This sermon was preached for the Feast Day of St. Andrew on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at St. Andrew's, Wellesley. The texts for this sermon are: Deuteronomy 30:11-14 , Romans 10:8b-18 , Matthew 4:18-22 and Psalm 19 . Part of training to become an Episcopal priest is a stint as a hospital chaplain - and part of hospital chaplaincy training is a practice called “verbatims.” It’s when you sit down with some fellow student chaplains and analyze a conversation you’ve had with a patient. Now, as the name suggests, this is done quite literally word for word. Let me tell you, having your colleagues pick apart your words is just as intense and vulnerable as it sounds. One of my turns, a colleague pointed to a prayer that I had prayed a million times – something like “Be present, God, with this family.” “Hang on,” my colleague said, “Why do you ask God to be present? Doesn’t this imply that God might not be there yet?” I couldn’t stop thinking about his critique as I went about my days