Year A
Acts 2:14a,36-41
Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M. Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled\u2026 starts out with the sentence\u2026 Life is difficult<\/em>\u2026 it’s a book which makes the unpleasant-sounding claim\u2026 that facing and solving our problems can be a painful process\u2026 that many of us try to avoid this pain\u2026 and by avoiding it we can increase it\u2026 and reduce our ability to grow psychologically and spiritually\u2026 but Peck claims that confronting and resolving our problems\u2026 and struggling through the changes it brings\u2026 can also enable us to reach a higher level of self-awareness\u2026 and self-awareness leads to spiritual maturity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peck wrote about the importance of gratification delay\u2026 which means giving up present comfort for future gains ] accepting responsibility for our own decisions ] being dedicated to truth and honesty in both word and deed ] and learning to manage conflicting expectations\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n I know what it is to put things off\u2026 like writing this sermon\u2026 perhaps some of you do too\u2026 and I can confirm the fact that it can bring some level of discomfort\u2026 and sometimes we can get away with putting things off\u2026 so we can prepare ourselves for them\u2026 like training for a marathon prepares runners\u2026 but eventually they have to run the race\u2026 eventually we have to see and name our stuff and deal with it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some years ago\u2026 I got a new pair of glasses\u2026 both lenses and frames\u2026 I’d put it off because my prescription hadn’t changed very much\u2026 but now it was time\u2026 and I got a pair of progressive lenses\u2026 with one adjustment that corrected for an astigmatism\u2026 a focusing issue\u2026 and one which corrected\u2026 with something called a prism adjustment\u2026 for a mild form of double vision\u2026 or lazy eye\u2026 something I’ve had since childhood\u2026 and I needed it more when it was almost evening and the day was nearly over\u2026 when my eyes were tired\u2026 ] so I get the new glasses\u2026 and go to a lecture a few days later\u2026 but I see two speakers at the podium\u2026 and I knew something wasn’t right\u2026 now optometry is a science\u2026 but it’s not rocket science\u2026 and my confidence\u2026 my faith in this eye doctor was shaken\u2026 because my glasses had always been right the very first time\u2026 so I go back to the eye doctor and they check the prescription in the lenses\u2026 and check my eyes again\u2026 they even call my former eye doctor in Ohio\u2026 and after talking\u2026 they decide to remove the part that corrects for lazy eye\u2026 because unbeknownst to any of us\u2026 that part of my vision had improved\u2026 and voila<\/em>\u2026 my eyes were able to focus on the same spot\u2026 and I could see\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But here’s the lesson\u2026 I had been pointing mental fingers at the eye doctor\u2026 and the technicians\u2026 thinking it was them\u2026 thinking that it was something in the lenses they prescribed and customized for me\u2026 not realizing that there was some improvement in my own eyes\u2026 that I didn’t need that particular correction\u2026 and which was now keeping me from seeing clearly\u2026 and as in so many things\u2026 while I didn’t know it at first\u2026 I ought to have been pointing those fingers at myself\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gospel says that Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem\u2026 but no one really knows just where it was\u2026 some think Emmaus might have been the site of a Roman garrison\u2026 built around a pool of water\u2026 all the resurrection stories happen on the same day\u2026 in today’s story\u2026 it’s still Easter day\u2026 these two have heard stories about the empty tomb\u2026 they’ve heard all the reports\u2026 they have all the facts\u2026 but are struggling with the meaning\u2026 with how to interpret it all\u2026 they’re sad and dejected\u2026 they know about some other disciples who ran away from the cross\u2026 but by walking towards Emmaus\u2026 they’re also walking away from Jerusalem\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Shea claims that the whole of the Gospel is a journey toward Jerusalem\u2026 the revelation of the cross takes place in Jerusalem and the story ends there\u2026 according to Luke\u2026 avoiding Jerusalem is avoiding the path of Christ\u2026 walking away from Jerusalem and toward Emmaus\u2026 means that these two are walking away from the other-worldly power of Christ\u2026 and are walking towards the worldly power of Rome\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand some of this\u2026 because when the glasses didn’t work out the way I expected them to\u2026 when I couldn’t see clearly\u2026 I had the facts but didn’t know how to interpret them\u2026 I wondered how many more trips to the optometrist I’d have to make\u2026 and maybe I couldn’t\u2026 but I wanted to forget the whole thing too\u2026 walk away\u2026 maybe find another teacher\u2026 I mean another optometrist\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so it’s easy for me to wonder\u2026 how many more times must I hear Jesus’ story before I get it\u2026 before I understand it clearly\u2026 before I see Jesus right in front of me\u2026 in creation\u2026 in relationships\u2026 and in the breaking of the bread\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yvette Schock\u2026 Associate Pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Arlington, Va\u2026 wrote… my vision needs returning all the time\u2026 so I find comfort in the Emmaus story\u2026 Jesus does not leave the disciples on their own\u2026 blind to the reality of resurrection\u2026 in their grief they can’t see well enough to go looking for him\u2026 so he finds them\u2026 he walks with them and takes a place at their table\u2026 and in the breaking of bread\u2026 their eyes are opened\u2026 and after he vanishes\u2026 they acknowledge that they kind-of\u2026 sort-of\u2026 mostly knew something was up the whole time\u2026 adjustments had been made to their understanding when Jesus interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures\u2026 and the were able to see with the eyes of their hearts\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n My vision needs daily refocusing too\u2026 even though I am fed by scripture\u2026 even though my search for God goes back to childhood\u2026 even though I strive to share the radical forgiveness\u2026 unmerited grace\u2026 and loving inclusion of God in Christ\u2026 I too can get beat down by the myopic vision of the world\u2026 which sometimes can’t see grace sitting at our own tables\u2026 but at this Table\u2026 something happens\u2026 though it may be difficult to see\u2026 we may taste bread and wine\u2026 and wonder if the flesh and blood we can’t see is real\u2026 and reliable\u2026 but Eucharist is mystery\u2026 and that which connects the unmanifest with the manifest\u2026 the timeless with the time-bound\u2026 the heart of God with our hearts\u2026 is love\u2026 and I believe that that love is real\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wonder how many of us take The Road to Emmaus\u2026 or take The Road Less Traveled\u2026 but I believe that whether we travel on either one of them\u2026 Jesus meets us where we are\u2026 on either one of them\u2026 it is Easter\u2026 late in the afternoon\u2026 the day is nearly over\u2026 and it is almost evening\u2026 will we invite Jesus into our home\u2026 will our hearts burn within us\u2026 will we recognize him in the breaking of the bread\u2026 and let him feed us\u2026 so that our eyes will be opened too\u2026 and we can embody even more of God’s love\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Acts 2:14a,36-41 Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17 1 Peter 1:17-23 Luke 24:13-35 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 M. Scott Peck’s book The Road Less Traveled\u2026 starts out with the sentence\u2026 Life is difficult\u2026 it’s a book which makes the unpleasant-sounding claim\u2026 that facing and solving our problems can be a painful process\u2026 that many of us try to avoid this pain\u2026 and by avoiding it we can increase it\u2026 and reduce our ability to grow psychologically and spiritually\u2026 but Peck claims that confronting and resolving our problems\u2026 and struggling through the changes it brings\u2026 can also enable us to reach a higher level of self-awareness\u2026 and self-awareness leads to spiritual maturity\u2026 Peck wrote about the importance of gratification delay\u2026 which means giving up present comfort for future gains ] accepting responsibility for our own decisions ] being dedicated to truth and honesty in both word and deed ] and learning to manage conflicting expectations\u2026 I know what it is to put things off\u2026 like writing this sermon\u2026 perhaps some of you do too\u2026 and I can confirm the fact that it can bring some level of discomfort\u2026 and sometimes we can get away with putting things off\u2026 so we can prepare ourselves for them\u2026 like training for a marathon prepares runners\u2026 but eventually they have to run the race\u2026 eventually we have to see and name our stuff and deal with it\u2026 Some years ago\u2026 I got a new pair of glasses\u2026 both lenses and frames\u2026 I’d put it off because my prescription hadn’t changed very much\u2026 but now it was time\u2026 and I got a pair of progressive lenses\u2026 with one adjustment that corrected for an astigmatism\u2026 a focusing issue\u2026 and one which corrected\u2026 with something called a prism adjustment\u2026 for a mild form of double vision\u2026 or lazy eye\u2026 something I’ve had since childhood\u2026 and I needed it more when it was almost evening and the day was nearly over\u2026 when my eyes were tired\u2026 ] so I get the new glasses\u2026 and go to a lecture a few days later\u2026 but I see two speakers at the podium\u2026 and I knew something wasn’t right\u2026 now optometry is a science\u2026 but it’s not rocket science\u2026 and my confidence\u2026 my faith in this eye doctor was shaken\u2026 because my glasses had always been right the very first time\u2026 so I go back to the eye doctor and they check the prescription in the lenses\u2026 and check my eyes again\u2026 they even call my former eye doctor in Ohio\u2026 and after talking\u2026 they decide to remove the part that corrects for lazy eye\u2026 because unbeknownst to any of us\u2026 that part of my vision had improved\u2026 and voila\u2026 my eyes were able to focus on the same spot\u2026 and I could see\u2026 But here’s the lesson\u2026 I had been pointing mental fingers at the eye doctor\u2026 and the technicians\u2026 thinking it was them\u2026 thinking that it was something in the lenses they prescribed and customized for me\u2026 not realizing that there was some improvement in my own eyes\u2026 that I didn’t need that particular correction\u2026 and which was now keeping me from seeing clearly\u2026 and as in so many things\u2026 while I didn’t know it at first\u2026 I ought to have been pointing those fingers at myself\u2026 The Gospel says that Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem\u2026 but no one really knows just where it was\u2026 some think Emmaus might have been the site of a Roman garrison\u2026 built around a pool of water\u2026 all the resurrection stories happen on the same day\u2026 in today’s story\u2026 it’s still Easter day\u2026 these two have heard stories about the empty tomb\u2026 they’ve heard all the reports\u2026 they have all the facts\u2026 but are struggling with the meaning\u2026 with how to interpret it all\u2026 they’re sad and dejected\u2026 they know about some other disciples who ran away from the cross\u2026 but by walking towards Emmaus\u2026 they’re also walking away from Jerusalem\u2026 John Shea claims that the whole of the Gospel is a journey toward Jerusalem\u2026 the revelation of the cross takes place in Jerusalem and the story ends there\u2026 according to Luke\u2026 avoiding Jerusalem is avoiding the path of Christ\u2026 walking away from Jerusalem and toward Emmaus\u2026 means that these two are walking away from the other-worldly power of Christ\u2026 and are walking towards the worldly power of Rome\u2026 I understand some of this\u2026 because when the glasses didn’t work out the way I expected them to\u2026 when I couldn’t see clearly\u2026 I had the facts but didn’t know how to interpret them\u2026 I wondered how many more trips to the optometrist I’d have to make\u2026 and maybe I couldn’t\u2026 but I wanted to forget the whole thing too\u2026 walk away\u2026 maybe find another teacher\u2026 I mean another optometrist\u2026 And so it’s easy for me to wonder\u2026 how many more times must I hear Jesus’ story before I get it\u2026 before I understand it clearly\u2026 before I see Jesus right in front of me\u2026 in creation\u2026 in relationships\u2026 and in the breaking of the bread\u2026 Yvette Schock\u2026 Associate Pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Arlington, Va\u2026 wrote… my vision needs returning all the time\u2026 so I find comfort in the Emmaus story\u2026 Jesus does not leave the disciples on their own\u2026 blind to the reality of resurrection\u2026 in their grief they can’t see well enough to go looking for him\u2026 so he finds them\u2026 he walks with them and takes a place at their table\u2026 and in the breaking of bread\u2026 their eyes are opened\u2026 and after he vanishes\u2026 they acknowledge that they kind-of\u2026 sort-of\u2026 mostly knew something was up the whole time\u2026 adjustments had been made to their understanding when Jesus interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures\u2026 and the were able to see with the eyes of their hearts\u2026 My vision needs daily refocusing too\u2026 even though I am fed by scripture\u2026 even though my search for God goes back to childhood\u2026 even though 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