Johannine Hours                Isaiah 6:1-8                March 1996
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[The "Johannine hours" are meant as a way of seeking God in silence
and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a
day, take a moment to read the Bible passage with the short
commentary and to reflect on the questions which follow.
Afterwards, a small group people can meet to share what they have
discovered and perhaps for a time of prayer.] 

The God of the Bible often reveals himself in situations on the
fringes of human life. But one day, at the very heart of the life
of God's people, a man had a vision. During a liturgy in the great
Temple of Jerusalem, Isaiah saw the Lord as a majestic sovereign
surrounded by his courtiers. God thus used familiar images to
depict his holiness. And as always, the experience of holiness was
something both attractive and frightening -- the encounter with a
Beauty that unsettles human beings by calling them out of their
routines. 

Isaiah's fear is translated into a feeling of unworthiness. "A man
of unclean lips," he is not able to add his voice to the praises of
the heavenly host. But admitting his weakness is enough, for God
longs so deeply to communicate his holiness that he searches for
the smallest sign of openness in his partner. The fire of God's
holiness is a burning coal that can purify, a flame of forgiveness
that makes a human being able to welcome God. With his lips now
clean, Isaiah can go towards others in God's name and bring to his
wayward contemporaries a beautiful and unsettling Word. Far from
being a movement of separation or a treasure to be protected,
holiness in the Bible is essentially an energy of communion, a
"going towards" that makes those it encounters messengers of an
unimaginable love. 

      Do I discover God's presence just as much in ordinary life
      with others, for example in that of my local Church, as in
      exceptional experiences? 
      Do I sometimes feel that I am not "up to the mark," not able
      to accomplish what God expects of me? How then can I remember
      that "whatever God asks, at the same time he gives"? 
      What is God asking me to communicate to others, and by what
      means? Where can I find the strength to do it? 

      "Johannine Hours" - 03/96 - ©71250 Taizé-Community, France.
      taize@cpe.ipl.fr 



      ISA 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
      seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his
      robe filled the temple. [2] Above him were seraphs, each with
      six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two
      they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. [3]
      And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is
      the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." [4]
      At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds
      shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 

      ISA 6:5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of
      unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and
      my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 

      ISA 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal
      in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
      [7] With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has
      touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin
      atoned for." 

      ISA 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom
      shall I send? And who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6,1-8)




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