Cookie-cutter in hand,
we rush headlong
into the world
on a tear to make Christians
just like us.
But Father and Son corralled
a dizzying selection of servants,
implanting each
with a different word.
Young Samuel began with
the dark news of judgment
about to be delivered
against Eli.
Nathaniel was given
a brighter promise
of greater things to come.
Martin Luther King Jr. marched
as a drum major for justice.
All were assured
that the Good Lord
means business,
either way.
Whoever we are,
what matters is that
we hear him when he calls,
that, skeptic or not,
we respond to him
from the integrity
of our hearts,
that, joyful or jarring,
we handle his precious word
as something solemn, and alive.
1 Samuel 3:1–20, John 1:43–51