We have all by now come to know the dread when placing a telephone call for something specific that needs to be addressed by a "customer service representative" to get the standard automated computer message, "Please
listen carefully to the following selections" when all we want to do is to get an actual human voice on the line for thirty seconds for a quick fix.  And if that's not bad enough, we now frequently get something to the effect, "Listen carefully because the following options have changed."  So, we play the game of attempting to bypass the system by dialing zero for an operator ("I'm sorry, but this is not a valid selection.") or actually wading through the "options" only to be shunted to yet another lengthy list of "options" that leads us onward to more lists where we are forced to repeat the same information ad nauseum because-theoretically-this helps the "customer service representative" do their job more efficiently once we actually get a human on the other end of the line only for them to ask us for the millionth time for the same information-that is, assuming we actually, eventually, ultimately get a real human being who will be willing and has the time to communicate with us.  Instead, we may slam down the receiver, curse violently, "give thanks for technology that promises to make our lives easier and more convenient," and try to connect with a real, actual,
breathing and living human being another fifty frustrating times.  You've now had God's experience with us.

 

Listen to me, O coastlands,
   pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
   while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
   in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
   in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,
   Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain,
   I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
   and my reward with my God.’
And now the Lord says,
   who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
   and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,
   and my God has become my strength—
he says, ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
   and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
   that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’
Thus says the Lord,
   the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
   the slave of rulers,
‘Kings shall see and stand up,
   princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
   the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’  The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.  When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’  He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.  One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed).  He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).