I Have Called You By Name

Sometime back, I re-read Jesus’ call of the twelve apostles. I tried to imagine myself in that group – the joy of being recognized, the joy of being wanted, chosen. The truth is, the community of faith has always understood itself to be God’s chosen people. All the way back to Abraham and even before, God has called people. God has said, “I have called you by name. You are mine.” 

Not that being chosen is a claim of superiority. It’s not. It’s a blessing, but it’s not a step up the status ladder. 

I’ve often thought about it like this. Imagine if I come home at the end of a long day, when my daughters have been at home all day, and the house is a wreck. Now if I say vaguely, someone needs to clean up this mess, do you think anyone will do it? Probably not. But if I give a little of my fatherly attention to one of them and say, “Emily, I want you to clean up this mess.” I’m probably going to have a little better results. 

God says, you John, you Nathan, you Amy, you – I want you. I want you together. I have called you by name. You are mine. I want you to serve me. 

I pray today that when you feel God’s call, that tug at your heart, may you and I answer, “Here I am Lord. Use me.”

Let us pray: Here we are, Lord. We know that you have called us. You have called us to follow. Some of us have heard you quite clearly, and we’re trying our best to answer. Others of us, we’ve heard, but we’re not sure how to answer. And still others of us are just not sure we’ve heard you, yet. 

Each of us longs to hear your voice, your reassurance, your direction. Keep us open, so that when we do hear you, we might say, “Here I am. Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Amen.