Now that Summer is upon us, many of us will be spending some time down at the shore.  When I and my family go on our shore vacation I always try to get up early enough one morning to see the sun rise over the ocean.  It is an amazing sight.  What always strikes me is how at sunrise and sunset we can look right at the sun, the sun which is with us all day yet at which we cannot directly gaze through most of the day.  Yet at this certain angle of sunrise and sunset we can see it directly, if at an angle.

In our passage, the prophet Isaiah is able to see God more directly than usual as God reveals Himself through this vision in chapter 6. 

Overwhelmed by God's glory, even at this angle, Isaiah realizes his own guilt, is given God's grace, and having been forgiven, is given his call...as we also receive the call when we have been brought to faith in Christ...