Even bigger than the Super Bowl!!! Wow! What could that
possibly be? After all, the Super Bowl, as an annual spectacle,
has transcended its own sport and becomes the focus of national
attention beyond reason. People watch whether they give a rip
about football or not. 76,000 will gather in Dolphins' Stadium
in Miami having paid a small fortune for the privilege, while,
depending on whom you listen to, between 90- and 150-million will
watch the game on television.
Actually, watching the GAME would not apply to all who tune
in. Lots of folks will be more interested in the commercials
which are going for a cool $2.6-million for a 30-second spot -
$85,000 per second. The most intriguing one is set to air during
the fourth quarter - some fellow is planning to propose to his
girlfriend in front of however many zillions are still watching
and some company is footing the rather expensive bill in hopes
that the unusual approach will make their commercial more
memorable. We shall see.
Thinking of those who will see the game tonight but who do
not normally follow such things, do you remember that wonderful
Andy Griffith bit called, "What It Was, Was Football?"(1) It is
the story about a country boy at his first football game: "What I
seen was this whole raft of people a-settin' on these two banks,
and a-lookin' at one another across this pretty little green cow
pasture." There were these five or six convicts runnin' up and
down a-blowin' whistles. Then 30 or 40 fellows come a-runnin'
out of this little outhouse at the end of the pasture followed by
another 30 or 40 coming from the other end of the outhouse and
commencing "the awfulest fight I have ever seen in my life," all
over this "punkin'" that each group wanted. There were "these
purty girls a-wearin' these little-bitty short dresses and a-dancin' around... And I don't know, friends, to this day what it
was that they was a'doin' down thar! But I have studied about
it. And I think that it's some kindly of a contest where they
see which bunchful of them men can take that punkin' and run from
one end of that cow pasture to the other, without either gettin'
knocked down...or steppin' in somethin'!"
That about has it. Amazingly, the National Football League
has managed to turn that run around the cow pasture tonight into
the phenomenon known as Super Bowl XLI. HUGE!!!
But I suspect Isaiah would say, after his encounter in the
Temple that we read about in our lesson, that, in terms of
ultimate reality, this is pretty small potatoes...or "punkin's,"
as the case may be. It was "the year that King Uzziah died"
which signaled the end of an era of relative independence for
Judah, a time of transition from a popular and effective ruler to
his unproven and less popular son, Jotham, while super-power
Assyria looms on the horizon. Isaiah is in "church." The temple
interior is dark, lit by dusky oil lamps. The pungent smell of
the burning meat from the sacrifices is pervasive. Isaiah looks
up and sees the Lord, enthroned before him like an eastern
potentate, a formidable presence bigger than the universe. The
sight is so humongous that just the train of the divine robe
fills the place. This is the one whom no one can look upon
directly and remain alive. Circling around this amazing figure
are angels - seraphim: fiery six-winged serpent-like creatures;
with two of the wings they cover their faces, and with two more
they cover their "feet" (which in Hebrew is a euphemism for their
private parts); they hover in flight, two more wings at the
ready, waiting to speed off at the Lord's command. This is a
better production than the one for the Super Bowl half time show.
The seraphim are boisterously singing songs of praise.
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full
of his glory." When Hebrew repeats a word, it is for emphasis,
and for "holy" to be repeated THREE times, well... This God is
totally AWESOME. This is no soul of nature, no spark within
human beings, no familiar spirit available everywhere. No. The
God of Old Testament and New is "other" from everything in heaven
and on earth, uniquely different, uniquely holy. This God
overwhelms everything.
Isaiah feels the sensation of an earthquake - "the doorposts
and thresholds shook." He is thoroughly unnerved by what he
hears and sees and is literally scared to death: "Woe to me...I
am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a
people of unclean lips." One of the seraphim flies over to
Isaiah and touches his mouth on the Lord's behalf with a burning
coal. If Isaiah is complaining that he is "a man of unclean
lips," then the heat of the fire cauterizes them and makes them
clean again - henceforth, he will be worthy to speak God's Word.
The ritual has cleansed the prophet but not addressed his other
concern: that he lives "among a people of unclean lips." No
matter. Isaiah has now been set apart.
This is a somewhat more sensational encounter with God than
most of us experience on a given Sunday in church. Our
perceptions of God are usually on the level of quiet stirrings,
not thundering spectacles. Truth be told, we experience too
little of God. In America today, God is seen as marching in step
with our political parties, and with our national interests. God
is understood to want nothing but the best for us, the gospel of
health and wealth. God is perceived as a calming presence, a
supportive friend, and a healing helper, all of which work
together to maintain the status quo. There may be some truth to
these characterizations, but they are certainly not the whole
truth, not the whole truth at all.
I read recently of a tavern owner in Kentucky who was suing the neighboring Baptist Church. It seems the Baptists had prayed for God's intervention to close this tavern down. Not long after, in the midst of a thunderstorm, the tavern was struck by lightning and destroyed. The owner sued, the church replied, "What did WE do?" The judge responded by noting that the tavern owner believed in the power of prayer but apparently the church did not. Hmm.
Annie Dillard, one of our most eloquent and insightful
writers, has asked of our understandings about God, "Does anyone
have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?
Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches
are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets,
mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness
to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet gloves to church; we should
all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life
preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.
For the sleeping God may wake some day and take offense, or the
waking God may draw us out to where we can never return."(2)
The passage ends with verse 8, a ringing call to service.
The Lord asks, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" The
question was not directed to Isaiah, but rather to the attending
angels. Isaiah simply overheard and stepped forward. Was he
nuts? After all, God did not say where the "whom" was being sent
or what the task was. Isaiah might have waited for a bit more
information before volunteering. What could have prompted such a
seemingly rash response? What do you think?
We all experience the holiness of God differently, in
different times and in different ways. Sometimes, it is the
whisper of that still, small voice; sometimes, it is the awesome
and overwhelming presence that Isaiah encountered - HUGE - and,
yes, MUCH bigger than the Super Bowl. Either way, God's question
reverberates: Whom shall I send? Who will go? Who?
Amen.
1. Capitol Records, 1953
2. Annie Dillard, Teaching A Stone To Talk, (New York : Harper & Row, 1982), p.58
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