His buddies are still in that earthly temple, just going through the motions, doing their routine. Like that kid who was so busy building his sandcastle he almost didn't see the dolphins playing not 40 feet away. Like you and me, when we act as if this worship thing is only symbolic. Yeah, and the ocean's only a big tub of water. Hey, brothers and sisters, there's a lot going on underneath the surface, and sometimes we get a glimpse of just how much life and power and beauty is underneath these rolling waves of ritual and tradition.
Words are too small, words are too small to describe it.
Isaiah thinks about all the words he uses everyday as a priest, and they just seem so tawdry. And there's nothing he can do about it, because there are no words big enough or beautiful enough to describe an encounter with the living God. I try to find words every week, and the truth is that words are just too small to contain the grace of God. And the truth is that we have just described the whole reality of the Christian life in a nutshell. We who are Christians come to church each Sunday like beachcombers looking for dolphins.