As the ‘ordinary’ season comes to a slow close, the themes of readiness and attentiveness come to the fore — preparing the way into Advent, when we wait anxiously for the arrival of Immanuel.

We heard last week the warning to “keep awake,” to pay attention to the signs of the times and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And while we can all easily agree that “staying awake” seems like a good and reasonable thing to do, we might not all agree on what “staying awake” actually looks like.