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For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.
Once, at a grocery store, I went up to a person I had not formally met to say thank you. Though I didn’t know his name, I recognized his face. It was the same full, jovial face I’d seen at a major intersection in our city for years as I drove our daughters to school.
He was a street crossing guard who, while ably assisting youth and others across the busy streets, greeted as many drivers as he could with a smile and a wave. His smile and wave were compelling; they drew you to smile and wave back. It was sad to me, and I know to many others in the city, when suddenly he was no longer there at his post directing and protecting, and smiling and waving.
So, when I recognized him in the store, I just had to approach him, introduce myself, shake his hand, smile, and say, with genuine gratitude, “thank you.” Only God knows how many loads he lifted and hearts he encouraged with his grace-drenched smile and wave. And God would easily know because, in the fantastic mystery of it all, God was the one doing the smiling and the waving through him.
Paul sees that God has come among the Thessalonians. To believe that God may be found in anyone at any time may inspire us to live on the lookout for God, to be alert for God more often than not.
