The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
Psalm 145:18

Are you familiar with a painting by Winslow Homer named The Dinner Horn? In it, a young woman stands with her back to the viewer, her left hand is on her hip, and her right hand is holding a horn that she is blowing. Workers are gathering hay in the distant field and she is calling them home to dinner.

On my great-grandparent's farm, a similar practice was followed. My great-grandmother, Nancy Blair France, used a conch shell to call my great-grandfather, Nelson France, and the their field hands to the house for meals. The end of the conch shell had been cut off and polished so that it could be blown like a trumpet. In addition to using the shell to summon the workers in for meals, Nancy used the conch shell to call for help in case of emergencies. On their isolated farm, it must surely have been a comfort -- and assurance -- to her to know that her husband and their hired hands were near and would come to her rescue should she need them.

My father told me a story about the conch shell. As boys, he and his older brother were visiting the farm and decided it would be fun to try to blow the shell. One of them, I don't know which, was quite successful. My great-grandfather, and the hired men, came running to the house believing they had been summoned for an emergency. Finding the call had not been made in "truth", both boys were punished and never played that trick again.

I have no idea how a beautiful, pearly-pink conch shell from a warm tropical body of water traveled to a small, land-locked, southeastern Ohio farm. I know where the conch shell is today though. It sits on the floor in our living room Ð the same way it did in my parent's home. Every now and then, I blow it. The sound is clear and loud and I have no doubt that the shell was used in the way family stories were told about it.

In our lives, we too have the comfort and assurance that, when we call, help will come. Our God always hears our call. We don't need a horn, or conch shell, to summon him and our cry for help does not have to be loud. A prayer made in belief (truth) is all we need.

Lord, thank you for always being on call for me whether I am inviting you to join me at meal time or calling upon you for emergencies. Amen

Contributed by Nancy E.
Published Sunday May 22, 2005
Week 26 of Liturgical Year A