Pastor's Corner: Being called and calling

I’ve spent a great deal of time the past few weeks pondering “call.” At least here at First Lutheran, our readings on Sunday mornings recently have been peppered with language of calling. Jesus calls disciples. John the Baptist calls us to repentance and preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. Mary and Joseph are called to relationship with one another, and to put their trust in what God is up to. Over and over again we hear this language of call; and we read about God’s people being called to unexpected places: Into the darkness. Into the broken parts of society. To the less than and “others.”

In worship this past Sunday, our congregation opened with the hymn “We Are Called,” and the words have stuck with me all week. The refrain goes: “We are called to walk with justice, we are called to love tenderly. We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.”

It is a beautiful, dangerous, terrifyingly wonderful thing, this call. And as we read repeatedly throughout the scriptures, those God calls are rarely sent to comfortable places. Though God promises to walk with us, God doesn’t promise a perpetually easy journey. What’s more, the message we proclaim is often not what people want to hear. Yet the work we do, the Good News we bring, must always win out over our reservations over going to those most in need.

I leave you with another hymn, “The Lord Now Sends Us Forth.” We sing that “the angels were not sent into our world of pain to do what we were sent to do in Jesus’ name; that falls to you and me, and all who are made free. Help us, O Lord, we pray, to do your will today.”

Help us, O Lord, we pray, to go into the dark places. To spread a little light to those in the valleys of shadow. To walk alongside those in pain and fear. Help us, O Lord, we pray, to be your hands and feet. To proclaim your victory over hate and injustice. To live out this call to which you have summoned us all.

Pastor Tanner Howard

First Lutheran Church