Calling to Each Other

By Cynthia Ruchti –

A series of phone calls today revealed an important truth—my house is cleaner when I talk on the phone.

Is it true for you, too? With rare exceptions, most phone calls serve as multi-tasking opportunities. It can be argued that I actually think better about what the other person is saying if my hands are engaged in a relatively mindless activity like polishing the chrome on the kitchen faucet (waterless hand cleaner works great) or dusting furniture or cleaning the refrigerator.

But today, a phone call with a friend turned into a prayer session that demanded my full attention. As we said, “Amen,” I was reminded of a worship song that fit the situation. Within seconds, I heard that song coming through the phone receiver. Twelve hundred miles apart, we worshipped together in those moments, stopping everything to focus our attention on the only One who could make a difference in any of our prayer concerns. A palpable peace descended on us, the kind of peace that signals the nearness of God.

When rereading Isaiah recently, I was struck by a small detail I’d overlooked. In Isaiah 6:3, it says that the winged creatures the prophet saw in his vision of the throne room of God were calling out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heavenly forces! All the earth is filled with God’s glory!” (Common English Bible). I’d assumed the angelic beings were saying those words to the Lord. Rather, they were telling each other!

That’s what my friend and I did on the phone. We called out to one another with reminders that the Lord is Holy, that the whole earth is filled with His glory, that He is our great Provider, our Protector, our Peace.

The resonance of that phone call remains with me like an endless echo, maintaining that sweet sense of peace that washed over us as we prayed and worshipped.

PRAYER: Lord God of All, I want to live daily in that wash of wonder at Your holiness and Your desire for intimacy with me. Sear a name into my heart—someone I can call tomorrow and share another moment like that.

“They shouted to each other, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heavenly forces! All the earth is filled with God’s glory! The doorframe shook at the sound of their shouting…” (Isaiah 6:3-4a CEB).