PREPARING FOR WORSHIP APRIL 22

Joy comes in the morning; sometimes it comes at supper time as well. 

(Psalm 30:5)

The gospel reading for this Sunday is the ending of the Gospel of Luke.  In the reading for last week Jesus appeared twice to disciples hiding in a locked room in Jerusalem. Luke tells a different story of two appearances.  One is at a new location.   Jesus appears on the road to Emmaus and speaks with two disciples who do not recognize him.  He teaches them, they do not recognize him, they invite him to supper, he breaks bread, they “know him” in the breaking of the bread and then he vanishes.  No supper for Jesus.  Maybe no supper for them.   Hurrying back to Jerusalem those two find the other disciples describing how the risen Jesus had appeared to Simon.  While they are describing what had happened to them on the road, Jesus appears once more.  He has something to eat in Jerusalem.

On the way to Emmaus the disciples are sad, disheartened, perhaps depressed.  I invite you to consider how it has been for you when you have those feelings.  The road before you can seem long, maybe too long.  Perhaps you are too listless to walk.  The promise of “newness” or the ability to “restart” can seem far away, maybe impossible to reach.    And yet …

God, joy, energy, and hope all have a way of reappearing.  (God can be hidden and unrecognizable.)  They come as a gift:  sometimes from outside, sometimes from inside, sometimes they are just there.  They can come slowly and grow or they can suddenly emerge full blown.  God invites us to look for them.

Kate Huey offers us these thought and questions for our reflection

Paul Gauguin, 19th century
I shut my eyes in order to see.

Bruce Epperly, 21st century
When author Madeleine L’Engle was asked, “Do you believe in God without any doubts?” she replied, “I believe in God with all my doubts.”

Parker Palmer, 21st century
The moments when we meet and reckon with contradictions are turning points where we either enter or evade the mystery of God.

Përe Armogathe, 21st century
Churchyards are not urban repositories for garbage but places of sleep and waiting. It’s like there are seeds under the ground, waiting for spring to come.

Alice Walker, 21st century
Wake up and smell the possibility.

1. Where are you, in your spiritual life, two weeks after Easter?
2. Do you feel more like the travelers on the road to Emmaus, or like the disciples locked in a room, hiding and fearful?
3. What have you witnessed that strengthens your belief, your understanding, your trust in the resurrection?

Scripture Readings

Luke 24:13-49

¹³Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” ¹⁹He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” ²⁵Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. ²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” ³³That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

³⁶While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence. ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 2:37-42

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” ³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” ⁴⁰And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.