A hymn from Singing the Faith

I'm preaching on Sunday and the church have asked me to use Singing the Faith for the hymns. Added to that the circuit have asked all preachers this week to preach on vocations. While choosing hymns I came across this one. Although we are not going to sing it, I am considering using it as a reflection after the sermon. It certainly gives a challenge.

Would I have answered when you called,

'Come follow, follow me'?

Would I at once have left behind

both work and family?

Or would the old, familiar round

have held me by its claim

and kept the spark within my heart

from bursting into flame?

Would I have followed where you led

through ancient Galilee,

on roads unknown, by ways untried,

beyond security?

Or would I soon have hurried back

where home and comfort drew,

where truth you taught would not disturb

the ordered world I knew?

Would I have matched my step with yours

when crowds cried, 'Crucify!',

when on a rocky hill I saw a cross

against the sky?

Or would I too have slipped away

and left you there alone,

a dying king with crown of thorns

upon a terrible throne?

O Christ, I cannot search my heart

through all its tangled ways,

nor can I with a certain mind

my steadfastness appraise.

I only pray that when you call,

'Come follow, follow me!',

you'll give me strength beyond my own

to follow faithfully.

Herman G. Steumpfle, Jr (1923-2007) © 1997