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“On the Road Again”, Rev. Melissa St. Clair, May 4, 2014

“On the Road Again”

A sermon preached at

Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Fort Collins, CO

by the Rev. Melissa St. Clair

Luke 24:13-35

May 4, 2014

Today as we read from Holy Scripture, you are invited to enter the story as if it were your own.[1]

It looks like any other road,

this road we are walking today.

I invite you to close your eyes,

sit up straight with your feet on the floor,

be comfortable.

Breathe in deeply, and out slowly.

Do you see the road?

What kind of road is it?

What do you see?

What do you hear?

Are there other people on the road?

What is the weather like?

How fast do you want to walk today?

Leave the city, one foot in front of the other,

sandals tamping down dust,

even as grief washes from head to toe.

Nothing went the way we thought.

And today’s news is even more unbelievable than last week’s.

alive?

is it possible?

why can’t I see him?

One foot in front of the other,

walking home,

on just another road,

any road—it doesn’t matter now.

Nothing matters—no journey will ever be the same without him.

but where is he?

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

Just another road,

like any other road.

Can you see it?

One foot in front of the other,

on the road again,

but alone this time.

A stranger comes alongside you.

Do you talk to strangers?

He walks near you for a ways,

in comfortable silence…

and then asks the question:

what are you thinking about?

What will you tell him?

What are you thinking about?

It’s been an amazing three years—

healings,

miracles,

parables,

feeding people,

restoring community,

telling stories,

loving outcasts.

Which story to tell?

Think of your favorite story about Jesus.

Tell it to this stranger as you walk along this dusty road,

one foot in front of the other.…

This stranger listens well,

he asks questions,

he nods in all the right places,

and he can tell that the story makes you both excited and sad.

As you finish telling your story,

you mention that it doesn’t make much sense.

Things seemed to be going so well until that last night,

that last dinner,

that Passover Party.

That’s when the real questions began.

Sure, other things didn’t always make sense…

but broken body, life poured out,

arrested,

beaten,

crucified,

killed…

and now alive again?

The stranger looks at you as you walk down the road,

thinking out loud.

What are your questions?

Keep wondering out loud together as you walk,

one foot in front of the other,

through the dust,

wondering.

 Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

As you come to the end of your questions,

your voice trails off

and both of you stare down the road,

walking slowly together.

Then this stranger begins to tell a story of his own…

but it’s a story you know well,

except this time it begins to make a little bit of sense.

Just a little bit.

Grief and confusion are still there,

but now there’s something new…

something warm…

something blooming in the desert.

Listen—

what story is he telling you?

As he finishes his story,

you look up and realize it’s time to rest for the evening.

You’ve just met this strange man,

this storyteller,

this listener,

this fellow traveler,

but you invite him in for dinner.

There’s something about him…

And as you sit down at the table,

he offers thanks for a journey safely completed,

for new friends,

for hospitality,

for a simple meal of bread and cheese.

and as he takes some bread and offers you a piece,

you see.

He’s been with you all along,

transforming the journey,

making it part of the story,

part of God’s story,

part of our journey together.

On the road,

an ordinary road,

any road like any other,

yet unlike any other.

He’s alive!

is it possible?

You see him!

Hurry, on the road again…

What will you tell the others?

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

READ LUKE 24:13-35

Do you recognize Luke’s story?

You could say that it’s the story of our lives.

John Dominic Crossan once said, “Emmaus never happened.  Emmaus always happens.” in other words, this walk to Emmaus “isn’t primarily a description of an historical event; rather, it’s a story that reflects the pattern of the Christian life as it is lived out by people on their journey through life.”[2]

It’s not just our story as individual disciples, although how many miles have each of us walked without realizing that it was Jesus who had been walking by our side all along?  It’s also our collective story, the story we share as a worshiping community of faith.

Our story starts with this basic truth: we are God’s people.

We show up.  We come together to form messy, beautiful, sometimes challenging, more often comforting, community.

We talk with one another about things that really matter to us – our values, our ways of understanding ourselves and God and the world around us, our hopes and dreams, our sorrows, our celebrations.

Throughout it all, there’s a stranger in our midst.  And that stranger listens to us.  Really listens.  He’s patient and sympathetic as he hears our prayers.  Funny how we can be transformed by knowing someone is truly listening.

And then the Word is read and preached, and we feel something within us shifting.  We feel a warm presence in our hearts, maybe even our guts.

And then we set the table. Every time, we set the table, and we pray and we remember those ancient words and that fresh bread is taken, blessed, broken, and given – and our eyes are opened.

With eyes wide open we then scatter back into the world to tell others the good news of Resurrection.[3]  We’re on the road again.

That’s the kind of journey we share.  We come together and contemplate and converse and commune so we can communicate through our words and actions the hope of new life, the joy of resurrection, to anyone and everyone.

I’ve heard it said that the resurrection we live and proclaim is embodied movement.  It calls us from our comfort zones to the open road.[4]  It’s on that road that we encounter the Living God – the God that, in the words of my theologian friend Bruce Epperly, is not “imprisoned by yesterday’s revelations and the church’s creed and scriptures.” The God of the Emmaus Road “is alive and on the move, doing new things and sharing new insights with other pilgrims on the journey”– and calling us to do the same. To be an active, alive resurrection people.  To be attentive to the new things God is doing.  To join God in that creative and creating work.

Johnny Wray puts it another way. If you had the privilege of hearing him preach last weekend at Spring Feast, you heard him repeat this phrase: A long conversation on the way together as life happens around the table.  I love that so much because if there were a succinct way to capture our journey as disciples, it would be that: 

We have a long conversation on the way together as life happens around the table. 

That’s the road to Emmaus.

It’s extraordinary, arduous, full of argument and strangers, graced with hospitality, steeped in conversation that reveals, transforms, prepares, and goes way beyond words.[5] It’s where new life is found in breaking bread together.

Let’s continue on the road, shall we?