This won’t surprise you. Automated customer service can be tedious. “Press 1 for this. Press 2 for that. Our menu has changed.” I have learned that if you purposefully mumble your responses or just sit quietly, you are transferred to a real person faster.

“It’s my life isn’t it?” Danny and I sat on the front step watching the black line grow on the horizon – a tornado warning had been issued and he wanted to be ready. I had a Bible of some translation in my hand, he a pistol of some caliber in his. Danny had been buried in a basement of a strip center when the last tornado blew through town and that wasn’t going to happen again. He was 16 now but his father’s death of just a couple years before, he jumped off the Ohio River Bridge, was still burning in his heart. Suicide, why not? “It’s my life isn’t it? “Well, actually, no it’s not, Danny,” or something like that, I responded. “You have been bought with a price, it’s not you who live but Christ in you – it’s not your life, like it or not.” I’m pretty sure that is not an exact quote, but it was what was in my mind that spring afternoon. Danny is alive and well today, still living a life, I trust, not his own.

This Sunday, we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints. In preparation, I encourage you to think of at least three persons you can name with thanksgiving who have already entered into eternal life. Perhaps one person from the pages of scripture or church history; one who is a friend; and the one person you most miss this year. All too often, in our broken world, we can name far more than three. Thankfully, in a world charged and changed through Jesus’ resurrection, the days of our separation are irreversibly counting down. This feast of All Saints gives us an opportunity to remember and reorient to the mystery of Christ and his body, the church. Our scriptures for Sunday highlight this good news as well as these holy people that we know by experience and by reputation through the love of God. The Gospel reading originally appointed for Sunday raises a question often asked as we hear Jesus’ words to the scribes and Pharisees. While all of Matthew chapter 23 clarifies Jesus’ intent, you can look into the window of the problem in verse 9, where Jesus says, “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.”

Nearly every week, we repeat this Sunday’s Gospel at the 8:00 o’clock service. Rite One states, Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Moses wanted to know God: “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you...” (Ex 33.13 from the Old Testament reading for this Sunday.) Meditation: (Read the following three times. The first time read it straight through. The second time highlighting or underlining words that speak to you. And the third time just reading the words you highlighted in prayer.) “Those who really do know Christ in the modern world do so by seeking and entering the kingdom of God. To know him in your world now is to live interactively with him right where you are in your daily activities. This is the spiritual life in Christ.

Do you have a reservation? Getting a table for dinner on your birthday, or getting to see the doctor on an afternoon often requires a reservation. This seems simple enough. Plan ahead, call ahead, and things are ready when you arrive. First come, first served.

The Anglican Mission just published an interview with Father Carl that you will enjoy. You can follow the link here, to find out his answers to some great questions. “What person has most impacted your life, and why?” “What is one accomplishment in the past that you are proud of?” “Where have you seen the Lord working recently?”

Saying “Hello” and “Good Bye”

The average grocery store offers over 300 different kinds of salad dressing. I am assuming the Publix at Tuskawilla Road is average, because that is the number I came up with when I counted them this week. I was slightly distracted by a person who was lost in their choices, but I didn’t lose count.