"Too Many Hats to Wear" - Isaiah 6:1-8 - June 18, 2000

To be a father is to wear many hats. You find yourself constantly changing gears; putting on your ball cap to take your children to little league, putting on your paint hat to paint the house, putting on your toboggan hat to take out the trash in the midst of winter or putting on your visor to play golf. You wear other hats too, that is to say, you perform a variety of roles and functions to manage your work, families, friends and activities.

I’ve been trying to paint the trim on my house this summer. The only way I can get it done is to set aside a few hours here or there, changing hats in the process. No sooner do I get into one project and its time to move on to something else. On any given day I am pastor, husband, father, neighbor, teacher, , counselor, painter, carpenter, mechanic, photographer, grandfather, and much more. Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming.

Isaiah was overwhelmed. He found himself in the midst of a changing society. There was much chaos and anxiety and he was burdened with being the spokesperson for the people of God. Feeling "lost" and disillusioned, he was a man of "unclean lips" unable to say what he meant, unable to speak concisely as a representative of Yahweh.

Sometimes I find it difficult to say exactly what I want to say. Overwhelming demands, fatigue and lack of patience causes me to say things that don’t come out right, things that are said and I later regret. Sometimes I am at a loss for words.

Isaiah admitted he was not up to the task. He confessed he needed help. I believe that people, especially men, are reluctant to ask for help. We have a tendency to conquer every task. For some reason, asking for help means we have failed or are somehow less than the "real men" we should be.

Perhaps the reason we are unable to respond to the call of God is our inability to confess our shortcomings. This, however is the first step in answering the call. One must be willing to say "I am lost."

What happened next for Isaiah is what happens for all of us. Isaiah was forgiven. No need to live with feelings of inadequacy and guilt. His sins of the past have been blotted out. He is free and fully capable of performing any task. We too are forgiven. Just because we have failed in the past or not lived up to expectations does not mean we are finished. The challenge for us is to receive the forgiveness God gives and move forward.

Having received God’s forgiveness, Isaiah moves forward. In an act of gratitude for the grace of Yahweh, Isaiah now commits himself for whatever God asks him to do. He puts on a new hat and says, "Here am I, send me."

At our Ohio Conference Annual Meeting last Saturday, an 84 year old woman, who is the oldest active ordained pastor in the state made a brief statement during the "speak out" period. She said she still believed that God should be addressed as "Father." She modified her statement by saying, "... at least some of the time." Her remark may have seemed sexist to many of us but I think there is some truth in what she says. For I believe, that now more than ever, the Church needs men to say, "Here am I, send me."

As long as fathers continue to use worship time for recreational purposes, ignore their families and children by spending every spare moment on their jobs and reject assistance for the things that burden them, we will have fewer and fewer men to answer the call. It is time for fathers, grandfathers, dads, step-dads, in other words, the male species of our time, to look to Isaiah as our role model.

We all dream of being Tiger Woods, Mark McGuire, Bill Gates, or Tom Cruise. They are the icons of our day who have risen to the occasion with their super human talents. God doesn’t expect any of us to be superman. God only asks us to respond to the needs within our reach.

I went to see my grandchildren play T-ball last Sunday afternoon. I wanted them to know that their grandfather was supportive of their activities. During the game their father, my son-in-law, stopped by the game to give them a hug. He is a fireman and was working. He was returning from a run and had time to stop by the ball park and check in on his kids. His presence made a difference.

That is what this chapter in Isaiah is all about. Isaiah’s respond to the call of attending to God’s children would make a difference. God didn’t expect him to be anything other than himself, doing what he could do best, being the spokesperson to the people. He couldn’t do it alone and either can we. Like Isaiah, it is time for each one of us to say, "Here am I, send me."

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio