“Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling,” ELW 608 and WOV 734
1 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.
See, on the portals he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.
"Come home, come home, You who are weary, come home."
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, "O sinner, come home!"
2 Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me?
"Come home, come home, You who are weary, come home."
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, "O sinner, come home!"
3 Oh for the wonderful love he has promised, promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me.
"Come home, come home, You who are weary, come home."
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, "O sinner, come home!"
Devotion
Summarizing his mother’s life, a speaker ended his eulogy with the words, “Mom never felt at home here, she longed for something more.” At the conclusion of the service, as the coffin was taken from the sanctuary, the words of the closing hymn were sung with special poignancy: “Come home, come home, you who are weary, come home.”
Even those who find great joy in life know something of this feeling. There is a spiritual homesickness that only God – no house, hometown or place – can satisfy. The good news is we need not wait until death to find it. We have only to respond to the soft and tender call of Christ who earnestly, tenderly calls, “O sinner, come home.”
Prayer
God, my heart longs to make its home and find its security in you. Open my ears to the soft and tender sound of your call, that I may make my home in you. Amen.