Emmaus

Think about the Walk to Emmaus passage (Luke 24:13-35).  Two of Jesus' followers are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Jesus had just been crucified - the person in whom they had placed their hope was dead.  Set aside for a moment that they met Jesus as they walked and that at the end of the journey they rushed back to Jerusalem to tell their friends they had seen the risen Lord. Focus for a moment on what they were feeling as they walked away from Jerusalem. 

Devastated.  Alone. Hopeless.  Maybe abandoned. Maybe betrayed.

A few weekends ago, our Foundation sponsored the Level Up Conference of three United Methodist Annual Conferences.  The message at worship one morning was preached by Rachel Gilmore. Her message was based on the Luke passage I referenced above.  She explained that we don't really know where Emmaus the town was located.  Archeologists are looking for it, but they haven't found it.

She hopes they never do.  She believes that Emmaus is the place we go when we have no place to go.  When we don't know where to go.

Have you walked to Emmaus before? Have you been to that place?

Do you go to Emmaus to find and help the ones who are already there?

Have you represented Christ at Emmaus?

Rewriting the Story

How do we respond to people who are experiencing grief? Do you find it one of the most difficult things we do as part of a Church - to try to offer comfort to those in grief? Do you struggle with what to say? To do? I do, and I think we all do. I think this struggle is why people say words that they think might be comforting but really aren't.

Our former pastor tells the story of when his son died. Someone said something to him along the vein of "God must have needed another angel." It wasn't comforting to Jack (our pastor). It made him angry, and he expressed the anger to the person who said it. I can't blame him.

How do we provide comfort? If you are reading this because you think I might have an answer, go find another blog. I don't have one. 

Last year our dog died. She had been at the vet, being boarded, and the technician gave her to the wrong owner. She broke loose, ran away, and was hit by a car. What was comforting during that time was the kindness offered by people, the friends who listened to our story and sympathized. What was not comforting was the person who said, "That's why I always hire a dog sitter rather than board our dog."

Oh, well.

Peter Wallace, in the book, says that Jesus reacted to other people's grief by promising hope, encouraging faith, and by revealing himself. The last one in that list might have been my favorite. Consider the story in Matthew as the resurrected Jesus walks with the two people going to Emmaus. He listens to their story (a loving act), and then rewrites their story for them, sharing it in the light of scripture. 

Comfort in the face of grief rewrites the story. The ending doesn't change, but the experience is rewritten as people show us concern and love.

Faith without hope

I attended worship yesterday (well, it's yesterday as I right this) at First UMC in Elkins. Rev. Dallas Forren preached a sermon called "Trust and Obey;" the scriptural basis was the walk to Emmaus passage.

Dallas said that the two people walking were having a "pity party." He said that if he had been Jesus, he would have kept on walking, not stopped to walk with them.

The two companions were walking back to their old lives, and they were walking with a faith that had not hope. Imagine. A faith that had no hope.

Do we ever have a faith that has no hope? I think we do, even when we don't recognize it.

I'm with Dallas. I think if I were Jesus, and I saw us walking down the path, on our way back to our old lives (once again), I would be tempted to keep on walking. Cynicism is so hard to push through.

Instead, Jesus walks with them. He listens to them. He doesn't leave them alone in their pity party. Even in their hopelessness. Even when the don't believe he exists anymore, even less that he was the Messiah. Even in all of that, he walks with them. 

Even in their hopelessness, they are not alone.

Where are you experiencing hopelessness today? Know that Jesus is listening.

Live Like That

I served on a Walk To Emmaus in the prayer chapel this past weekend.  The last talk of the weekend ended with this song:




One of the verses:

Am I proof 
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart 
Do I live like Your love is true? 

People pass 
And even if they don't know my name 
Is there evidence that I've been changed 
When they see me, do they see You?

Good questions to consider.  Do I live like Your love is true?

This is what I believe

As part of Walk to Emmaus team meetings, speakers preview their talks.  I was listening to a Talk Preview about the Means of Grace, and the speaker (a pastor) described Confirmation as someone saying, "This is what I believe, and I want to live out my belief."

I thought that was a wonderful phrase to use to illustrate what confirmation means.  I wonder if we carry that statement with us throughout life, even after the passion of our confirmation.  "This is what I believe, and I want to live out my belief."

Do we remember what we believe?  Do we remember that God is God, and does that make a difference in our lives?  Do we remember that God is involved in God's creation?

Do we pray?  Do we connect with God?  Do we place our faith into action by reaching out to the poor, the outcast?  Do we bring God to other people?

Do we remember what we believe, every day, and do we life out our belief, every day?

Would someone watching us know what we believe by what we do in our lives?

You have all you need

Order of Worship, Prayer beads,
pens, Emmaus Cross
(from when I was Walk Lay Director)

Tuesday I prepared for a gathering of the committee of which I am now the chairperson.  The plan was to hold a worship service during which we would attempt to discern God's mission and will for the work we are to do.  Knowing it was worship, I spent a few minutes in prayer in the chapel in our building.

The day was dreary when I went into the chapel.  One wall has several stained glass windows that face the street, but they were rather dim when I went into the room.  As I was praying, mainly just being silent, I could tell that the light level in the room was increasing.  I opened my eyes; sunlight was streaming through the stained glass, reflecting off the shiny wood floors - white light, colored light.  It was absolutely beautiful, and it truly felt like I was surrounded by God.

The words - not my words -
in my head as I prayed were "You have all you need."  That's the message I took to my committee.  In a time of tightening budgets and decreasing membership, we have all we need to do what God is calling us to do.

I think that's a message for more than just one committee.  (And for those who are veterans of the Walk to Emmaus and are part of a reunion group, that was my "moment when I felt closest to Christ.")

A Place to Pray

We are invited - or would you say commanded by God - to pray.  So we should pray.  But how does the environment in which we are living impact our prayer lives?  How do we impact others' prayers?

Henri Nouwen, in Here and Now, says this:

It is very heard to live a life of prayer in a milieu where no one prays or speaks lovingly about prayer.  It is nearly impossible to deepen our communion with God when those with whom we live and work reject or even ridicule the idea that there is a loving God.  It is a superhuman task to keep setting our hearts on the kingdom when all those whom we know and talk with are setting their hearts on everything but the kingdom.

So, what do we do?  If we are in an environment that makes prayer difficult, what do we do?  For many, changing that environment is impossible - we can't leave it, and we can't change the people in it.  Can we find time apart from that milieu (as Nouwen calls it) to pray?  Can we move to be in contact with more Christian friends?  I'm grateful for my accountability group (Emmaus Reunion Group) because it a place that nurtures prayer.

And what about our activities and their effects on other people?  Can we create a place that is more nurturing for the prayer lives of other people?  What do we do that discourages them?  What do we need to change?

The Journey

I travel with my work.  Since I started with The Foundation in 2008, I have seen parts of West Virginia that I never had before.  It's a beautiful place, and I love working all through it.

There are times when I travel with The Foundation President, and he drives.  He has a policy -- he does not back track.  We just keep moving forward, and we (with great regularity, if not always efficiency) make it where we are going.  The path is untraveled, but not always short.

In Sunday school a few weeks ago, Marv, who was teaching, said, "Sometimes the route to deliverance is circuitous -- God doesn't take us always on a direct route, because we are not ready for it.  It is not the best way for us."

There are times in our lives when we want to get where we are going, no backtracking, no detours, not side-streets.  We aren't happy where we are, or we are excited to get where we are going, and a circuitous route only offers frustrations.  In our Bible Study class last week, Steve taught about the Walk to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke.  Why is it that Jesus didn't reveal himself to the two who were traveling at the beginning of the journey?  Why walk all the way to Emmaus, only to have to turn around and go back to Jerusalem?  I think the journey was necessary.  They needed the seven mile walk in order to get where they were going -- spiritually.

Sometimes, we need the walk to get where God needs us to go.  I don't mean to imply that God has us walk through suffering, on purpose, to teach us lessons.  I just mean that sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination.  It's hard to be patient with that, but sometimes it is necessary.

I think that's what I mean; I could still be working my way to getting to where I know what I mean.  :-)

Expectations

Thursday's devotional this week in the Upper Room Discplines book, contains the following quote (by Paul L. Escamilla:

"Ascending" to retreat, or in some other context, is a practice of both heightened expectation and surrender of expectation.  For two things, above all, are true when God's people gather in devotion:  God will grant mercy, and we know not how.

Anticipation.  Expectation.  When one goes on a Walk to Emmaus, one is advised "not to anticipate."  I've watched as participants feel that there expectations are not being met during the walk.  They have anticipated what their reaction will be, what will happen, etc, and they are disappointed.  Until God breaks through their anticipation with his grace.

How often do we do that?  How often are we surprised by God because we haven't anticipated what he will do?  Sometimes, I think, the surprise is grace in and of itself.  We just can't guess or understand how he will work in our lives. 

I like this quote, because I think it is good advice for how to live in relationship with God.  Expect his mercy, and realize that you can't anticipate how it will arrive.  Thanks be to God.

Free Nature of Grace

I'm back from the Emmaus Walk.  While I was serving this weekend, I stepped out of the conference room to get a breath of fresh air .

 

It was a beautiful day. Someone had spread pieces of bread across the yard and there were probably 30 birds picking up pieces of bread and eating them. I don't know for sure, but it looked like someone had disposed of communion bread by spreading it out for the animals, and these birds were enjoying it.

As I watched them, I thought -- these birds don't worry if they are worthy, or perfect. They don't worry if they have earned this unexpected gift or not. They just realize they were need the bread, so they eat it. I wonder if we could learn a lesson from birds. It felt like God was making use of the birds to make his point -- the free nature of grace.

Riding

I sent a flurry of emails out today in preparation for the Walk to Emmaus tomorrow.  At one point, one of the Board members said, "Now......Just Breathe..lol....God is in control......"  I laughed and wrote back, "I am breathing.  I breathe by organizing."  God has to take care of the big things, like two team members with cancer, another one who lost her father this morning, a pilgrim who is deciding not to come on the walk, and arranging for grace to cover the whole event.  God is in control, and I know that.

I'm grateful for that, but it doesn't mean I don't participate in the work he has given to me.  In fact, I believe he expects my participation.

I read a devotional today from the book A Year with Aslan: Daily Reflections from the Chronicles of Narnia.

Then [Aslan] said, "We have a long journey to go.  You must ride on me."...And with a great heave he rose underneath then and then shot off, faster than any horse could go, down hill and into the thick of the forest.

Amen. 

Preparing for a walk

I'm preparing to be the lay director of a Walk to Emmaus this weekend.  I'm so busy that I haven't even made a list yet, and that has me worried.

I'm certain the walk will be a blessing, but if my posts here are short, scattered or absent, you'll know why.

We have 24 women who have signed up for the walk, and I'm praying God will use the walk to touch their lives and transform their hearts.

Table Leader's Prayer

Let your light shine through me
So that the pilgrims around this table see you.
Shine through me.

When I don’t know what to say,
Let your word be my words.
When I say too much,
And make the experience,
Too much about me,
Let my words become your words.
Speak through me.

When a pilgrim is lost,
Afraid,
Convicted,
Hurting,
Heal through me.

Remind me that you have brought me to this place,
To this table,
Because this is where you want me to be.
Help me to remember that you have already
Equipped me with the gifts I need
Forgiven me for the mistakes I will make
Strengthened me for what comes next.
Help me to remember that I never walk alone.
You are my constant companion on this walk to Emmaus.
Even when I don’t recognize you.
Shine through me.

Amen.

Free us for Joyful Obedience

I have had to make lots of phone calls this month, asking people if they would be willing to do this or that.  I really don’t like to make those kind of phone calls, but I have found myself doing it a lot lately.  I’m the lay director of the next Emmaus women’s walk, so many of the phone calls have been to ask community members to serve on the team.

It has been a joy to speak to everyone I’ve called, and even though not everyone can say “yes,” everyone is resting in the middle of God’s will, and we are all finding grace in the process. 

Even though I don’t like to call people to ask them to serve, I am finding joy in obedience.

There is a line in the Prayer of Confession that is part of the United Methodist Communion Liturgy that says, “Free of for joyful obedience.”  It’s one of my favorite parts of communion.

Free us for joyful obedience.

It seems like it would be a paradox – to be made free so that we can obey.  We shouldn’t be surprised, though.  We are Christians – people who have received forgiveness we do not deserve, through grace of unlimited value that we did not earn.  We follow a Lord who has died but is alive, a God who created the universe but loves us each in a personal way, and we walk with a Holy Spirit we cannot see, hear or touch, but who surrounds us with love.  We know our God in three parts, and yet our God is one.  We are mortal beings who will live forever.  Nothing should sound like a paradox – everything is beyond our imagination.  We are made free so that we can obey, and in that obedience we find joy.

We are asked to serve – in our communities, in our churches, in our families, at our places of work, and in our Emmaus Community.  We pray about service, and we try to listen to God’s call on our lives, and yet, if you are like me, there are times when I am held back from answering the way God is leading me.  What is it that prevents you from being free for obedience? 

Is it fear?  Selfishness? Worry? A lack of confidence? Unwillingness?  Unhappiness?  What is it that is keeping you from saying “yes” or “no” in obedience to God?  What does God need to free you from so that you can find the joy in obeying him? 

Perhaps we all need to make that line part of our prayers each day.  Free me for joyful obedience.

It begins

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Team Selection Committee for the upcoming walks. I'm serving as the Lay Director for the Fall women's walk -- I'm sure, if you read this blog at all, you'll be reading about it over the next few months. Today I've been preparing a list of possible team members.

It's disconcerting and worrisome to try to think of who God is calling to be members of this team. A friend told me that I may not think it is the right team, and I may even doubt that it is, but in his experience, it will be. That is my hope.

I'm not sure I've ever done anything like this before. I've never really chosen a team for anything. I've been a part of many teams, and I've led teams, but I'm not sure I've ever chosen one. It's different, and requires a certain boldness and courage.

I pray God can use me in this position, that he will equip me, and give me the ability to discern his will and act upon it.

A Shrewd Investor

Ephesians 1:15-19: I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

One of the blessings of my life is that I am part of the ministry of a Foundation. Part of what we do is to serve as the Trustee for endowment funds and custodian for churchs' reserve funds. We often explain to people that we have a conservative investment policy with a goal of achieving a reasonable return while following socially responsible principles.


I was privileged to attend the funeral this week for Gordon Scott, a member of the Ashland Area Emmaus Community. His son said of him, "He was a shrewd investor who invested his life in the things that mattered."

What does it mean to be a shrewd investor in life? As I think about it, perhaps the same three investment goals we have at the Foundation could be applied to this question.

A conservative investment policy for our lives means that we do not lose the gifts we have been given. God calls us to invest our time wisely so that it is not wasted, to use our talents for his glory rather than allowing them to wither away from disuse, and to share our spiritual gifts so that others see God through what we do. We are called to invest what we have been given in the things that matter. What matters in your life? Is that how you invest your gifts?

Do we expect and produce a reasonable return on what we invest? Do we see the fruit of our investments? Gordon was involved in Scouting, in his church, in the Emmaus Community. He had friends and family who gathered to mourn his death. He invested his time and gifts in all of these, and all present could see that his investments were bearing fruit. The lives of youth have been changed. Others have seen God through his efforts. The faith of Christian leaders in the church has been strengthened and developed through the Walk to Emmaus program. And his voice will continue to echo through all of these ministries long after he is gone. As the Ephesians passage says, can others hear of our faith and our love of Christ as it echoes through what we do?

Do we listen for the revelation of God's wisdom? Do we invest our lives following the guidance of God? Do God's principles and priorities guide what we do?

Am I a shrewd investor? Are you? We have a glorious inheritance from our Creator; we have access to immeasurable power and an incredible hope. Do we use what God has given use wisely so that it produces fruit, and do we trust and obey our Lord? Are we shrewd investors in the things that matter?

Gathering

I didn't really want to go. I was missing my husband, missimg my friends, and I just really didn't want to go. But responsibility called. I was the one who was chairing the meeting, making the announcements and leading worship. I had to go, so I went.

I didn't think I was running late, but when I got there, everyone was waiting for me. I had thought I would have time to collect my thoughts, but no such luck. Into the meeting - pass out agendas and pray. Pray without breathing first. Go.

Rush through the meeting. Dinner next. Potluck is always fun. It can be the best kind of cafeteria with a little of this, a little of that. No balance, no plan, but fun. Surely there is an analogy there for life.

Upstairs for worship. Like dinner, I was out of balance. Kindling, but too damp to burn brightly, just smoldering. God shown like the sun through the stained glass as the pastor's wife sang of one day in his courts. She spoke of sinking into grace and reminded us how we are loved by a God who has a great affection for us. Oh how he loves us. It was a grace-filled reminder.

A man spoke of his days lived in Christ, and how God has expanded his world view. He told of experiences with God, and how the Lord has used him to heal others with his words - words straight from God. He spoke of the loss of his brother, about making life-ending decisions, and his grief at the loss. God called him to service on a walk and then touched him with grace as he touched others.

Communion. Worship. The presence of God. Heal me, God, from my sins. Thank you for your light, your song, and your flooding grace.

Eyes Open

I noticed yesterday that I am posting many fewer pictures than I used to.  That, I'm sure, is directly correlated to the number of pictures I'm taking -- not nearly as many.

I use the camera to watch for evidence of God -- to keep my eyes open for beauty and grace in the world of nature and to record it.  I then post the pictures as another way to speak of my thoughts about God -- to praise him for his wondeful works.

I need to keep my eyes open more.  I need to take more pictures.

I've been thinking about the Walk to Emmaus program.  Each pilgrim seems to find evidence of God on the walk -- more than they do in everyday life.  Is God more present on a walk?  I don't think so, but I think when we open our eyes and expect to see him, we will, because he is always there.

Eyes open.  Clear vision.

Freedom

I was having a discussion today with someone about Philemon.  My thoughts:

One quote from Philemon started my mind wandering to a metaphor  “…I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.”


A metaphor (that has holes, I know):  I see an unintentional parallel between Paul’s relationship to Philemon and God’s relationship with us. Paul clearly believed he could have commanded Philemon to “do his duty,” but chose instead to appeal to him on the basis of love. God appeals to us on the basis of love. He could have created us without free-will – obedient. It is our free will that allows us to sin. Why set up the universe that way? Because he would appeal to us on the basis of love.

Paul is asking Philemon to care for the least of these, as we are called by God to do. We are called to do so out of love. We are called to love our neighbor, not care for him out of duty, but out of love.

Love makes the difference. Love is the point. Love would be transformational, for Onesimus, for Philemon, and for us. That’s what Emmaus is about – we are called to love the person we do not know, and when we do, the other person is transformed, but so are we. Perhaps Paul is writing to free Onesimus, but also to free Philemon.

(Thanks to JtM for the conversation and the start to these thoughts)

Possibilities

I attended an meeting this evening of those who had just finished their Emmaus walks -- kind of an orientation to the Community.

One almost-recent member was discussing the role of his reunion group in his life. He actually joined one prior to going on his walk. He said it helped him to see the possibilities of life with God to him.

I liked that phrase. Seeing the possibilities of life with God. It sounds exciting and scary at the same time, but it sounds full of potential.

What possibilities is God calling you to see?