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That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to send forth laborers into thy harvest, and to draw all mankind into thy kingdom, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. That it may please thee to give to all people increase of grace to hear and receive thy Word, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. 

Matthew 9:35-38 (The Message) Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”

Mark 16:15 (ESV) And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

I sometimes spend a lot of time searching for the right picture to go with the subject of my writing. I believe that images are as important as words, and that is why almost all church buildings built from the Middle Ages up until the end of the 1950’s often contained stained glass images that portrayed scenes from the Bible. Those pictures were powerful, instructing, for the learned and the illiterate. Prior to that, the earliest churches hung paintings or created Bible scenes in tile.

I chose a classic for today, showing a field ripe for harvest. In hindsight, I should have found a good “help wanted” sign, for that is what this “beseech” prayer is all about. The people on this planet need to hear that God loves them and many would gladly enter the Kingdom of God if they just knew how. They need to hear the truth. The prophet Isaiah did a pretty good job describing our world and especially our own nation:

Isaiah 1:2-6 (The Message) 2 Heaven and earth, you’re the jury. Listen to God’s case: “I had children and raised them well, and they turned on me. 3 The ox knows who’s boss, the mule knows the hand that feeds him, But not Israel. My people don’t know up from down. Shame! Misguided God-dropouts, staggering under their guilt-baggage, Villainous gang, band of vandals— 4 My people have walked out on me, their God, turned their backs on The Holy of Israel, walked off and never looked back. 5 “Why bother even trying to do anything with you when you just keep to your bullheaded ways? You keep beating your heads against brick walls. Everything within you protests against you. 6 From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head, nothing’s working right. Wounds and bruises and running sores— untended, unwashed, unbandaged …

The need is dire, but before you head off to Armenia, Australia or the Lesser Antilles, you must start by allowing God to harvest your heart. Live out your own story of redemption, study, pray and get to know the truth of the Gospel. (2 Timothy 2:15) When you tell the story of Jesus and God’s redemption, tell it right.( 1 Peter 3:15) Share your story with your family, your church, your friends and get used to telling it. (Psalm 40:3, 9-10). Your life, your walk and your talk should also be seasoned with grace so that people can see and hear God’s truth in you. (Colossians 4:2-6) Then, and only then can you be the person, who by receiving God’s mercy, can be the answer to the “Help Wanted” call:

Isaiah 6:6-8 (The Message) Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out.”

And then I heard the voice of the Master: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?  ”I spoke up, “I’ll go. Send me!”

Peace. Phil Parsons

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From Rodger:

The particular passage from Isaiah 6 has a tremendous, special meaning to me. This pic begins to tell the story.  It was a gift from a member of the pastor nominating committee that called me to be the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Matawan, New Jersey.

On that September Sunday evening in 1990, I knelt on the chancel steps of 1st Presbyterian Church and about 30 people, elders and pastors from various churches in Monmouth Presbytery, came forward, laid hands on me, and a good friend and mentor of mine, Bob Bell, prayed for me – very much in the same manner Phil is talking about above. (“Before you head off to Armenia,” etc.)

I rose to my feet at the end of that prayer ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA),  ending a process of preparation (and often trial and frustration) that I had begun nine years earlier in February 1981, when I visited Princeton Theological Seminary as a prospective student. And actually, this process really began back in 1977, when I pretty much made the decision to attend the University of Tennessee, not for any particular academic program or major, but because I was following Bob Kaufman there to work as a student leader with Young Life.  When Bob asked me in 1978 if I’d switch from being a Young Life leader at Farragut High School to lead the club and assist Bob Black at Fulton High School in East Knoxville, I really didn’t need to think very much about it.  (We had a unique situation at Fulton – Bob Black was always our “leader,” even though he had so many jobs and duties – football coach, athletic director, weight coach and teacher, swim club director, leader in his United Methodist Church, to name a few – that some times he didn’t know if he was going or coming.  So all of us; Phil, myself, Cindy, Dana, Kitty, Donna – all pretty much “cast offs” from the more prestigious West Knoxville Clubs – viewed our ministry and work as backstopping Bob and helping him do whatever he could when he could, and doing everything in our power to make sure his wife Brenda always knew that we wanted to help him have enough time to get home every now and then.)

At the end of my ordination service, we sang the congregational hymn that stems from Isaiah 6 that Phil mentions above.  (You can listen to John Michael Talbot’s version below.)  This is a hymn that even today, some 35 years later, I cannot sing without almost being overcome with emotion.  It reminds me of a couple of non-negotiables in my life of faith:  1st, that the Lord we serve is the creator of stars, universe, sea and sky, and is so vast, powerful, just and loving that the very thought of being able to serve should leave us speechless.  We should realize that God doesn’t really need our help – the “help wanted” sign isn’t a desperate plea for any warm body.  It’s an invitation to do the hardest job anyone could ever imagine.  It’s an invitation… AND a privilege.  I have trouble understanding why so many Christians don’t seem to understand that.

And secondly, God calls and then works with those who say “yes.”  The “team” he uses may or may not have any “all stars” on it,  but God will never try to “trade up” from those who have answered “Here I am, Lord.  Send me, Lord.”  We are the ones;  God has called and we’ve said “yes.”  That pretty much means that WE are the people we’ve been waiting for.

Matthew 9: 37 – 38: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
(By the way?  the literal translation of the verb “ask” in this verse is literally “beg.”  Or “Beseech” – funny how things come around, no?)