I said:“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the Mighty One, the Supreme of all!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 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.” Then I heard the voice of the Holy One saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
—Isaiah 6.5-8
The headlines are grim.
Things do not look good for the nation;
you rightly foresee doom.
You yourself are also a mess,
a liar among liars.
Yet a hot coal of love
has singed your unworthiness away.
Now you are sent: given to this world,
your lips glowing with that grace,
to bear that forgiving flame,
to bear the love which—
to ashes with unworthiness—
chooses people.
You are sent to bear peace in the chaos,
blessing despite the riot, hope in the gloom.
Your words will not sway history;
the collapse will come. But speak
the Word of love in the time of danger,
and they will welcome your words of love
among the ruins.
Speak, then.
Don’t let the tragedy discourage you:
it’s the reason you are sent.
Amid the shouting and weeping,
proclaim in word and deed
the unrelenting gentleness of God.
You are sent into the falling darkness
to be light on the long, long path home.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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