Friday, April 5, 2024  

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Today's Hymn
“Jesus Calls Us”

In our joys and in our sorrows,
days of toil and hours of ease,
still he calls, in cares and pleasures,
“Christian, love me more than these.”

Jesus calls us: by thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear thy call,
give our hearts to thy obedience,
serve and love thee best of all.

by Cecil Frances Alexander
Hymn 720, Glory to God
verse 3–4

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Reflection

Life offers its share of stormy seas, but thankfully there is no shortage of hobbies, habits, and simple pleasures to help us persevere through them. We binge-watch a captivating television show. We look for comfort food at home or a favorite restaurant. We join a running club. We travel to see friends, family, or new destinations. We wait with anticipation for the next season of baseball, basketball, or football (yes, both the American and international versions). These activities subtly call for our devotion because they can easily accompany us through our most trying days or intensify the joy we feel on our better ones. But, as Alexander’s hymn reminds us, Jesus calls for our love and obedience even more than these.

Earlier on my spiritual path, I felt the word obedience to be rather confining and certainly not one that would endear me to Jesus more than those dear hobbies and simple pleasures. Instead, I sought to follow Jesus through pondering his words through the life of the mind. But as I eventually realized, it is a lot harder to see Jesus as a companion through our best and worst days if he is only an intellectual puzzle to be solved. Jesus is so much more than the password one must enter onto the cosmic keyboard in order to gain eternal life.

When Jesus calls for our love then, it is not to follow him with a graceless strictness but, as philosopher Frederick Nietzsche puts it, to pursue “a long obedience in the same direction.” Each day we can choose to walk more closely in the path of justice, peace, and righteousness that Christ sets before us. Each day we can offer something of ourselves to Jesus, who through God’s mighty Spirit can imbue even our smallest acts with great meaning. Obedience of this kind calls us into a partnership with Jesus where he becomes more than an intellectual project, but a redeemer whom we can know as a flesh and blood companion on life’s journey.

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Prayer
God of steadfast love, our peace through stormy seas, help me to trust you more deeply and walk more closely in your paths. Amen.

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Written by Joe Morrow, Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Community Engagement

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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