WATCHWORD:
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8
Meditation:
Whom Shall I Send?
An imagined conversation with your Holy Spirit:
Holy Spirit – Are you willing to be broken bread? How about poured-out wine?
With a nervous smile you reply that you would rather consume it then pour it out.
Holy Spirit – Let me put it in a different way. Would you be willing to be broken bread and poured out wine for God?
Well, sure. If your question is metaphorical and you mean it in a spiritual way, I guess I wouldn’t object. But I would want God to break the bread and to crush the grapes into wine.
Holy Spirit – So, you have a conditional response to God’s spiritual request. Have I got that right?
Ah…can I change my answer?”
In the course of our typical day, how often, do you suppose, we are called upon to be poured out wine and broken bread? How often, in that typical day, are we presented with circumstances that call us to go and do likewise? To get into the gutter and lift someone who has fallen? To leave our comfort zone and do the right thing, the Christ-like thing? It probably happens more often than we are aware of, or we have chosen to turn a blind eye…an ‘un-Christ-like’ response.
The Sacrament — Broken bread and poured-out wine — is the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior. We, who believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah, as our Lord and Savior, as God incarnate, have a calling to be His hands, His voice, His presence. To get in the gutter, to go and do, to leave our recliners and be Him to others. How ready are we to say, with Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me”?
The truth is, we are not fit to be broken bread and poured-out wine in service to others until we stand before the very presence of God and are brought into agreement with Him. Then, and only then, can we be The Sacrament in His hands. Can you hear God? He is speaking to you and to me: “Whom shall I send…?” Can we say, through our actions and our willingness, “Send, me, Lord?” Amen.
Wounded Sparrow by Murray Bodo:
Alone again with only the wind and one lone sparrow singing into the cold.
I reach into the night and you are there to take me back.
You are faithful, and you even hear the cry of the wounded sparrow.
— From Sing Pilgrimage and Exile by Murray Bodo
Send Me:
Lord, we are so grateful to have a loving God who we can approach! Thank You for receiving our prayers and for reconciling our relationship with You through Jesus Christ. Give me the spiritual strength, Lord, to respond with “Here I am. Send me” when the call comes. Our only hope rests on You Jesus, and we praise Your holy and worthy name! Holy spirit, engage us and bring to our minds the promises of God that we may be comforted in hard times and lift it up… always remembering our Father in Heaven who is for us! in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
