Jesus On The Mainline

I usually attend the 8:30 am service at our church. Many years ago it was a “quiet” service with no music, but a while back our priest decided to add an opening hymn and a closing hymn. To keep with the simple feel of the service, he usually selects simple hymns or gospel songs and accompanies us on his guitar.

As more and more children started attending this service, we’ve added a percussion section for the closing hymn–kids of all ages can select a “shaker,” maracas, or tambourine and add their own joyful noise to the chorus. It just about guarantees that we finish our worship with a smile.

Recently our priest chose “Jesus on the Mainline” by Ry Cooder (©EMI Music Publishing) as our closing hymn. I won’t reproduce all of the lyrics here, but this is the main verse:

I know Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Jesus is on that mainline,
Tell Him what you want.
Call Him up, and tell Him what you want.

The song grabbed me with nostalgia–both the folk/bluegrass music and the notion of someone calling “on the mainline” evoke a world gone by. Does anyone work where someone else answers the phones and then says,”Mr. X is calling for you on line 1″?

The song also grabbed me with the idea that Jesus would call me, and I could tell Him what I wanted, what I needed, what was weighing on my heart. Of course, knowing me, I’d miss the call and it would go to voicemail:

Hi, Coco. It’s Me, Jesus.  Just calling to see how you’re doing and wondering if there’s anything I can do to help.

Just imagining this gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes.

The thing is, it’s not a fantasy. It is reality. While Jesus won’t call me on my iPhone or even on my land line, He is always ready to listen to me, whenever I chose to tell Him what I want.

What would you tell Jesus if He called you? 

What is holding you back from talking to Him now?