The passage from Isaiah that tells of his vision and how he becomes a prophet, a man of unclean lips, in the service of God and Isaiah's response to the summons of God whom shall I send "Here, I am Lord. Send me." (Is 6:1-8). This is affirmed in that wonderful hymn "I the Lord of Sea and Sky" which is often sung at the commissioning of priests and others. For me, whilst it reflects Isaiah's call it does poorly to reflect our response unless the final chorus becomes the plural allowing the emphasis to reside in the heart of those called and who have responded. But today we hear the various positive responses on the level of the individual to the call that God gives summoning us to ministry in the world. Even today God calls out to us in the same words that are sung in the hymn and in Isaiah "Whom shall I send?".
God is calling just as God called Isaiah in our time and in this place. The question becomes how are we to respond to the call that God puts upon our hearts. In the scriptures that are read on this Sunday there are a number of responses, the enthusiastic Isaiahan response "Here, here, choose me" through the Pauline response "Oh woe is me weak and poor yet doing God's work by God's grace" (1 Cor 15:8-10) and into the disciples immediate acceptance to follow Christ (Lk. 5:11). I am not sure where you stand in that spectrum but each of has a story about being called by God into ministry of one sort or another. It may not necessarily be a moment of enlightenment such as Isaiah, more likely not, but it is a call that is laid upon our hearts. Yet, so few of us actually respond in any way whatsoever. I can hear the response now "Yes, but we don't all want to be priests or deacons or heaven forbid a bishop". My response is that God calls not into a ministry such as a deacon but into a ministry that God wishes you to take part in. Isaiah did not want to become a prophet, Paul was a persecutor of the Church and the disciples were fishermen not deacons, apostles or anything else. Yet, they all stopped doing what they were doing and heard God's call.
The issue perhaps for us is not that we do not hear God's call in the modern world but that the call is drowned out by the practicalities of the world in which we live. How many people who do not come to church are actually responding to God's bidding in doing what they are doing? Why should the Church have the sole right to hear God's call? Occasionally we have to be more aware of our faith and how it operates in the reality of this world in which we live. I am not saying that those in the church do not have a call, I am not saying that our response to God is invalid, what I am saying is that God's call is often different to what we expect as a faith group. All we have to do is look at the examples that Christ gives to see how true this is (Lk. 5:25-27) and if we are not careful we will all react in the same way as those in the synagogue did when this is proposed.by Christ. We are so focussed on ourselves that we rarely look outside of the group to see where God is actually working and who God is calling into ministry.
God calls us into a number of ministries which in our hearts we recognise. prophets, teachers, speakers in tongues, etc. All of whom we either celebrate or do not recognise, particularly prophets. Some denominations go over board and almost worship those who speak in tongues (no one is a Christian unless you speak in tongues attitude). If we are all made in God's image then we are also called in some fashion to undertake God's work and that is to bring peace, justice and love into the world. Some of us do this well others ignore God's call and sunder their relationship with God but in reality, even today, we need to answer that call that God has put into our hearts, no matter how hard it might be and no matter if we think, like Isaiah that we are not worthy, we still need to respond in some fashion. In this case doing the opposite of what God calls us to or not responding is after all a response.
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