John C. Purdy, a staff member of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., has written a challenging book entitled Returning God's Call: The Challenge of Christian Living. In it, Purdy suggests that we need a new metaphor for the Christian life. He points out the inadequacy of the old metaphors such as "a soldier in God's army," "a scholar in the school of Christ," "a traveler a long the Christian way," "a citizen of the commonwealth; "and a member of Christ's body." Each of these metaphors has served us well in the past, Purdy says, but they are not as useful for today. The metaphor Purdy recommends with much vitality is "Hearers of the Call." His rationale is that this would be the image of one who has heard, and keeps hearing, a persistent summons to belief and action. "Hearers of the Call!" Whether we agree with Purdy or not, that reality is the key to our faithfulness as disciples.

The same author goes on to describe how, as a child, he would be outside playing hide and seek with his friends. Inevitably, his front door would open and his mother's voice would call, "John, time to come in!"

But Purdy said, "I would go on with hide and seek as though nothing had happened. And to anybody passing by, I looked no different from my playmates." "But", as Purdy continued, "I was different. I had been called - in; everything was changed.