All-Consuming Presence

How often do we plan and show up to worship expecting to encounter God? It feels like the right answer should be, “Every week!” But, in reality, I’m sure many of us would prefer not to be scared witless by the glory of God as Isaiah was in today’s passage. Or, at the very least, we’d like some warning so we can be prepared! And yet, isn’t that at least part of what worship planning is about, showing up and expecting to encounter God? We certainly believe that God is ever-present, so shouldn’t worship be about learning to recognize God’s presence among us?

As terrifying as aspects of Isaiah’s call story may seem, Isaiah’s experience is instructive for our approach to worship planning and leadership at all times, but perhaps most especially on this Trinity Sunday. The whole encounter begins with Isaiah showing up at the temple. So, consider taking some time to welcome and orient the congregation toward showing up to God’s presence in their midst. Acknowledge all that we bring with us into worship, the burdens and joys and everything in between, and attune the gathered body toward God’s presence with them even as they have come to be present to God and one another.

Then, just as the seraphs sing to one another the truth of God’s holiness, invite the congregation to also sing and tell one another the truth of God’s holiness in their lives. Certainly, that may include beloved hymns and songs like “Holy, Holy, Holy” (United Methodist Hymnal, 64), “Maker, in Whom We Live” (United Methodist Hymnal, 88), or “Santo, Santo, Santo” (The Faith We Sing, 2007), “Glory to God/Gloria a Dios” (The Faith We Sing, 2033), or “Holy Is the Lord” (Worship and Song, 3028), but it might also include a prayer of confession or intercession that recalls for those gathered God’s presence that surrounds us in love and reminds us, like Isaiah, who we are and how we are to live in the world.

Isaiah’s vision in the temple also reminds us that encountering God leads to calling. So, as we begin this long season after Pentecost, consider crafting an invitation to discipleship that gives congregants time and space to listen for God’s calling, to respond, and then to listen for what God is sending them to do. Orient the congregation to enter Ordinary Time as a season for inquiry and exploration, for discernment and experimentation, for committing to a life of discipleship, and for discovering how God’s all-consuming presence calls, prepares, and empowers us to participate in bringing about the kin-dom of God on earth as it is in heaven.