6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." ⁸ 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!"

After finishing up our customary Men’s Breakfast meal of pancakes, sausage, eggs, syrup, butter, and coffee (affectionately known in that setting as the Dick Cheney power breakfast) I finally received the direction for this sermon, a direction that, up until that point, was sorely lacking. It was at this gathering that John began to talk about an article that the head mahuffa of the denomination, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, wrote for the most recent edition of The Church Herald. It was in that article that he wrote that church needs to be like the team huddle during a football game. It’s the place where everyone comes together to hear what they need to do, where they need to go, and hopefully receive the empowerment to go and do exactly what needs to be done. The article made the connection that the church, like the huddle, is the place where Christians come to recharge, garner direction, and be empowered to go out into the world and serve the Almighty. As we talked about that concept it was thrown out there that as players leave the huddle, or as the case may be the people depart after church, followers become leaders. I hadn’t really thought about that before, but I think its true, or at least it needs to be true if the team, if the church, want to live out the mission that they have before them.

In the case of the team, as each player leaves that huddle they need to take hold of the responsibilities that are before them so that the play might be executed appropriately. In the case of the church, once we walk out these doors, we need step up to the ways that the Holy Spirit might have us serve so that the world might be able to experience the love of God.

This sort of mentality was definitely in place in the case of Isaiah. As we hear the story of his vision this morning, he was in the position of the follower. He viewed himself as weak, unworthy, and unprepared. He was the classic biblical example of someone who looked at their life and said, "no, I’m not the one. Go talk with my neighbor across the street. They would be great for whatever job you’ve got planned. Trust me God, go talk to the other guy!" Isaiah didn’t want to go.

God didn’t care. For as Isaiah spends time in the presence of the Almighty he is empowered, he is commissioned to go out into the world (that’s what the whole seraph and hot coal thing is about. God is commissioning Isaiah). Isaiah recognizes that he has been specially made for the task that is about to be put before him and when God calls out, "whom shall I send?", what is Isaiah’s answer? "Here I am. Send me."

Isaiah spent time with God (was in the huddle), was commissioned to serve (was given the play and what he needed to do in that play) and then became committed to that service (he went out and lead as the play called him to do). In that process of being commissioned and then committed to that call, Isaiah went from a follower to a leader. This process is something that each of us needs to go through. We need to go from being followers to leaders.

When I started here four years ago, I came as someone who felt broken, and to a large extent, unworthy to stand up in front of anyone. I left the church that I served previously under horrible conditions, so much so that there were people who were questioning whether pulpit ministry was something that I was really cut out for. I still felt called to the ministry, but I was at one of those low, in the valley points, where up seemed like down, left seemed like right. To use the verbal imagery that Isaiah offers, I was thinking of myself, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips." This sort of feeling was only confirmed in my mind when I traveled up here for my first interview.

I’m not sure how many of you remember that Sunday morning in November of 2002, but instead of showing up on time, in the car that I left my parents house in, I arrived late, in the passenger’s seat of a roll back flat bed tow truck that was carrying the now totaled vehicle.

I sat up in room 4, when we still had those couches with the pheasants on them, more than just a little shaky, and just did my best to come off as composed as I could. From my perspective, there was no reason that I deserved a call back.

But that first group that sat down with me saw something that was right, and within a few days we were figuring out a six-month contract. The appropriateness of this decision was confirmed as we started working together in those opening months of 2003. For me, this congregation was like the seraphs in the passage, bringing down the coal from the heavenly throne room and saying "your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Your actions were a commissioning presence for me.

This was so much so the case that when God called to me through the search committee to serve as your pastor, I was able to say "here I am". Because the Holy Spirit worked through you, you were able to help me feel worthy for a task that just a few months earlier, I had people telling me that I could, let alone should, ever do.

The reason that I remind you of my story that became our story is because now, three and a half years later, it feels like the roles have switched and God is now leaning heavily upon me to say that we, as a family of faith, are worthy of God’s commissioning. Here’s what I mean.

Over the last three years we have grown the various ministries of this church. In that time we have begun an annual summer youth mission trip, opened the Good News Preschool, added the associate in ministry position to our annual budget, seen the choirs grow both in size and the level of music that is offered up, had the praise and worship choir started, seen the WWF started, watched as volleyball and softball have become annual parts of the church calendar, had the Health Ministry begin and now be part of the annual budget, as well as see many different Mission and Outreach programs, like the food pantry to name just one, reach out into the community. This is in addition to the many activities and groups that were already here.

As these different things began to take hold, more and more people felt led to come through the doors and hear what all the buzz was about. This added traffic through the door has increased both our membership and attendance numbers to the point that we are now taking steps to figure out what we can do with our physical plant.

Here’s the thing: we haven’t seen anything yet. I believe that we are on the precipice of something huge; of a growth of ministry and service to the glory of God that will cause people throughout this community and beyond to sit up and take notice, not because of what we will be doing, but because of how God will be working through us. God has commissioned this congregation to huddle up and follow where God is calling us to go. Pay attention: God is calling us, both as a family of faith, and as individuals representing that faith, to lead. In the coming months you are going to begin to hear of different opportunities. They may have the title of small group, mission trip, or even some addition to our current building. These opportunities are not illustrations of our congregation trying to be something that it is not. Instead, they are examples of God’s commissioning, God’s sending us out into the world to not just follow Christ, but lead the world to discover the truth that is found in God’s love. God has led us to this point and is in the process of empowering us to go forward into the world and lead. We need to be committed to our commissioning.

The problem with that position on the precipice is that it can be as, if not more, scary than exhilarating. When you stand in that position and look out over what God is calling you to do its real easy to say, "no, not us. We’re not ready. We’re not worthy." The other ways that you may have heard these understandings are, "I don’t have enough time. I’m not talented enough. That person over their would do a better job than me. I’ll just follow along."

That’s exactly what Isaiah thought, and yet when he was commissioned to step from the ledge into his service he said, "here I am, send me." With everything that I am, I believe that God has commissioned us for this greater level of service in the world. Now we need to be committed to that commissioning so that we are able to not just follow, but lead so that others might be able to know the truth that is found in the love of God.

Holy God, throughout history You have commissioned people to go and serve. You are in the process of equipping us for this type of service. Let us be committed to this commissioning so that we can move beyond just following and step forward and lead. Lord, hear we are. Send us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.