Will you come and follow me
This morning in worship at Shepherd of the Valley , our hymn of the day was "Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?" It's a Scottish hymn written by John L. Bell in 1987 after being accepted into the Iona Community. Also known as "The Summons," this hymn is based on Mark 1:16-20 . The first stanzas are in the voice of Jesus, calling his disciples to follow him; the final stanza is the singer's response to that call. The questions asked in the song resonated powerfully as I thought about preparing for another trip to Tanzania in a few months. "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?" People often ask us what makes us want to travel to Tanzania? What calls us out of our lives of comfort to go on a journey that can be exhausting, fu