God is persistent. God calls us, each and all, and continues to call us until we hear, until we listen and respond. Just as with the boy Samuel in our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures today, God waits for us to wake up and listen to our call to be up and about the Lord's business. The Lord's business is love. As Jesus explained to his hometown folks in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, God's business is to bring good news to the poor, the good news of salvation, the good news of God's redeeming love. (Lk. 4:17-21) In that good news Jesus included freedom for the imprisoned regardless of what the prison may be, healing for the sick in body mind and spirit, justice for the oppressed no matter who or what the oppressor may be. That call remains ours today, but just how many of us have been alert, heard the call, and responded with alacrity?

Too many of us are found asleep too much of the time. It's easier to ignore the needs of those around us than to consider what might be involved in loving others. We're afraid we might have to take a stand, to make a sacrifice that we are not prepared for, so we nap on, ignoring the call, putting off our response to God's call to love. Francis Thompson's message in The Hound of God is that no matter what nooks and crannies we seek out for our naps, God will find us. Divine Love will not let us go. God will finally love us awake and into the realization that we are, here and now, God's hands, and feet, and voice in the world.

Thanks to God's persistence, at some point, we realize that we are called to be God's love in every situation of our lives. As we come to recognize that the light of God's love is shining in and through us to all creation through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can trust that there is nothing to fear. There's no need to snooze life away, after all.