Here I Am! Send Me: Saturday of Spring Embertide 2026 (Isaiah 6:1-8)

February 28, 2026, Spring Ember Day III, Saturday of Spring Embertide, Season of Lent

Isaiah 6:1–8, Psalm 71:17–24, Acts 20:24–35, Matthew 24:42–50

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you on this third and final day of Spring Embertide.

On Wednesday, Moses taught us that the burden of God’s work is too heavy for any one person to carry. God provides what his Church needs, gives gifts for the work, and reminds us that the growth belongs to him. Yesterday, Samuel taught us that the call also belongs to God. God calls, the servant listens, and the Church discerns. Today Isaiah takes us one step further. The God who provides and calls is holy, and those whom he sends must be formed by that holiness, cleansed by his grace, and prepared for faithful service among his people.

That brings these three Spring Ember Days together. We began with dependence: the work is God’s, and we cannot carry it alone. We moved to discernment: vocation begins with God rather than with personal ambition or institutional need. Now we come to formation and faithfulness. God does not simply call people and leave them as they are. He forms servants for the work, and he gives the Church a real responsibility to help discern, prepare, ordain, support, and uphold those whom he sends.

That is one reason Ember Days matter. The Prayer Book sets them apart particularly for prayer for those called to Holy Orders. It gives us prayers asking God to fill his ministers with the truth of his doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life. It also asks that the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may choose suitable persons for the ministry of Word and Sacrament and uphold them in their work. Those prayers assume that faithful ministry requires more than an initial sense of call. A calling must be discerned, a servant must be formed, and those who are sent must continue to be upheld.

The BCP provides two sets of Ember Day readings rather than a separate set for each of the three days, so for this final day we turn to the Common of a Pastor: Isaiah 6:1–8, Psalm 71:17–24, Acts 20:24–35, and Matthew 24:42–50. Together they ask not only who is called, but what kind of servant the Church should recognize, form, send, and support.

Isaiah begins in a moment of instability. Verse 1 tells us, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1) An earthly throne has become vacant, but the throne of heaven has not. Leaders die. Pastors retire. Bishops change. Generations pass. Congregations enter seasons when they wonder who will carry the work next. Isaiah is first shown the truth the Church must never forget: the Lord still reigns.

That matters whenever the Church thinks about ministry. No bishop, priest, deacon, rector, lay leader, teacher, or beloved saint is indispensable to the kingdom of God. We may be deeply grateful for faithful people, and we should be. Their absence can leave a real wound. But the Church ultimately belongs to Christ rather than to any minister. That is precisely why we can take formation and succession seriously without becoming anxious. The throne is occupied, and the Lord who has cared for his Church in one generation is able to provide servants for the next.

Then Isaiah hears the seraphim calling to one another in verse 3: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) The foundations shake, the house fills with smoke, and Isaiah finds himself before the holiness of God. That is where the formation of a servant begins. Before Isaiah can speak for God, he must learn again who God is.

The Church therefore does a candidate no favor by treating formation as little more than professional preparation. Ministers need to know Scripture, doctrine, liturgy, pastoral care, and the responsibilities of their office, but Christian formation must go deeper than competence. A candidate may learn how to preach without learning humility, how to lead without learning repentance, or acquire theological knowledge while neglecting prayer. The Church is not merely preparing religious professionals. She is forming servants who must live under the Word they will preach.

Isaiah’s response in verse 5 makes that clear: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5) Before Isaiah says, “Send me,” he tells the truth about himself before the Holy One. His calling will eventually involve his lips, but those very lips first need cleansing.

And because these Spring Ember Days fall in Lent, that examination is not only for candidates for ordination. The holiness of God searches all of us. What needs to be confessed? Where have our motives become mixed? Where have we wanted usefulness without repentance, service without surrender, or ministry without being changed ourselves? Lent does not allow the congregation to watch someone else undergo formation while we remain untouched by the same Word.

That should shape the way the Church discerns and forms ministers. Gifts matter, but gifts are not enough. Intelligence matters, but intelligence is not enough. Charisma, confidence, administrative ability, or an engaging personality cannot substitute for character. The Church must ask whether those she is preparing for ministry are teachable, repentant, prayerful, faithful in ordinary responsibilities, sound in doctrine, and increasingly conformed to Christ.

That kind of examination is not cruelty, and it should never become suspicion for its own sake. It is love for the candidate and love for the flock. Ordination places real spiritual responsibility into human hands, so the Church has an obligation to take both calling and character seriously. A rushed discernment can wound the candidate, the congregation, and the wider Church.

Yet Isaiah also keeps that process from becoming harsh or self-righteous, because the answer to human uncleanness is not human perfection. Verse 6 tells us that one of the seraphim flies to Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar. Then in verse 7 he touches Isaiah’s mouth and declares, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7) Isaiah does not cleanse himself. God provides the cleansing.

That is the grace at the center of all Christian formation. The Church is not searching for people who have somehow managed to make themselves worthy of ministry. There are no such people. Bishops, priests, deacons, candidates, and laypeople alike stand in need of the same mercy. Formation is not the construction of a flawless minister. It is the shaping of a sinner who knows where forgiveness is found and who is learning to live faithfully beneath the mercy of Christ.

Isaiah receives cleansing from the altar, and for us that cleansing finds its fulfillment in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. The One who calls ministers to care for his flock first purchased that flock with his own blood. No ordination, ministry, achievement, or usefulness can atone for sin. Christ has already done what no minister can do.

That protects the Church from placing impossible expectations upon her clergy. We do not ordain saviors. We already have one. A priest cannot carry every grief, solve every problem, meet every need, or make every person faithful. A bishop cannot secure the future of the Church by force of personality. A deacon cannot bear every work of mercy alone. We should expect faithfulness from ministers, but we should never expect from them what belongs only to Christ.

Only after Isaiah has been cleansed does verse 8 come: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’” (Isaiah 6:8) The order matters. God reveals himself, Isaiah confesses, God cleanses, and then Isaiah is sent. His willingness is real, but grace has preceded every step.

That completes the movement of Spring Embertide. On Wednesday, God provided others when Moses could not bear the burden alone. On Friday, God called Samuel before Samuel understood what was happening. Today, God cleanses Isaiah before Isaiah can be sent. From beginning to end, ministry begins with God’s initiative and depends upon God’s grace.

And the Church carries out her responsibility under that grace. We cannot manufacture a vocation, but we are called to recognize what God is doing. We cannot create holiness in another person, but we do have to care about character. We cannot give spiritual life, but we can form people in Scripture, prayer, doctrine, worship, pastoral wisdom, and the ordinary habits of Christian faithfulness. Taking formation seriously does not compete with the work of the Holy Spirit. It is one way we honor what we are asking him to do.

And this is not work that belongs only to bishops, committees, or seminaries. The whole Church has a part in forming faithful servants. Bishops bear a particular responsibility for ordination, and clergy have particular responsibilities in discernment and preparation, but congregations matter too. A parish often sees a person’s Christian life long before an examining committee does. We see how people treat those who cannot advance their ambitions. We see whether they keep their word, receive correction, care for the weak, serve when no one is watching, and remain faithful when the work becomes ordinary.

The laity therefore have a real part in the Church’s care for vocations. We may notice gifts in someone long before that person has named them. We may be the ones who encourage someone to pray about a possible calling or who speak honestly when character needs attention. We can pray for candidates without flattering them, and we can help create congregations in which ministry is understood as service rather than status. The kind of Christian community we become will help shape the servants Christ raises up among us.

Psalm 71 then reminds us that formation does not end with ordination. Verse 17 says, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” (Psalm 71:17) Then in verse 18 the psalmist prays, “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation.” (Psalm 71:18) This is not merely a prayer to begin well. It is a prayer to continue faithfully.

That is where the second Ember Collect becomes especially important. The Church asks not only that suitable persons be chosen, but that she may uphold them in their work. Our responsibility is not finished when hands are laid upon someone at ordination. In many ways, another responsibility has just begun.

Clergy need the prayers of the people they serve. They need Christian friendship that does not depend upon their office. They need encouragement when ministry is heavy, truthful correction when they are wrong, rest when they are weary, and brothers and sisters who remember that the pastor also needs a pastor. They need congregations that do not idolize them when things go well or discard them as soon as they disappoint.

To uphold ministers does not mean protecting them from accountability. Scripture gives us no permission for that. The same Church that supports faithful ministers must also correct error, confront serious sin, and protect the flock from abuse. Christian support is not blindness. Sometimes truthful correction is one of the deepest forms of support, because we want our ministers to finish faithfully rather than simply remain comfortable.

Acts 20 gives us that picture with particular force. Paul tells the Ephesian elders in verse 24, “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) The ministry was received from Christ, and the message at its center was grace.

Then Paul tells them in verse 28, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Notice the two directions: pay attention to yourselves and to the flock. Ministers need both self-watchfulness and pastoral watchfulness. A pastor who watches everyone else but neglects his own soul is in danger, and a pastor who becomes absorbed in his own spiritual concerns while neglecting the flock has also forgotten his calling.

The congregation has a role here as well. We should want clergy who remain close to Christ more than clergy who merely remain busy. We should value sound doctrine more than novelty, holiness more than charisma, and faithfulness more than visibility. We should give ministers room to pray, study, rest, and tend to their own households rather than measuring devotion by exhaustion.

That is one way the whole Church can resist unhealthy patterns of ministry. If we expect pastors to be available every moment, solve every problem, attend every gathering, carry every ministry, and never show weakness, we may unintentionally reward the very habits that eventually damage both minister and congregation. To uphold faithful ministers is to help them serve as creatures rather than pretending they are the Christ.

Psalm 71 also widens this beyond clergy. The Church needs older Christians who can testify to another generation. We need parents, grandparents, teachers, catechists, intercessors, vestry members, musicians, caregivers, and quiet saints whose long obedience teaches younger Christians what faithfulness looks like. Formation is not confined to a seminary classroom. Much of the Church’s deepest formation happens when one Christian patiently shows another how to pray, repent, forgive, endure, and keep following Jesus.

Our Gospel from Matthew 24 brings all of this to the question of perseverance. Jesus asks in verse 45, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?”(Matthew 24:45) Then verse 46 says, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”(Matthew 24:46) The word that matters is faithful.

That is what the Church should pray for in her ministers. Not merely impressive ministers, popular ministers, innovative ministers, or successful ministers, but faithful ministers. We want servants who feed Christ’s household, remember whose household it is, and remain at the work when the novelty has faded and nobody is applauding.

The same Gospel also tells congregations what kind of ministry to value. Faithfulness is often quiet. It may look like preaching the same Gospel year after year, visiting the sick, preparing people for Baptism, catechizing children, hearing grief, celebrating weddings, burying the dead, correcting error, administering the Sacraments, and returning to prayer when nobody notices.

And that same faithfulness belongs to the laity. Most of us will not be ordained, but all of us have been entrusted with something. Christ has given us families, friendships, work, neighbors, gifts, resources, and opportunities to serve. The Church cannot form faithful clergy while treating ordinary Christian faithfulness as optional. The same congregation that asks a priest to live under the Word must itself be willing to live under the Word.

So our prayer on this final Spring Ember Day should be larger than, “Lord, give us more clergy,” important as that prayer is. We should also pray, “Lord, give your Church faithful ministers, and make us a faithful Church in which they can be formed and upheld.”

We need bishops who discern carefully rather than hastily, priests who love the Gospel more than their own importance, and deacons whose service draws the whole Body more deeply into mercy. We need candidates who are teachable enough to be formed and humble enough to receive correction. We need seminaries and mentors that care about holiness as well as knowledge.

And we need congregations that pray for ministers rather than merely consume their ministry. We need laypeople willing to encourage, support, correct, forgive, serve alongside, and bear one another’s burdens. We need older Christians willing to form younger ones and younger Christians willing to receive what older saints have learned through years of faithfulness.

That brings Isaiah’s vision very close to us. We look upward and remember that the Lord is holy. We look honestly at ourselves and confess that none of us comes to his service clean by nature. We receive again the mercy that comes only through Jesus Christ, whose blood purchased the Church. Then, having received grace, we offer ourselves back to the One who first gave himself for us.

Wednesday taught us that God provides. Friday taught us that God calls and that the Church must discern. Today Isaiah, Paul, the psalmist, and our Lord Jesus remind us that those whom God calls must be formed, sent, upheld, and encouraged toward lifelong faithfulness.

The responsibility belongs to all of us, though not in the same way. Bishops ordain. Priests and deacons carry particular ministries. Candidates submit themselves to discernment and formation. Congregations pray, recognize gifts, support, encourage, correct, and receive the ministry God gives. The whole Church remains dependent upon the Lord who alone can give faithful shepherds.

So let us close Spring Embertide by praying for more than a moment of calling. Let us pray for whole lives of faithful ministry. Let us pray for those beginning discernment, those in formation, those newly ordained, those carrying heavy burdens now, and those who have served Christ’s people for many years. Let us pray for those who are weary, those who are discouraged, and those who need courage to remain faithful.

And as we pray for them, let us ask Christ to make us the kind of Church that knows how to uphold those whom he sends. Who are we encouraging toward faithfulness? Whom are we helping carry a burden? What part of the Church’s ministry have we quietly assumed belongs to someone else? May we pray for our ministers without idolizing them, encourage them without flattering them, correct them without cruelty, and serve beside them rather than expecting them to carry alone what belongs to the whole Body.

The Church belongs to Christ. He purchased her with his own blood. He calls her servants, cleanses sinners, gives gifts, and remains the Shepherd beneath every faithful shepherd. Because the Church is his, we can pray with confidence that he will continue to give what his people need.

And when he calls, may he find servants who are ready to answer, a Church ready to form and uphold them, and a whole people willing to serve faithfully together. Then, by his grace, may we be ready to answer with Isaiah: “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.