Saturday in The Week of The Festival of The Holy Trinity (06/13/09)

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!"

--Isaiah 6:8

Our God, the Holy Trinity, does not exist for the sake of existing. The evidence from the book of Isaiah is that this God calls and sends.


In this instance, the calling comes in the form of two questions: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Note the pronouns. In the first question, the pronoun is in the singular. In the second, it is in the plural. Here, even in these questions, is a vestige and hint of the Holy Trinity: the One (singular)-in-Three (plural), and the Three (plural)-in-One (singular).


But this is more than a "proof text" for the church's confession of the Holy Trinity. This is an invitation to consider, as Isaiah did, where we stand in terms of the call of God.


One of the many alternatives to Isaiah's response -- Here am I; send me -- would be to say: "I'm leaving; send someone else." Another would be thus: "God, I'll stick around, but so-and-so over there is a much better candidate."


God is no stranger to His children's evasiveness. Amazingly, He continues to call. Responding affirmatively to the call, we are sent into the world so that this calling and sending God might have best use of us for the Gospel and His people's sake.


PD