at the 8:30 service...
"Stories from the Road"
- Rev. Bob Thomas
Senior Pastor
the Gospel Lesson:
Luke 24: 13-35
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Two followers of Jesus are trudging along the dusty seven mile stretch of road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. Their lives had lost all meaning. The bottom has dropped out of their lives. Jesus meant so much for them. Not just as individuals, but for their families, for their people. They had pinned all their hopes, all their dreams, on Jesus. And now he was dead.
We know that sound of hopes crashing to the ground; we know that empty feeling when what we expected turns around and bites us. We had hoped to be loved for our own sake, but we discovered we were used. We had hoped that our children would value the things we do, but they had their own ideas. We had hoped to retire with a nice pension, but the company down sized. Then, what do we do sitting in the wreckage of our hope? Where do we get the courage to go on?
The disciples on the road to Emmaus had help. As they walked and they talked Jesus joined them on their journey. They didn’t recognize him. He simply joined in their conversation and they did not know who he was. As he walked and talked with the, shared his thoughts with them, he helped them see things in a different light. In fact he made their hearts ‘burn within them.”
They came to where they were planning to spend the night and they pressed the stranger to stay with them. They all went into the house where Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it.” And in the breaking of the bread, the Emmaus travelers recognize who Jesus is. And Jesus vanishes from their sight and they are left to marvel at what had happened. “That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them I the breaking of the bread.” (Lk. 24:33-35)
Theologian and teacher Henri Nouwen points out in his book, Jesus, A Gospel, that it is significant that Luke didn’t write: “Then it dawned on them” or “Then they saw the light.” On the contrary, their burning hearts signified an experience that was completely new. At the center of their being, the gifts of Bread and Word generated a power that could disarm death and rob despair of its power. (It was)something much more than a new outlook on things, a new confidence or a new joy in living. (Their experience can only) be described only as a new life, a new spirit.”
And they ran back to Jerusalem and “told what had happened on the road.”
We love telling friends, family and acquaintances stories about our road trips: what happened on at the out of town family wedding, or a family vacation or a holiday reunion excursion. My grandmother had one of those Brownie box cameras that she used to snap photos of my mother and uncle when they were children sitting on the hood of their car in the parking areas in the Great Smokie mountains. We all know someone who had a thousand slides of their road trip from Ohio to California and back…My Aunt Esther and Uncle Jesse had a super 8-movie camera and always shared their trips to Las Vegas. They had the sparkly screen set up in their living room complete with bowls of popcorn and orange pop. Today, we’re still telling our road stories, but we’re using Windows MovieMaker, or Pinnacle, or uploading brief clips from our digital camera phones to YouTube so that the whole world can see what we did on Spring Break. We love telling friends, family and acquaintances stories about our road trips.
But what about your spiritual journey, your walk with Christ…what’s happening to you on that road trip? These early disciples couldn’t wait to tell what happened on the road when they encountered the risen Christ. What is the story of your spiritual journey? How has your “road trip with Jesus” been going? When was the last time you met Jesus on your journey and what was that like? The Emmaus disciples told what happened on the road.
If you want to experience the resurrection of Jesus Christ in your life, where you live, just get up in the morning and put one foot in front of the other and head down the road. But please, go with a bit of imagination. Walk with the expectation of the possibility of surprise.
He comes to them as on unknown. He comes to them on “the first day of the week,” the first day of the Jewish work week. Not while they are at worship, but while they are on the road. He comes to them not while they are studying the Bible, but on their way back from work, as the light of day is facing, at suppertime.
What are your “Stories from the road?” Do you remember when the path of the Living God intersected your journey?
Never forget: 1st year of my ministry Pastor Waterford
Man at the door, late at night…talked on the porch…had seen a vision of Jesus…I remember the fear…but as he talked sensed a strange power and calm.
Wanted to go down to the church…to the altar to pray…be baptized…His life was changed…attended every Sunday…
Couple of weeks ago…day I got the diagnosis of cancer…setting up for Lenten vespers asked one of our members to help me…chatting…I didn’t know what he did for a living…Managed a large practice of urologists here in Toledo… I was feeling so conflicted, wasn’t sure what to do. Hadn’t told anyone but Mary Beth…out of the blue here was someone who knew the Doc I had only met twice who had just told me I had cancer and needed surgery and one of my fellow church members said of my new doctor… “He’s one of my best friends…the other one I was thinking about as “one of the nicest and most genuine guys you’ll ever meet.”
A coincidence? No! A God moment that I needed. I couldn’t wait to get in the car and call Mary Beth…and there was a sense of calm and peace that came over me that night.
The risen Christ comes to us, as he came to his first disciples. I am convinced that Christ and his inspiration comes to us in lots of ways and forms: through fellow believers or folks we don’t even know. A word in a song. A blazing sunset. An inner voice. God loves us so much that the risen Christ keeps coming to us, walks with us, instructs us, opens our eyes and hearts to new truth, connects us with new and deeper levels of faith…when we need it the most…
Let us pray: Dear God, as we go along life’s way, help us to be aware of your presence with us. Open our eyes, make us expectant, eager to be met by you. Give us open minds, open eyes, open hearts to receive your gracious presence. And bless us with the courage and the boldness to share our Stories from the Road to inspire and instruct others on their journey of life and faith. You are the resurrection, the way, and the life. Thanks be to God.
Amen and Amen.
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ALSO on Sunday, April 6th 9:45 and 11:00 am: Children’s Sabbath Our Children will be leading these two services focusing on Psalm 23. These lively services will include Epworth children in all aspects of worship leadership...they will lead and serve us as we sing, worship, pray and receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
