Dear Friends in Christ:
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
“The Summons” ~ John Bell
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around
through my sight and touch and sound in you, and you in me?
The words of one of our newer hymns, set to the sprightly tune of an old Scottish folk song, capture Jesus’ call to “Come, follow me.” When Jesus summons us, it is to a life of bold adventure and transforming compassion, of inexplicable power and risky mercy. Jesus’ call can be daunting, were it not for the promise that accompanies his summons: “I will be with you, always.”
When we answer Christ’s summons to follow him, he leads us to places we never expected– or dared– to go when our lives were in our own hands. On our own, would we have ever agreed to say “yes” to sharing the gospel with little squirming hearts and minds on Sunday mornings? Would we be thinking about venturing to Honduras to assist in a medical clinic or to travel regularly to downtown Allentown to provide breakfast or dinner for those who desperately want both food and fellowship? Would we be willing to read books and listen to people who make us feel uncomfortable because we want to be open to growing in our faith and in our understanding of people different from ourselves? Would we have chosen to accompany someone to the chamber of horrors of a chemo dispensary, or checked in regularly with someone on the difficult journey of grief? These are strange turnings in our path, with sometimes heavy loads to bear.
But these are the places to which Jesus summons us. And when we have gone there in his company, this is the other strange thing: we have found a peculiar lightness of being. That is why the words of this hymn are set to music that sounds something like a Scottish jig! Christ’s summons is serious, but to follow him is to be happy.
We tend not to talk much in the church about “happiness.” In our culture, happiness can too often imply something superficial, or trivial, or self–indulgent, and Jesus’ summons is none of these. But when we follow him, and put ourselves at his disposal, we do find some deep contentment, satisfaction, delight. We find happiness. And this is the arithmetic of following Christ: the more we leave ourselves behind, the more we put our abilities, our attention, our loyalties, our labors, our money at his disposal, the more happiness we find.
Stewardship is about more than money. Stewardship is about ministry and offering our whole lives to God in response to Jesus’ summons: our time, prayers, gifts, and resources. But our financial resources are part of the way we offer our gifts to God. This week you should have received a mailing asking for you to share what you hope and intend to give to the ministry of FPCA in 2025. That statement of your intention is for the Session: the anonymous and collective pledge total is necessary for the Session to adopt a responsible budget.
But the process of prayerfully considering what we are called to give financially is for us. How are we being called to respond to Jesus’ summons with our financial gifts in 2025 so that God’s “love be shown” and with God’s help we might “shape the world round?” Will you join this band of people in trying to dance to Christ’s tune and respond to Christ’s summons with the last verse of the hymn?
“Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.”
Gratefully,
