Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
February 4, 2007
Isaiah 6:1, 5-10
Luke 5:1-11
Egg Salad, Earwax, Smoke
- Do you think God talks to us in our dreams? Recently I read that a woman, who is a writer, dreamed that she was in a gathering of people and there was a big table of food. It was filled with strange-looking, exotic dishes. Food she’d never seen before. And she thought, “There must be something here I recognize -- something that isn’t so different.” Then she saw egg salad, something she’d had before. So she put a big helping of that on her plate and walked away from the table. So what do you think the message was in that dream?
- If you believe any of the scriptures, then you know that God talks to us all the time. But we don’t hear -- or we don’t see. Maybe we dream, but instead of trying to understand it, maybe we don’t give it much thought -- or don’t even remember. The prophet Isaiah was in the temple one day and had a dream, a vision, that changed his life. He saw God -- so big, that only the hem of his garment filled the temple. The earth shook, and these six-winged creatures kept saying “Holy, holy, holy.” And the temple filled with smoke. When Isaiah saw how glorious and beautiful God was, he felt dirty and he couldn’t stand how unlike God he was. He said, “God has such mercy and grace, but I am mean, and judgmental. God loves everyone, but I hate my enemies.” He said, “God, compared to your beauty, I am ugly. And the people I live with are cruel and unforgiving. We are not like you.” The creatures said, “We will make you a new person -- we will give you a kind heart.” They took a burning coal from the fire and put it on his mouth. Then God said, “I need someone to preach for me -- who will go?” Isaiah said, “I will. What do you want me to say?” God said, “Tell the people to look, but they will not see. Tell them to listen, but but they will not hear. Because if they could see and hear me, they might love one another, and be healed.”
- This is a strange mission that God gave Isaiah. God told Isaiah that he’d be rejected and the people would be deaf and blind to spiritual truth. They would resist any kind of change. It’s not hopeless for us -- but our transformation isn’t easy. Isaiah said that God tries to reach us -- but we’re not aware. The Psalmist tells us to sing a new song, but we want to keep singing the songs we already know.
- Jesus told the disciples, “You’re not catching any fish. You keep going to the same waters and you pull in empty nets. But I want you to go out to the deep waters. Go where you haven’t been before.” Then he says: “Don’t be afraid.”
- Maybe we don’t hear God, or see spiritual truth, because we ARE afraid of the unknown. We don’t take chances. Our faith gets flabby because we don’t exercise it. Isaiah told God: “Send me -- I will preach your message even though people will reject me.” The disciples told Jesus, “We will fish in the deep waters, even though we might die there.” And do you know what the woman did who had the egg salad dream? She woke up and thought about it and laughed. She thought -- all that beautiful and strange food -- and I took the egg salad -- AND I HATE EGG SALAD -- but I took it because it was the only food I’d eaten before. What a frightened and insecure person I’ve been. With all the nourishment around me -- the whole table of life before me -- and I take the thing I hate! So she prayed that morning and resolved, with God’s help, to let go of her “egg salad approach” to life.
- Maybe it’s time for us to take more chances, even if we might fail, or be rejected, like Isaiah -- like Jesus. Do we want to live -- take risks -- be terrified but go for it anyway -- or do we want to feel safe, and comfortable, and spend the rest of our days eating egg salad? I’ll tell you -- personally-- and with God’s help -- I think I’m ready for a big plate of sushi. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and say a prayer and open your mouth and stick a big piece of raw fish in there -- and hope it tastes good! Now that’s living!