Isaiah recounts his call to service as a prophet of the Lord. The setting is grand. That is an understatement for this description of the court of the Lord. The Lord sits high on his throne, so great that the hem of his robe fills the temple. Seraphs cover their eyes so as not to look upon God. They cover their feet, that is their nakedness, in the presence of the Most High. As they fly, they continually praise the Lord. The foundations of the temple’s threshold shake. The house is filled with smoke.
Amid this grandeur, we find a terrified man, Isaiah. He must appear small and insignificant. His plight is obvious. He is in the wrong place. A sinner from a people of sinners, he has seen the Lord of hosts. This can’t end well.
But then a seraph purifies Isaiah. The voice of the Lord asks whom he should send, who will be his representative. Isaiah courageously and in full acceptance of his destiny cries out, “Here am I; send me!”
The reading from Isaiah is a favorite among clergy. These eight verses are one of the readings the Book of Common Prayer permits at the ordination of a priest or bishop. The takeaway line from these services is “Here am I; send me!” The person about to be ordained not only has been found worthy but willingly accepts the new ministry. For priests and bishops, it can all be pretty grand. I seem to remember Mother Jo telling me that at her ordination to the priesthood a seraph did the whole hot coal experience to her, flying around and blotting out her sin. I don’t think every priest’s ordination comes with a supernatural being, but Mother Jo would deserve it, so it makes sense.
Deacon ordinations are more subdued. Deacons get a reading from Jeremiah in which the Lord alone comes to the prophet, stating that he knew Jeremiah before he formed the prophet in the womb and the Lord consecrated Jeremiah before he was born. When Jeremiah speaks of his unworthiness, the Lord himself touches the prophet’s mouth. Not as fancy a scene as seraphs flying around the temple in the smoke and the noise and no need for tongs and red-hot objects to purify, just a prophet humbly talking one-on-one to his God, but you can see why each story is appropriate for the order of clergy being ordained.
The calls for both Jeremiah and Isaiah to be prophets both strike me as having the beginning stages of the hero’s journey. The writer Joseph Campbell made the hero myth pattern famous in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, revealing heroic elements that are common across time and cultures. Early stages of the hero’s journey include the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, the meeting of the mentor, and the crossing of the threshold, which begins the transformation of the hero. The word of the Lord comes to both Jeremiah and Isaiah. Each demur, pointing out how unfit he is for this sacred ministry. The Lord himself is the prophet’s mentor. With the Lord’s cleansing and blessing, each prophet begins his journey.
The hero’s journey is a type of discernment. Who am I? What am I to become? Through trials, challenges, and temptations, through experiences that are akin to death and rebirth, through revelations and atonement, the hero is transformed and, at the end, returns to the ordinary world with a reward. That reward can be something material or it can be knowledge. The hero can use the reward to benefit others.
Look around in books and movies, and you will see the hero’s journey. We see it in mythology, famously in Odysseus’s ten-year return to Ithaca from the Trojan War. J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit and especially his Lord of the Rings series contain hero journeys. The character of the hobbit Frodo Baggins checks every box of the hero’s journey. George Lucas structured the Star Wars saga around the stages of the hero’s journey. Once you recognize that structure, it will come as no surprise that the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell, mentored George Lucus.
The hero’s journey is not just for mythological figures, hobbits, and Jedi knights in a galaxy far, far away. Each of us can face a call for adventure. That adventure need not require us to travel far, but it will require us to leave in some fashion what is familiar, what is comfortable. Like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Odysseus, Frodo, and Luke Skywalker, we may initially refuse the call to adventure for we may be content with our lives. We may have other plans. We may be afraid to lose what we have or be afraid of what awaits. Deep down, we may be afraid that the adventure will change us.
We may find a mentor who will help us to accept the challenge. The mentor may have gone on a similar adventure before. If so, the mentor can guide us through parts of our journey. The mentor teaches.
The hero’s journey can occur more than once for the same person. Maybe not in stories, but in real life, revelation and transformation happen again and again. Different mentors guide us through different parts of our lives. You may remember those who steered you during different periods of your life. I am thankful for my parents, who guided me through my childhood and adolescence, encouraging and equipping me to be independent. I had an extraordinary stroke of luck in landing MSG David Shadbolt as my first platoon sergeant, a Vietnam War veteran who took a 23-year-old lieutenant and taught him how to lead and care for the soldiers and families under his charge. My luck continued when Sally Holt Emerson took me under her wing and taught a brand-new lawyer the practice of family law and the joys of giving back to the legal profession. Finally, on my journey to become and to serve as a deacon, the Lord blessed me with the best of mentors, chief of which were the late Rev. Clifton Mann and his consort, the priest who is sitting to my right, my dear, dear friend Mother Jo. Each mentor in his or her own way helped prepare me for the challenges I faced and still encounter. If we appear tall, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
In the end, however, the mentor must let us journey alone. The goddess Athena aids Odysseus only occasionally; Odysseus must rely on his courage and legendary cleverness to survive storms, monsters, and his wife’s many suitors. The Fellowship of the Ring falls apart not long after it is created, leaving Frodo and Sam against all odds to travel alone to Mordor and Mount Doom. As Luke Skywaker looks on in horror, Darth Vader kills Luke’s Jedi master Obi One Kenobi in a light saber duel long before Luke has acquired the skills he needs to survive.
We must travel alone because it is we who must face the challenges and temptations of our journeys. It is we who must get to our own darkest moments to struggle, to find a new life, to be changed. It is we who must return home with the gifts we have gathered. It is we who will change the world when we return.
In church you often will hear the word “discernment” associated with whether a person should begin the path to becoming a deacon or a priest. Discernment is far broader than just deciding who the future clergy will be. Discernment, a type of hero’s journey, applies to all of us, especially to those not called to become clergy. Mother Jo is famous for prefacing a call for volunteers with “if it is your ministry.” Discernment is the process of learning what is your ministry. It is the process of learning who you are and what you will be.
If you are not a member of the clergy, what does ministry mean? Ministry for the laity is to represent Christ and his church. It is to bear witness to Christ wherever you are. Ministry is to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world according to the gifts you have. It is to take your place in the life, worship, and governance of the church.
A handy guide to discernment of ministry is to study the baptismal covenant in the Book of Common Prayer’s service of Holy Baptism. Acknowledging that we are called to uphold all of them, which particularly appeal to your interests and gifts? Prayer? Proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Seeking and serving Christ in all persons? Striving for justice and peace among all people?
In which ways can you radically transform your life to be born anew, to be born from above? How will you start, understanding that saying “no” or trying to postpone this journey is itself a stage in the journey? Who can be your guide, your mentor?
We are each called to undertake this journey, but the journey may not be all sweetness and light. Tomorrow, Memorial Day, is stark testimony to the cost paid on the hero’s journey by the men and women of the Armed Forces and Coast Guard. Too many did not make it to the end. Too many did not return.
Even for Isaiah, the way was hard. What is omitted from today’s reading, what is omitted from the ordination services for bishops and priests, are the next lines. I suspect the lines are left out because they are bone-chilling and hard to square with a joyous occasion like an ordination. The Lord instructs Isaiah to prevent his own people from repenting and healing. Isaiah can prophesy, but he cannot save. The Lord commands Isaiah to say to the people:
Keeping listening, but do not comprehend;
keeping looking but do not understand.
Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.
When Isaiah asks how long he must continue this dreadful task, the Lord states grimly:
Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;
until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
Isaiah must obey God, even though obedience means Judah will suffer mightily. “Here am I; send me!” comes with a steep price. Perhaps the ordination services should include these verses in the interest of full disclosure.
We, too, must follow where our journey with God leads us. As followers of Christ, we are bound with him. As children of God, suffering with Christ leads to glorification with Christ. The way of suffering, the way of the cross, is also the way of eternal life. For us, it is the only way.
This summer as you may contemplate travel, commence or continue your hero’s journey. Discern who you are presently in your faith and who you will become. Struggle with this discernment. Pray for guidance. Reach out for help, for a mentor or guide. Go outside what is comfortable for you. Experiment. Be daring. Take risks. And if I may slightly alter the farewell Luke Skywalker would give to someone leaving on a journey, “May the Lord be with you.”
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