In seminary, we take two semesters of Hebrew and two semesters of Greek so that we know just enough about the languages to be dangerous. Then we’re required to take a class on a book of the Bible that’s heavily focused on language, translation, and learning how to use those skills to build meaningful theology. The class I took focused on the book of Isaiah. Each week, we had to prepare our own translation of a sizable chunk of Isaiah, annotate it, and discuss it in class. Now, translating is fascinating, but it’s hard work. It’s a recipe for confusion, frustration, and tension headaches. Apart from loving the hymn “Here I am, Lord,” which we’ll be singing later in the service, I never much gave this passage a second thought: Isaiah’s call story. There are angels around God’s holy temple, Isaiah feels unworthy, God provides forgiveness, and Isaiah answers the call. A beautiful story, but it never really stood out to me.
Then I started trying to translate it and I’ve rarely experienced anything like it. My heart started beating faster and I felt a thrill. The seraphs in the text seemed to come alive – these creatures that fly around God’s throne in bright, joyful worship – their form beyond our imagining, their holiness reflecting God’s own glory. By the time I got to their song of praise, my hands were shaking. They called to one another as they flew: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” And these were all words that I knew already so the meaning wasn’t delayed by all that time flipping back and forth in the dictionary and struggling with the sometimes impossible verbal forms. I looked at the words and it was immediate: “qadosh qadosh qadosh Adonai tsavaoth. M’lo kol-haarets k’vodo.” “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God’s glory.”
It suddenly hit me: this call story is still calling. The beauty and love and holiness so profound that they overwhelm our senses – that’s who God is and who God has always been and who God will always be. This God calls each one of us by name and sees us and knows us, loves us and strengthens us.