Brown's Daily Word 5-6-11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this Fabulous Friday. It will be one of the ten best days. The Spring flowers are in full bloom. The grass is lavishly green. Praise the Lord for the splendor of the Spring Season. Our Lord makes all things glorious and beautiful. Those who live in the area, please join us for our weekly TV outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner channel 4.
I love the event of Emmaus as it is recorded in Luke 24. The women come to the Tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark. The two disciples of our Lord journey to Emmaus. It is an evening scene, getting darker by the minute. The Risen Lord suddenly appears in the scene and joins the two travelers as the unknown traveler. He is Risen but not recoginized and as they go Cleopas and the other, clearly overwhelmed and distraught, share with their new companion the sad news of recent days. It is a story of dashed hopes and dreams lost. The stranger asks them, what were they talking about with so much intensity. They say, "About Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of the women amazed us. They went to our tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him."
Cleopas pours his heart out to this man who has joined their journey to Emmaus. As the travelers talk, we sense that perhaps these disciples are going to Emmaus not to get home or to get work done, but just to get away from the terrible things they had witnessed in Jerusalem. There is not much known about Emmaus, and one theologian interprets Emmaus as the place we go in order to escape. Emmaus is the place that we throw up our arms and say, “Let the whole thing go…It makes no difference anyway.” Emmaus could be buying a new suit or pair of shoes that you don’t really need. Emmaus could stand for whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves try and forget about the awfulness of things. We journey to Emmaus often. Then someone comes along wondering what we're talking about, and we turn to them and ask, "Don't you see? Don't you understand how bad things are?"
However, the story of the walk to Emmaus is the story about how sometimes we are the ones who don't see; sometimes we are the ones who don't understand, and we need a new perspective. After the two disciples share their story with their new companion, they get what is quite surely an unexpected response. "Wasn't this the way it was supposed to happen?" the man asks. "Don't you understand? Don't you see? There had to be suffering in order for there to be glory!"
Then the man tells his own story. He begins with Moses and all the prophets, explaining to them what was said in all the Scriptures about the Messiah. He didn't miss a thing. From Genesis onward, this man talks to Cleopas and the other about how this story pointed forward to a fulfillment which could only be found when God's anointed took Israel's suffering, the world's suffering, on to himself, died under its weight, and rose again as the beginning of God's new creation, God's new people. This had to happen. Now it has occurred, but the disciples cannot see that, and they don't understand who is walking along with them.
We know that the disciple's companion was Jesus the Risen Lord , but in their misery, they did not recognize him. Even as he revealed the Scriptures to them, they still did not understand; it took the breaking of bread and a shared meal that night in Emmaus for their eyes to be opened. But the story of the walk to Emmaus reminds us that the risen Lord meets in our pain and sorrow and frustration. The resurrected Christ meets us on the road to our Emmaus; He is with us in the ordinary places and experiences of our lives, and in the places to which we retreat when life is too much for us to bear. This story also reminds us that when the Lord comes to us, it may be in unfamiliar ways, and when we least expect him.
We have to be prepared to share our grief in prayer with the stranger who approaches and then we have to learn to listen for his voice; explaining, leading forwards, warming our hearts as he tells us the story of comfort we need to hear.
That is the road to Emmaus. It is the place where Christ walks with us through all the difficulties. It is the place where he reminds us of the story of our redemption. It is also a story about new beginnings as Christ joins with us on our personal road to Emmaus. He walks with us when it seems like everything in the world is going wrong, and even as he walks with us, he reminds us of the story of our salvation; As we journey with Christ on the road to Emmaus, we cannot help but be changed. Our hearts burn within us as we encounter the risen Lord and we discover the hope of new life in a story that is as old as the ages. Emmaus is the beginning of the journey, not the end.
In Christ the Rise Lord,
Brown
http://youtu.be/RFU9nsG7Oww

Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott

Saturday, May 7, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship

6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Jane Hettinger, Mary Haskel
Speaker: Dave Hettinger