Isaiah 6:1-8

“How Can Our Lips Proclaim What Our Eyes Have Seen?”

The prophet Isaiah records his call as a visual encounter in God’s throne room.  What he sees is so holy, so pure, so true, that it can only be described using fantastical language: The hem of God’s robe fills the entire temple.  Seraphs – holy 6-winged creatures – fly through the scene.  Isaiah knows that he and his people aren’t so holy, so pure, or so true.  He despairs.  How can he represent a God like this when there’s such a disconnect between God’s holiness and Isaiah’s “unclean lips”?  Good question.  What will it mean for us to respond to God’s call as those with “unclean lips” in the midst of a people with “unclean lips”?  God’s response comes through a Seraph that performs a radical cleansing procedure of sorts on Isaiah.  What must happen for us in our encounter with the holy?  What will be the consequences of this encounter?