The old joke goes that two Lutherans went to go see a Star Wars film together and when they heard a character say, “the force be with you,” they responded, “and also with you.” We have a lot of fun in Easter proclaiming “He is Risen!” and then responding “He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!” Those are all examples of “call and response,” where one person says something and another responds appropriately, perhaps without even thinking about it – like when you say “fine” when someone asks how you’re doing. 
Call and Response is also a term in jazz, blues, and Gospel music. In music, it is usually a melody or line played on one instrument that is then mimicked or otherwise responded to. One of the clearest examples of it is Muddy Waters’ song “Mannish Boy”, but it shows up in jazz ( “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington ), in rock (“Black Dog” by Led Zepplin), and in pop songs like…well, almost anything that Post Malone has written.
Call and Response is found throughout the readings that we have from the book of Acts this Easter. Sunday after Sunday we see how God calls people and how those people respond. Which that is the beauty of our relationship with God. He calls us. He calls us in our Baptism, He calls us to worship, He calls us to good works, He calls us to all number of things. But it is up to us whether we heed His call in response, and how we respond.
We respond in different ways. Sometimes we respond out of habit. Sometimes we respond thoughtfully. There are people that will tell you either of those things are evil. They will tell you that responding out of habit isn’t engaging your faith and/or thought enough. Other people will tell you that if you’re thinking and not responding spontaneously, that you’re holding back the work of the Holy Spirit. Both are probably true depending on the situation. But the problem with all of those things is that they make a big deal out of your response, a bigger deal out of your response than out of the call. But if one thing is important in call and response, it’s the call. You don’t know how to respond until you hear the call well. You can’t play back the tune if you haven’t heard it first.
So this Easter, we’re going to start up a new sermon series called “Call and Response” but the emphasis is going to be much more on the call than your response. Because what is true in music is true of our Christian lives: the solid, independent variable is the call. Our responses are important to us because they come from us, but they should never think themselves greater than the call. Let’s consider the call together and get really clear about it, and when we do that, we can respond appropriately.