Here I Am Lord

Here I am. Lord......... 

Today is the first of 6 Sundays between the Christmas season and the Sundays of Lent. (Welcome to my world.) 

As I quickly look through the readings I see many stories of the call of God. In today and next week’s gospel Jesus calls Peter, Andrew and James to be disciples. 

These stories may seem familiar as we hear them every year about this time. I am reminded that despite our human desire for perfection and love of hyperbole; Christ calls the flawed and the ordinary to lead and to be His church. (Again... welcome to my world.) 

Today, however, I’d like to lift up the story of call of Samuel. As it begins Samuel is sleeping in the temple where he is awakened by the Lord. The problem is that he does not know that it is the Lord and Instead assumes that it is Eli, the high priest of the temple. Eventually Eli figures out what is going on and instructs Samuel to answer the Lord’s call. 

I have picked several songs to highlight this nature of call. Come Follow Me (#505) speaks directly to the lives of the apostles who left there homes, families and all security to spread the gospel. We will sing it for each of the next three weeks as either the prelude or offertory song. Today’s offertory song is Here I Am Lord (#379) also speaks to responding to God's ever-present call. While you may have heard this used as a song of comfort at a funeral mass I hope you will see it in a different (and more correct?) when coupled with the story of Samuel. 

If you go to my blog at the parish website you will find the prayer “The Work of Christmas Begins.” Perhaps the stories of call over these next few weeks will inspire you to step forward and answer the Lord’s call in a new way. Peace, 

PS This is a great time to join our music ministry

Bruce