Will You Come and Follow Me (ELW 798)
1 “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?”
2 “Will you lwave 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? Wil you let me answer
pray’r in you and you in me?”
3 “Will you let the blinded see if I but call
your name? Will you set the pris’ners
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?”
4 “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?”
5 Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call
my name. Let me turn and follow
you and never be the sameIn your company I’ll o where your love and
footsteps show. Thus I’ll move and live and
grow in you and you in me.
Text: John L. Bell and Graham Maule, © 1987, WGRG c/o Iona Community, GIA Publications, Inc., agent
Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A730924
Devotion
Are we really willing to change by giving up the familiar, the comfortable, the known? When challenged by such questions, what are the reasons or excuses that come immediately to mind?
When the angels said, “Fear not,” or Jesus said, “Do not be afraid,” certainly we were included among the hearers. When Moses encouraged the children of Israel to “be strong and courageous” and not to fear the giants in the promised land, he also stated God’s promise to them: “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Today, as God is calling us into something new, will we be willing to follow holding onto God’s promises? For your sake and mine, for the sake of the future of the church and of God’s world, I hope we will all “be strong and courageous” and follow our Lord and Savior when we hear our name being called.
Prayer
O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (ELW, “Morning Prayer” p. 304)