Send me...

Tonight’s Old Testament Reading was the calling of Isaiah by God (Isaiah 6:1-8). The passage we heard ended with the wonderful words, ‘I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us ?” and I said, “Here I am, send me!”

A week last Friday there was an article in the Western Mail with a picture of a Church with a ‘Sold’ sign outside and an even larger picture of the Archbishop of Wales below. And the article had a heading saying, ‘Church attendance in Wales set to plummet to under 40,000 a month’. Reading the article it mentioned that the current figure is somewhere around 200,000 people per month attending. It was a classic story of depression in the Church, the sort that papers love to print – it was based largely on figures coming from the Methodist and Presbyterian Church, and related to the year 2050.

It’s a long time off, and the facts may not make complete sense in terms of the Church in Wales or many other Churches which are actually growing, but we can’t ignore the fact that the Church today is more often associated with bad news rather than the good news of Jesus, in fact the incredibly good news of Jesus, a Saviour who lived amongst us, who showed incredible love and compassion even for those who hurt him, a Saviour who died on the cross, but who rose again to conquer the power of sin and death for all time.

This is good news, and that is the good news that we must be revealing to a world that needs to hear. Throughout this country the Church is doing incredible work of caring and loving, of supporting those in need. Community projects are making a difference, people are visiting those who are sick or housebound, charity workers are often coming out of Churches, money is being donated, prayers are being offered, there is support for the grieving, encouragement for those who are struggling, marriages are still taking place in Church, baptisms are still wanted, and the list can go on and on…

The Church is doing incredible work to share the good news of Jesus, and yet so often that good news is being obscured by bad news, by stories of division in the Church, splits between and within denominations, arguments even in single congregations, lack of money, lack of willing people to do things, and perhaps the saddest part of all is that so many of these stories are actually coming out from the Church…

‘Here I am; send me’ was the response of Isaiah to the call of God… What is our response ? Because we too are being called, to go out and proclaim good news for everyone, through our words and our actions… through our lives…

‘Here I am; send me’… Send me into the heart of worship to celebrate the love of God, to offer to him praise and thanksgiving for all of the many, many wonderful gifts that he has given us, and continues to give each day.

Send me out with a heart for prayer for those in need around, whether that need be physical or spiritual. Send me out to read the Bible, God’s word, to discover or rediscover some of the incredible purposes of God for his world, and for you and me…

Send me out to actually tell people that there is a hope in this world not based on financial success or great holidays, or drugs or alcohol, but based on the knowledge that Jesus loves us – all of the other things will ultimately disappear, but the love of Jesus is and will remain constant and unbreakable…

Send me out with joy – the word joy appears 127 times in the New Testament – and yet so often people outside the Church do not see that joy from the followers of Jesus. Quite a long time ago I did a sermon and used a song from the musical ‘Fame’ as an illustration. That song is called, ‘Life is a celebration’….

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it – sometimes life is filled with obstacles and with sadness and with grief, and with worries, but life is a celebration when we focus on Jesus and on his everlasting and unbreakable love for us, the kind of love which will hold us through pain and through suffering and through worry and temptation, and bring us out the other side safely…

Send me out with hope, hope that shines out from us to touch others – sometimes we’re lucky enough to meet people from whom the love of God simply shines out, and those people can be us !

Send me out with a desire to serve and to give ! We base our faith on the person of Jesus, a man who had everything, and yet became nothing, a man who lived as a servant, who devoted his life to the needs of others, those he met face to face 2000 years ago, and those he has met in the years since, and continues to meet today…

Our privilege is to be called to follow this man who says ‘Whom shall I send…’

Yesterday I heard a quote from the Prime Minister describing the government of Burma as inhuman because of their unwillingness to allow in much foreign aid… It baffles me why a country like ours, or like the United States was persuaded to go into a country like Iraq in order to overthrow a dangerous tyrant like Saddam Hussein because thousands and thousands of people were dying and living under oppression in the country, and yet, when those governments know of people dying before their very eyes, people in desperate urgent need because their government are ‘inhuman’, our government stands by and does very little other than words which mean nothing at all to those who are dying…

But this isn’t a political address, but a call to see need around us… It’s there in the people of Burma and China, but it’s there also in the lives of people all around us, who need hope, love, care, attention, healing, who need Jesus….

Last week we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the early Church, and given to every one of us who will receive him… That is the Spirit that will give us the discernment to see need, the wisdom to speak the right words, the strength to forgive or to say sorry, the passion that will heal division, the courage to speak up when our tongues seem stuck, and the joy and the hope that will shine out from us…

Many of us feel comfortable and secure in our own homes, in our Churches, in our own communities. We are happy to give to charities, we are happy to put money into the collection plate in Church, we are pretty good people, but are we really asking God if he wants us to do more ? Isaiah gives us a lesson with his response to God, ‘Here am I, send me !’ Notice that he doesn’t even respond reluctantly. He is showing to us that the call of God is a great privilege - being chosen by the creator of the world must be the highest honour possible… and it is one that he offers to everyone.

So, which of us will listen to God, as he asks, ‘Whom shall I send?’ Which of us will respond with the words, ‘Here I am, send me!’ Which of us are prepared to move away from the ‘I’ll leave it to someone else’ mentality and take the step of faith, asking God to use us in whatever way he chooses?

Let us pray : Lord God, we open our lives before you. You are our strength and our inspiration, you are our hope and our joy, and so we dedicate our lives afresh to you. Make clear to us your vision for us and for your world, and help us to respond to your call with the words, ‘Here I am, send me… Here I am, use me…’ that we may be part of your glorious work to extend your kingdom here on earth and share with you in the peace and joy of eternity, offered to us by your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN