Thought for the Day – Sunday 26th April
A re-telling from Spill the Beans of our Bible passage for today Luke 24: 13-35:
The Emmaus Road they call it.
It is the road from Jerusalem to
a village called Emmaus, a journey of about 7 miles. If you walked it the other
way around you could call it the Jerusalem Road, but no-one ever does. Something
happened on that road a long time ago that made it famous.
Two travellers walked along it
one spring night and a third traveller joined them. The two travellers were
sad. A friend of theirs had just died. They were missing him. The traveller who
joined them was a stranger to them. He seemed to be a preacher...a story
teller… a teacher...
As they walked together they
talked about life and its meaning, about the things that were important to
them. They listened to each other. They asked each other questions. Sometimes
they smiled.
Sometimes they nodded. Sometimes they struggled with their hopes
and fears.
When they got near to Emmaus the
stranger walked ahead of them as if he meant to walk on, but this was their
home and they wanted to invite him in. And the stranger stayed and they shared
each other’s food. And he was a stranger no longer. He was their friend.
They say that the two travellers
were friends of Jesus.
And the evening of their journey was
the evening of the day that Jesus had risen from the dead.
And they also say that when the
meal was finished the two travellers hurried back those seven long miles to
Jerusalem to share their story: the story of the road to Emmaus and of Jesus
who they recognised in the sharing of bread.
Companions on the way – the very theme of our Guild this year where
over the year we have spoken of those who walk with us in life and of course,
Jesus as thee companion of our way.
But hasn’t this story and our companions on the way taken on a whole
new sense these last few weeks?
If we are a family then our companions on the way of lockdown are that
family, if we are living alone our companions have all but disappeared.
No more do we wish to encounter strangers and invite them to walk with
us, rather as we go on our daily walk as they draw near, sometimes too near, we
become agitated and suspicious – are they going to keep their distance – are
they going to stay that two metres apart.
It seems no longer do we wish a stranger to even acknowledge us, let
alone come and walk beside us no matter what wonderful things they might have
to say!
In the story Jesus opened up the scriptures to the companions – I
wonder what Jesus would have to say to us today as he walked alongside us at
this time.
Perhaps he would tell us of the young nurse who every day sets off for
work when most of his friends and family are at home so that he can go and hold
hands and adjust the masks of those struggling against this virus, fighting for
their lives and of their fear that they might bring it home to their family.
Perhaps he would tell us of the homeless woman he had just met who for
the first time had been given a place in which to shelter and was finding it
difficult to adapt to that setting with all its rules of social distancing and
engaging with others and who was actually living fearfully knowing this time of
shelter would come to an end and she would have to return to her homeless
state.
Perhaps he would tell us of young parents unable to share the joy of
their child’s birth and new grandparents unable to hold their first grandchild.
Maybe even of young people unable to take their exams, marking that
rite of passage in their lives.
I am sure he would tell of us of those living alone relying on others
for support and of those families deep in grief unable to perform the rituals
of grief and mourning.
As he did on the Emmaus Road, he would tell us story after story not to
necessarily lessen our own fear or diminish our own loss but to try, in the
midst of this time, to help us sense community, to help us honour sacrifice, to
help us catch a glimmer of hope and to know that all we are being asked to
endure at this time will not last forever.
His hope would be that everything we have learned on our walk with him
during this time would not just disappear when the virus is conquered and the
world forever changed.
His hope would be that all the care, compassion, love and sense of
connection with others we have fostered during this time would become gifts in
our new reality, gifts we celebrated together.
He was made known to those companions in the breaking of bread – just
as he can be made known to others today in the bread we leave on doorsteps!
A simple act of care, compassion and love but one which shares hope and
promise and a love which others can then cling onto for the future.
Prayer
Loving Lord,
So often our eyes are shut, so shut that we are blinded to the hurt and
pain of others, so shut that we cannot see you or sense you near us, so shut we
do not recognise you in the people we meet.
Open our eyes, Lord, so we can see where your love is needed, so that
we can see you in our lives, so we can recognise you in our midst.
Lord, at this time there are so many people, so many challenges, it is
often difficult for us to know where to begin. Help us to take each situation
as it comes, to know what the priorities are, to work out the ways in which we
can help that we might walk your path of righteousness bringing justice and
peace, in all we say and do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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