it. But I think that would be missing the miracle. The miracle, I think, was in Peter’s response.
The truth is Lake Gennesaret was teeming with fish. It is acknowledged that from the shoreline, you could literally see shadowed areas so densely filled with fish that they would be jumping into your boat. All Jesus needed to be was observant. Jesus observed that the conditions were right for an abundant catch. An exhausted Peter couldn’t see that. He thought it was hopeless. The night was a total loss. Fishing in the morning would be hopeless. But Jesus had an eye for possibilities.
So now step two. There needs to be a spirit willing to make an effort. Peter was exhausted. This was early morning. He had been fishing all night and now they were cleaning their nets which signified the end of their workday. What was next was a meal and sleep. But Jesus, this teacher that was surrounded by hundreds of people on the shore was telling him to go out again and fish over there in that spot. If Peter wasn’t willing. If Peter gave into his exhaustion. If Peter said, “You know what Mr. Preacher Man, I work long hours and I don’t have time to go chasing your fantasies.” If Peter responded in that way, there would have been no miracle.
But no. Peter responds with a spirit that is willing to attempt what seems hopeless. That is step three. Many times, that is what church work, what servant work, is like. We could have looked at the need for food in our community years back and said, “You know what. There are too many people who need assistance. We can’t possibly provide for all of them. It bigger than us. It’s a job for one of those bigger catholic churches. They have more people. Their better equipped.” If LVPC had that attitude years ago, we would have never had built the coalition of congregations known as LVCAP that now provides food security for more than 100 families locally. There was a spirit willing to attempt the hopeless.
About a decade ago, LVPC decided to start a ministry to the Dominican Republic. We partnered with the Foundation for Peace. It started small. We were helping a struggling congregation to build a place of worship. That was their hopeless dream. We were pointed to a spot and told to build there. The work was slow and tedious. It was all back breaking, manual labor. They started by digging a foundation, and then the next year laying concrete block, then in the next years building walls and then a floor and a ceiling until after many, many years, they had built a church, a place of Worship in a spot where was nothing before. When that was finished, they began a second building. The first was already being used as a community center providing needed health support and services to the community and the new building was to become the new sanctuary. That was when I finally dragged my sorry butt down to participate. It was an unbelievable experience. The timing wasn’t perfect. I had to take time off from work as did many others in our group. But we were there when we finished building a church. We poured the floor and ceiling with concrete bucket by bucket. I can remember passing buckets to others in a bucket line. We did that for hours over several days. Ultimately, when the work was completed, we were able to participate in the first worship service in that new house of God. What seemed hopeless more than a decade before had become community and worship centers. Can I get an Amen?
The circumstances were not perfect for Peter. Peter wasn’t coming off of a good night’s sleep. It was the opposite. He was exhausted because he was working all night. He was dead tired, but Peter had a spirit that was alive. Was something stirred in him by the words Jesus was teaching from his boat? We don’t know. Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus was teaching that day. But whatever it was; whatever was said, it stirred in Peter a spirit of willingness and a spirit to act. Peter responded to what might have been hopeless with a willingness to act.
Now this speaks to us today about when, how, and why we respond or do not respond to a call. Sometimes, we wait for the perfect set of circumstances. Sometimes we expect that call for us should be like it was for Isaiah. That the earth should shutter. That there should be visions of Angles swirling around overhead. That the circumstances would be that we are finally rested, that we are finally financially secured, that we are available because the kids have moved on and setting up households of their own. Sometimes we are thinking, I should wait for the circumstances to be perfect. But you know what, the circumstances will never be perfect. We will never be rested enough. We will never be financially secure enough. We will always find a reason that our kids will need our help. If we wait for the perfect time, if we wait for an Isaiah moment then nothing will happen. We would have missed the opportunity to see with our eyes the hopeless situation that Jesus is calling us to. We would be burying within us that spirit that burns to be fired up and set free. We need to make the effort to see and do the impossible. We must take Jesus at his word when he bids us to attempt the impossible. We need to be faithful to the possible in hopeless impossibilities. When we hear that wee small voice of God ask, “Whom shall I send?” We need to respond, “Here I am Lord, Send me!”
Charge: My friends, listen for the wee, small voice of God calling you. It may sound like another church member asking for help on a project. But remember that our God is awesome. One of the awesome things God can be is a ventriloquist. God can sound like so many different voices. So, if you listen and hear one of God’s voices, step out and say, Here I am!
