Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of the Hebrew Bible
Eucharistic Readings from the Australian Prayer Book.
Isaiah 6: 1-8...5th S. after Epiphany, Year C ....(For LK 5:1-11
scroll on site.)
NOTES: 1]Always read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our Christian understanding of God revealed in Jesus in the New
Testament.2] Here we're dealing with the
original IS, born c.765BC, called to be a Prophet in 740 (v.1), &
wrote Chs.1-39. 3] We end at
v.8, but read 9-13 for some tough content in his
message.
WARMING UP: How much do
we date experiences by relating them to local or world events?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1-3 Does the kind of glory IS
speaks
of here relate to our own religious experience? If liturgy is meant to
'replicate' glorious worship, how well does the liturgy we use succeed?
Does it even aim at that? Should it? Is the
contrast between liturgies, e.g. Orthodox, Roman, Anglican (at the more
Catholic end of the scale) that do try to create 'glorious worship',
& churches that don't, a matter of
theology, temperament, church politics, or something else? Is there any
truth in what someone once said, that: 'protestant' churches are more
about worshipping with our head, & 'catholic' or 'Orthodox' kinds
more about worshipping with our heart? Is this an issue we ever
consider? Should we?
Do we
ever have the kind of vision IS has here, or don't
genuine experiences like this happen any more? Given Matthew Fox's
famous "faith is the creative use of our imagination", a kind of
spiritual gift Paul never got
around to listing, might our imagination still be able to 'conjure up'
visions of God's glory? Next time we sing
or say the Tersanctus (Holy, holy, holy...) might it be an interesting
spiritual exercise to
imagine ourselves surrounded by the glory of heaven where such a sight
& language are normal? Does the way we live our life reflect God's
glory so the whole earth can see & join in?
4-5 Is
there anything house or world shaking about the way we see &
worship God? Is our life an incense people can smell as an offering to
God? Do we ever feel: 'Woe is me!'? / Lost? / That our lips are
'unclean'? / That our society has 'unclean lips'? Does 'unclean lips'
mean more than using 'bad language'? What else might it include? Can
we, in any meaningful sense say "My eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of Hosts"?
6-8 If being
'cleansed' doesn't necessarily have to happen as described in IS'
vision, is it still essential that it happen at God's initiative, not
our own? Does any 'ceremonial' form of cleansing from guilt & sin
still need to be translated into reality in everyday life? Do we ever
try to live a 'cleansed' life for others in church circles to see, but
are unable or unwilling to live life in general as 'cleansed'?
Have we ever heard &
responded to - or are we ignoring - some direct call we're sure is from
God & directed specifically to us? Do we ever take the easy way out
of replying to God, "Here I am, send someone else!"?
