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Lifting our imaginations beyond what is seen and known

As Christians we all the time stand in the presence of the one who is glorified; we always have God as our background, as our strength. We look elsewhere for the ultimate means of knowledge, for the ultimate means of consolation. This marks us out in a secular world, for a secular mindset rejects the idea of there being something greater and better than us who teaches us who we really are and what our real end is. Everything is reduced to what humanity can see, understand, categorise.

The Vision that Isaiah* has of God, sums up in many ways the story of God that is told from the start of the Old Testament to the close of the New – God alone is worthy of honour and praise – a true encounter with God brings us to our knees in recognition of our own unworthiness – God forgives us and calls us and sends us to do his work. This Vision of God is a Trinitarian vision as God is seen to work in the ways that we understand God to work as Christians – The Mighty Creator and King worthy of honour; the one who draws us to Himself and forgives us, the Son, and the Spirit calling us and sending us, equipping us to be messengers and ministers of the Gospel.

A religious or spiritual encounter is that which is about seeing what is greater, seeing what alone can teach and guide us, empower and enable us to be better, do better and reach for better.

We do really live in an impoverished culture that glorifies fame and wealth, power and success; a world that refuses to see with its imagination and its heart that humans are called to so much more than that alone which we can dominate and exploit. It’s so sad to see human life reduced so much, because what we believe really does impact on human well-being and lived experience. So, those of us with a religious imagination have a great duty to encourage others to step beyond the reductionist mindsets that dominate the grand narratives of our day – to encourage people to enter into the glory of God’s presence – to open their eyes to the transcendent reality.

How, do we do that? By living lives that reflect the glory of the one we worship. If it really does matter who and what we believe in, then it really will impact on who we are as people. If God exists and knows what is best for our well-being then Christian communities must be places when human beings can flourish; where the weak and vulnerable are supported; where the sad are comforted, where the sick are healed and so on. We must be people who dare to live what we proclaim. If our faith makes no difference to the way we behave, to who we are as people, we of all people are to be pitied – for being given a vision of God that is so glorious, we fail to actually see, we fail to inhabit the glory which is our inheritance and our delight. How might faith make more of a difference for you?  How might you and I reveal something more of God’s glory today, tomorrow, next week? What specific things is God calling us to be and to do, to glorify and honour his name in the world?

As Trinitarian people we are lovingly created, humbly brought back to God and empowered to be the light and salt of the world. Let’s re-affirm our commitment to that vocation together, today.

*

Isaiah 6:1-8

A Vision of God in the Temple

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’










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