Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!

The cry of the throne room of the Lord sums up the essential foundations of reality. Behind and beyond all the rising of empires, the crumbling of kingdoms, the turbulent sacrament of our time-bound world, stands the cry that never changes: holy, holy!

Caught up for a moment into a world beyond worlds, John hears these words resound with the timbre of eternity – assuring us all of the unchanging, untouchable, other-ness of God. He is the ocean floor on which our breakers rage; the atmosphere storms brew within and blow by. 

And yet he stands as close as our very breath. For Isaiah too stood in this time beyond time, bearing witness to the great cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts; 

The whole earth is full of his glory!

This is the great truth of the Unchangeable One, who stands beyond and remains near. Who stands as judge and life-bearer of the world; willing to receive our pain and yet impermeable in perfection.

O Lord, who was and is and is to come: in each human life you initiate a generous and creative interplay with the world you made. Every breath we draw is a whiff of glory rising in smoke about us. Now we see that no pain can thwart the culmination of your purpose but only sweeten its joy. 

Holy. 

He lies on a simple mat, surrounded by the grandeur of cedar and gold. It is a chamber of whispers, silences pregnant with the sacred breath of centuries. Even the chance echoes hush their tones in reverence. 

In daytime, the temple is filled with crowds of people, priests, rabbis, singers, living and dying animals, ash and ember. Here, in the dark of night, nothing moves but the dancing flame of the Lamp of the Lord. He could not have known that one day this same Fire would descend in tongues upon his heart. 

One echo, louder than the rest, coming from such distance that it carries mountains and ravines and the cool breath of waters. 

Samuel.