Matthew 25:31-46

Today we remember all the souls that are with God, and we remember that their work is done here on earth. We remember that their work that they have so successfully done is found in Matthew 25:31-46--to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison--the works of mercy.  Simple--to be a human being to another human being. To give of one's time and energy to walk with others. How many of us truly do that. We are so busy with phone, text, email, and work that we do not see the pain of people. I was asked the other night by a parishner about "professional boundaries" because I was so different from any other pastor he had met--I was available, present, and not distant. He was trying to understand the difference, and the difference is that we are on the journey together, my call is to be a pastor, to serve those in my presence, to walk with them, to suffer with and for them, to feed them, to comfort them, to clothe them. I am to be available, I am to accessible as we all are.  He commented on the social divisions he sees in society and those divisions divide us--homeless, black, red, white--we are called to walk with each other as one fellow human being on the road to God.  All of us are basically the same, we suffer the same, and we die the same. My prayer is that when my soul is celebrated on All Souls's Day I will be one of the ones who has lived out to the best of his ablity the Works of Mercy. I stayed in yesterday, took the day off, did one round of outreach. Today I have a service on the eve of the election on same sex marriage in Maine in Vallejo and will be there all day. Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!