The Disciples to Jesus:
Who The Heck Are You Anyway?
Spirit of the Living God Fall Fresh On Us!
Congregation repeats!
I know you are very familiar with the Emmaus story.
The Emmaus story is about having a shared meal with
Jesus. The Emmaus story is about the recognition of
Jesus in the breaking of the bread. The Emmaus story is
also about the way Jesus recognizes the disciples and
the disciples finally recognize Jesus.
In May 2004 Stefani and I went on our honeymoon to
London and Paris. One of the high points of our trip was
to go first class on the train from London to Paris round
trip. London was our home away from home for two
weeks. We spent a few glorious days in Paris.
On our return to London from Paris, Stefani decided to
do some last minute tourist shopping in the train
terminal before we boarded to London. I was sitting
with our bags at the train gate waiting for the signal to
board. I was happy to have a copy of the NY Times to
read, as I had not seen an American paper in a week or
more. Honestly though Stefani and I both love to people
watch more than read a newspaper in places like train
terminals and airports. The newspaper is just our cover!
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So yes I did some people watching over the tip of my
newspaper trying to be a little bit incognito. As I people
watched my eyes kept looking over towards this one
man who caught my eye. He was an American in a sea
of Europeans and other tourists from around the world.
I was looking to see if he had any markings on his shirt
or bag to tell me where he was from. He did not. The
man was looking me over too. Feeling a little
uncomfortable as my parents always told me not to
stare I attempted to go back to really reading my
newspaper. So I did.
Then a few minutes later the gentleman came over to
me and said are you Joe Duggan? The personal greeting
of this man stunned me! For an instant my brain went
completely blank. Oh no, I thought who the heck is this
person who just gave me such a lovely greeting? My
brain was racing as fast as it could to search for every
face and name I ever met so I could greet this fellow
with his name.
I had absolutely no idea who this gentleman standing
over me was! I had to say, “Yes I am Joe Duggan, but I
am so sorry, but I have no idea who you are.” It was so
hard for me to say these words as this man was clearly
happy to see me and honored me with my name.
Immediately the man said, “I am Bruce Morrill, we were
Jesuits together at Fordham University in the eighties”.
At these words I rose to my feet, gave Bruce a big hug
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and said, “Of course, of course, Bruce. It is so good to
see you!”
At this point we had about 10 minutes to boarding time
and we attempted as quickly as possible to catch up on
close to twenty years of personal details. Bruce said,
“Are you hear on business?” “No” I said, I am here on my
honeymoon!” Bruce, “Oh wow, congratulations, where is
your bride?”
At this point Stefani comes over and is stunned to see
me talking to somebody in the Paris train terminal. I
introduced Stefani and Bruce. During the interchange I
told Bruce that we were both Episcopal priests. Bruce
told us that he was on sabbatical in London for a year. I
asked where he was living in the US and he told me that
he was an associate professor at Boston College. I said,
“Really, we only live a few miles from there in
Cambridge, MA. When we get home we will have you
over to our place for dinner”.
We met Bruce several times and when we were living in
Manchester, UK, Bruce was again on sabbatical in
Dublin, Ireland and we visited him again as he also
came to see us in Manchester.
No doubt a few of you have had the experience of
meeting somebody after many years and you have not
recognized old friends. As I prayed over this morning’s
Gospel I remembered the story of meeting Bruce in the
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Paris train station. Often the way this Gospel is
preached is to focus on the ways the disciples recognize
Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
No doubt the communion aspect of this story is so
important. I know each of us recognize Jesus, the risen
Christ in the breaking of the bread every week. There is
even more to the story though. Jesus recognizes the
disciples. Jesus is not upset that the disciples do not
immediately recognize him. Rather Jesus keeps the
conversation going and offers hospitality to his friends.
I forgot Bruce’s name because he was the farthest
person from my mind that day. Of course when Bruce
said his name I remembered him. But after I left the
Jesuits Bruce and I did not keep in touch. We had
completely lost track of each other.
Sometimes in our busy lives we lose track of God too.
We come to church and this is one of the most faithful
congregations in the church. You are a strong
congregation to the core. As long as we are all in this
place and go through our weekly routine of meeting at
the altar rail you and I continue to recognize the Risen
Christ.
Do you ever have the experience of the risen Christ
meeting you and being surprised by not expecting to
see or experience the risen Christ in a particular
context?
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A few days ago we posted to the parish website a series
of Holy Week lectures by Justin Welby, the Archbishop
of Canterbury. Justin Welby oversees the Anglican
Communion of which The Episcopal Church is a
member. I hope you have noticed that in the last few
weeks I have added a couple of new sections to our
parish newsletter, Voices. One of the weekly sections is
on what’s new across the Anglican Communion?
I want you to be familiar with global nature of
Anglicanism. I enjoy listening to Justin Welby as I find
him very thoughtful. On our parish website you will
find a video talk that he gave at Canterbury Cathedral
during Holy Week on The Risk of Prayer.
In his talk “The Risk of Prayer” Justin Welby talks about
the risk of not praying. In the talk he says of course we
all pray for favors, pray when we are in need or despair
and sometimes for gratitude and especially for worship.
The Archbishop invites us to pray frequently so that we
become intimately familiar with every aspect of Christ’s
heart and being. In becoming familiar with Christ we
increase our likelihood of recognizing Jesus not only in
the breaking of the bread but also in every aspect of our
lives.
In praying we come to see the way Jesus knows each of
us, and cherishes us as friend and beloved. Prayer is
simply just talking to God like Bruce and I got caught up
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with each other in the Paris train station. Lack of
frequent conversations with Bruce made me after some
twenty years not even recognize him. Similarly unless
we talk with God on a regular basis we are not likely to
recognize God outside of the breaking of the bread.
God wants to be a part of our daily lives between each
Sunday when we gather here. The fact is that God is
right by our side every day, all day, but we do not
always recognize God in the form of the risen Christ or
the Spirit. God recognizes us. God meets us exactly
where we are.
God meets us in the ordinary toil of our lives.
God meets us when we are out on a walk just like the
disciples were out for a walk at Emmaus.
God meets us and patiently waits for our recognition.
God meets us in our weakness, our blindness and our
messiness.
Coming to know God in this way is a pretty amazing gift.
The gift we receive is not just for us. The gift we receive
like communion is to be shared with all who yearn for
the love of God. When we recognize God in the
multiplicity of places where God dwells then we are
ready to offer guidance to others. We are able to help
others see.
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We become angels or like the faithful, seeing-eye dogs
that care for the blind. In many ways we are all blind at
various points in our life. When we forget a name there
is a friend like Bruce to remind us. We offer the same
kind of care to others too in imitation of the risen
Christ’s way with the disciples. And we break out of our
little circles of family, friends and fellow church
members and share this amazing gift of recognizing the
risen Christ in all those we meet.
The Emmaus journey is ours.
We are all on the Emmaus journey.
The risen Christ is alive so let us be on the alert for
appearances in our lives.
Let us share these experiences with one another and
give glory to God.
God Bless You!