So the story goes, no sooner had my parents arrived home from their honeymoon, than the draft notice was on the door. Dad was going to Vietnam. When he received his summons, he had to go. Acccording to History.com, conscription of soldiers goes back thousands of years, and provisions for the draft were made under the Code of Hammurabi, in ancient Babylon. When you receive the summons, you have to go.
On the first day of seminary, students went around the room, telling the story of their call to ministry. Most pastors have a "call story," about how they felt that God summoned them into church work. Some told about being the children or grandchildren of pastors, and how ministry "ran in the family." Others said that the idea of being a pastor completely blindsided them--that they felt like their were drafted against their will. However we came to ministry, all of us felt called--summoned by God. When I went to seminary in 1994, The Summons was still a new song (by church standards, anyway). Its words made a huge difference in my understanding of calling. The lyrics seem to come from the heart of Jesus himself.
As a pastor, I received these words as my charter for ministry. So much that I made the song a key feature of more than one installation service at churches that I served. The summons remains--to go where I don't know, to let Christ's love be shown, and to grow in Him. To leave my self (ego) behind in order to care for both cruel and kind people, to risk the hostile stare for the sake of love. I received the summons, like my hero St. Francis, to kiss the leper clean--along with everyone who's on the fringe of society for one reason or another. Since Jesus said to "love your neighbor as yourself," this also means loving who I am. So self-exploration, self-knowledge, and self-love are important in order to do ministry. Not a love of ego--but the kind of self-assurance that allows me to reach out to others for their good, even when I risk getting my hand smacked for it. The summons of Christ calls me to use the faith I've found to reshape the world around. This is the essence of ministry--to not leave the world the way I found it, but to make it better. This applied to church ministry, and to the social work that I do today.
This summons is not just for me, or for pastors in general--it's a draft notice for all believers. You've been chosen, selected especially to be who you are--to show love to a broken world and re-form it by the power of love. If you're a Christian, I pray that the words of The Summons will resonate in your heart, and become your charter as well. If you're not a Christian, then you could hear these words from the voice of Love, as if Love were specifcally calling you to follow (because I believe Love does).
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
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 risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
Will you love the 'you' you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
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?
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.
Copyright:
Words: 1987 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 3DH (Admin. by Wild Goose Resource Group), Music: David Peacock - The Jubilate Group (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
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