Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Matthew, 25th chapter

I can’t quite remember when I first saw that bumper sticker that seemed to take the world by storm: “practice random kindness & senseless acts of beauty.” I still get a warm feeling when I hear it.

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.

Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’

If I didn’t already know my propensity to sleepwalk through life, I’d probably take offense at Jesus’ suggestion that I’m apt to doze off and miss something important — something utterly life-changing.

But, perhaps like you, I do know all-to-well my tendency to overlook the subtleties of life — the simple pleasures that beg my thanksgiving, the delicate revelations that bid my attention, the gentle nudges of the Spirit that seek a willing response. How easy it is to sleep through it all!

The fall triduum of All Hallow’s Eve (10/31), All Saints’ Day (11/1), and All Souls’ Day (11/2) always brings to mind the incredible mystery of God’s love — a love that binds us together with a pretty motley crew through time and space — and that binds us to a God whose Will for the world is always at odds with our own.

When we remember the saints, we’re reminded that in every way they are just like us — ordinary human beings with extraordinary faith. But it’s those saints whose extraordinary faith led them to truly seek first the kingdom of God that we remember most fondly, if not also incompletely.

During his trip to Lambeth this past summer, Bishop Waggoner happened upon Canterbury Cathedral and a plaque displaying their mission statement. Now, for a very large, historic Cathedral, you’d have reasonable expectations that the actual mission of the place might be buried between and beneath years and years of insider language and theological jargon. Such was apparently Bishop Waggoner’s assumption when he arrived at the plaque and, so, you can imagine his surprise when he read the following mission statement for Canterbury Cathedral: “to show people Jesus.” That’s it, “to show people Jesus.”

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