Anthem
We are called, we are chosen.
Theologically, 'Anthem' is a sustained meditation on baptismal vocation and ecclesial identity. The opening declaration — 'We are called, we are chosen' — deliberately echoes the New Testament language of election (1 Pet 2:9; Eph 1:4-5), grounding the assembly's identity not in achievement but in gift. The text proceeds through a series of paradoxes — 'sower and seed,' 'harvest and hunger,' 'question and creed' — that resist triumphalism and hold together the already-and-not-yet character of the church's life. For Lutheran worshipers, this is theologically congenial: the church lives in the tension of being simultaneously declared and becoming, justified and still longing, certain of its calling and still asking its deepest questions. The phrase 'We are Christ for one another' is theologically rich and potentially provocative. In a Lutheran register, this resonates with Luther's own language in 'The Freedom of a Christian,' where the justified believer is called to become a 'Christ to the neighbor' through service. The text does not claim a sacerdotal ontology so much as a vocation of self-giving love that flows from the identity conferred in baptism. The water imagery in the bridge stanza reinforces the baptismal frame explicitly, and the sending thrust of the final verse — 'tomorrow's generation will arise and say' — gives the whole text a missional and eschatological horizon. In Lutheran worship planning, 'Anthem' functions most naturally as a gathering or sending hymn, particularly in seasons or occasions that foreground baptismal identity, vocation, or the church's mission in the world (Baptism of Our Lord, ordinary Sundays after Pentecost, confirmation, ordination, or commissioning services). The text's emphasis on communal identity rather than individual piety aligns well with Lutheran corporate ecclesiology. Its Law/Gospel structure leans toward Gospel in that the indicatives ('we are called, we are chosen') precede and ground any implied imperatives, though the paradoxes of hunger and question introduce a note of honest incompleteness that prevents complacency.
History & Background
'Anthem' was written in 1978 by Tom Conry, an American Catholic composer, poet, and activist closely associated with the post-Vatican II liturgical renewal movement. Conry composed the text and tune during a period of intense creativity following the Second Vatican Council's call for fuller, more active participation of the laity in worship. The song emerged from a generation of folk-influenced Catholic composers who sought to articulate the ecclesial identity of the gathered assembly in vivid, communal language. Published originally through North American Liturgy Resources (NALR) and later distributed by OCP Publications, it became one of the defining congregational pieces of post-conciliar American Catholic worship. The text gained rapid circulation throughout English-speaking Catholic parishes in the late 1970s and 1980s, appearing in missalettes and parish worship resources before finding a place in major hymnals. Its paradoxical, apophatic style — 'we are harvest, we are hunger; we are question, we are creed' — distinguished it from simpler, more didactic worship songs of the era. The text invites the assembly into a layered meditation on vocation, baptismal identity, and the church's mission in the world, drawing on images of water, seed, and light that resonate across the Christian tradition. Ecumenically, 'Anthem' has been used in Protestant, ecumenical campus ministry, and renewal contexts far beyond its Catholic origins, appearing in youth gatherings, social justice conferences, and broadly ecumenical settings. Its language of call, election, and communal vocation speaks readily across denominational lines, and it has been adopted by some Lutheran, Methodist, and United Church of Christ communities as a gathering or sending hymn.
Hymnal Appearances
- Gather 3rd Edition — 711
Bulletin Note
Text and tune by Tom Conry (b. 1951), © 1978, OCP Publications. All rights reserved.
Preaching Connection
When the text declares 'we are question, we are creed,' it names something every honest preacher knows: faith does not abolish doubt but holds it within a larger trust. This hymn can frame a sermon on baptismal vocation, the paradox of Christian identity, or the church's call to be Christ for the neighbor.
Catechism & Confessional Connections
- The Definition & Command of Baptism Small Catechism — Holy Baptism
Themes
baptismal identity vocation communal ecclesiology call and election mission paradox of faith light water sowing and harvest Christian community