A Confidential Report from the Pastor Search Committee:
We do not have a happy report to give. We have not been able to find a suitable candidate for this church. Here are those we considered so far.
ADAM: Good man but has problems with his wife. One reference told us how he and his wife enjoyed walking nude in the woods.
NOAH: Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
JOSEPH: A big thinker, but a braggart; believes in dream interpreting and has a prison record.
MOSES: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator; even stutters at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly in business meetings. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge.
DAVID: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor’s wife.
SOLOMON: Great preacher, but serious woman problem.
HOSEA: A tender and loving pastor, but our people could never handle his wife’s occupation.
JONAH: Told us he was swallowed up by a great fish. He said the fish later spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up.
JOHN The Baptist: In addition to the denominational problem, he sleeps in the outdoors, has a weird diet, and provokes conflicts with religious leaders.
PETER: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper, even said to have cursed. He’s a loose cannon.
PAUL: Powerful CEO type and fascinating preacher. However, he’s short on tact, unforgiving with young ministers, harsh, and has been known to preach all night.
TIMOTHY: Too young.
Life is a journey, not a destination. We forget that these days. Linda and I are going to Hawaii this summer. Our daughter, Kit, is graduating from college next month and she asked for a special family vacation as a present. We chose Hawaii. Kit and her husband Josh and Linda and I will be spending a week in Kona in June. It will be Kit’s graduation present, a present for the kid’s second wedding anniversary, Linda’s birthday present, Josh’s birthday present, and my father’s day present.
We’ve been shopping for plane tickets. Besides the cost, the biggest complaint has been the time it takes to get there. With a couple of stops and plane changes, we will be traveling for more than 14 hours. What a bummer.
How crazy is that? Isn’t it miraculous that we can even get there? Think how difficult that trip would have been not so many years ago. Could we have even considered this kind of trip if we had to go by boat? Can you imagine? Now, 14 hours seems like a lifetime.
Even in my own lifetime I remember travel being a much bigger endeavor than it is today. I was raised in New Mexico, but my parent’s families were mostly in Pennsylvania, though I did have a wacky uncle in Los Angeles. When I was really little, back in the late 50s and early 60s, we used to travel every year to see them. Usually, we went by train.
Traveling from New Mexico to Pennsylvania by train took more than a day. I remember eating in the dining car. It wasn’t fast food. They served real meals on real china. There was always a waiter standing at the ready. I remember sitting up all night in those huge railroad seats straining to see as the world went by. Even though there was no interaction, riding on a train gave you a sense of the character of the places that you passed through. I could see the change from the dry southwest to the farms of the Midwest to lush green as we came east. The world was big, and wonderful, and real.
When we fly to Hawaii, there won’t be any of that. We will get sandwiches, made who knows when, wrapped in plastic and sitting on Styrofoam. We will know nothing of what is going on below us. Often, our entire view will be nothing but clouds.
Some of you remember when Kit went to Kenya on a mission trip a few years back. The entire trip out there was a real adventure for her, more than I can possibly relate today, but there was one part that demands our attention. Her group flew into Nairobi, but they were staying just outside of Mombassa. Those are the two largest cities in Kenya and are only a couple of hours apart by train, which is how I assumed that they would travel. They didn’t. They took a bus. You know the old bus in the movie “Romancing the Stone”, the bus with the chickens? It was something like that. They traveled over unpaved roads for more than 12 hours, including stops to let herds of zebra go past and to go through military checkpoints. Traveling like that gave her an introduction to what her month in Kenya would be like.
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I bet there are plenty here in the congregation who can remember road trips before there were interstates. You would all pile in the car and watch as you wound your way through every little town. You would stop at mom and pop diners and discuss road conditions with fellow travelers. The advertisement invited you to see the USA in your Chevrolet, and you really did.
Today, one McDonalds looks just about like another. We see almost nothing of what we pass through. Sure it is more efficient, but we have paid a price for that.
Our congregation is 170 years old this year. Imagine what it was like traveling back when the church was founded. In spite of what St. Louis says, this was the gateway to the west. Imagine traveling up and down the river on a keel boat or taking a wagon out across country. Trips took months. The journey meant something.
Now imagine walking. How much different would travel be if you had to walk everywhere that you went. How much would you focus on the journey?
Travel is different when walking. Imagine wearing sandals and having your feet covered with dust, or maybe even the droppings of pack animals. People would tend to walk along in groups, gathered together as they chanced to meet. Groups meant safety from robbers. More than that, they gave people an opportunity to pass the time and share the latest news.
When you start to think about traveling on foot, you begin to understand the story. These two followers of Jesus, they aren’t part of the twelve, are walking away from Jerusalem toward the town of Emmaus. On the way they are joined by a stranger. As was the custom, the group traveled on together and began discussing current events. The stranger seems to be ignorant of what happened to Jesus so they tell him the story of the crucifixion and of the rumors of the resurrection. The stranger responds by talking about the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and how the events they described seem to fit what the prophets said. As he talks, the two followers feel their hearts begin to burn as they begin to understand. When the group arrived at Emmaus the two invite the stranger into their home with them. He blesses the bread and breaks it and the two recognize the stranger as the living Christ. He departs form them and they return to Jerusalem
So what are the lessons learned.
Life is a journey, not a destination. There is an old folk tale about a boy who did a heroic deed and was rewarded by the gods by being given control of the pace of his life. His life line was literally a line in the form of a ball of twine. He could let the twine out slowly or quickly, however suited him. At first he let the line out gingerly, savoring every moment that life had to offer, but that didn’t last. He became ill, so he advanced the line quickly until he was well. Later there was a drought and then a great war and so on. Soon every time something unpleasant happened or anytime there was a challenge to be overcome, he unraveled the twine and jumped forward in his life. Before long, he reached the end of the line. He had become an old man on the brink of death and he realized that he had never experienced life. Those challenges of life were part of the journey.
That ancient legend reflects much of our modern view of life. We are a goal oriented society. We wish our lives away striving to reach the next milestone. If only I were out of school. If only I were married. If only I had that great job. If only I could get that next promotion. If only I were retired. Each goal is replaced by another. No goal ever satisfies. Along the way, we are so focused on the next achievement that we fail to experience life today.
Our modern society has forgotten the joy of exploration and adventure, but it has not always been this way. In 1901, the following ad appeared in a London newspaper: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful." The ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer. Amazingly, the ad drew thousands of respondents, eager to sacrifice everything for the prospect of meaningful adventure.
The passage today teaches us to appreciate the journey and to see the adventure that our lives hold. It is while we are on the journey that we experience the risen Christ.
Sometimes we think that our everyday lives don’t hold great meaning. Reflect on the following questions:
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last 10 World Series winners.
Can you answer those? I could only answer one of them.. Consider these.
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
6. Name six heroes whose stories have inspired you.
The people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones who are celebrated. They are the ones who cared along the way.
Another lesson. We walk with Christ even when we do not always recognize that he is with us. We tend to compartmentalize our lives. We act as if there is an appropriate time and place for an encounter with Christ. We view that time as special and set apart. This passage teaches us that the idea of a spiritual time and a secular time is an illusion. The Christ whom we find in church on Sunday is walking with us at the office on Monday morning.
These two followers were walking in the wrong direction. The power of God was being displayed in Jerusalem where the risen Christ was appearing among the disciples. At such a time as this, why were these followers leaving town? Yet, even as they were walking away from the most crucial moment in human history they were not separating themselves from the power of God. Christ still walked with them.
The passage is a reminder that as believers Christ always walks with us to give us support for our journey and to reveal himself to us. Even more Christ walks before us. As Paul put it, Christ is constantly preparing us for good works that he intends for us to do. In a sense, he walks before us and leads the way into a life of purpose and fulfillment.
Notice in the passage how Christ is made known to his followers. First and foremost, he reveals himself through a study of scripture. It is not an accident that John refers to Christ as the Word of God made flesh.
Do you remember the famous missionary to Africa, Dr. David Livingston – Livingston in Stanley and Livingston? Livingston arrived in Africa with 3 boxes of books, 73 books in all. These boxes weighed an estimated 180 pounds. As they went it became obvious that all those books could not be carried so he began to leave them along the way. His library grew smaller and smaller. In the end, he was carrying only one book with him. The book that he knew that he could never journey without was his Bible.
Finally, Christ is revealed in breaking of bread. Notice that the followers invited Christ into their home. They celebrated the breaking of bread, the service of communion in our case, and in that celebration Christ became known to the believers. It is that way still. Each time that we gather, we invite Christ into our midst and he makes himself known at this table.
On a personal note, this passage has a special meaning to Linda and I. We are part of an interdenominational group of believers called the Emmaus Community. There is an international organization, but the group in this area is Dayspring Emmaus.
Emmaus does not publicize itself. Most of its meetings are restricted to members only. One can’t just join Emmaus, you have to be sponsored. You may have seen the symbols of the group without recognizing them. The cross that I am wearing is an Emmaus cross which always hangs on a multicolored string. Other symbols are a brightly colored rooster or butterfly and the phrase “De Clorores”, which is Spanish for the colors. The differing colors of Emmaus serve as reminder of both the interdenominational nature of the group and the many ways in which each of us serve.
Every member of Emmaus must begin with a three day long retreat called a “Walk to Emmaus.” On these retreats, the pilgrims, as they are called, give up their cell phones, their watches, and anything else that would connect them with the outside world. Time is spent in conversation, lessons, contemplation, and worship. The goal is for the participants, mostly lay people, to strengthen their commitment by allowing Christ to always be on the journey with them, in all aspects of their lives. Pilgrims are encouraged to respond when God places a large task before them. They are asked to be leaders in their churches.
Family and friends of ours had been encouraging us to take the Walk to Emmaus for years, but we always refused. We were already committed Christians. We already had plenty of Church stuff to do. The last thing we needed was another group to participate in – especially if that group was going to ask us to do even more.
We finally relented and agreed to go on our walks late last summer. The men’s walk is one weekend and the ladies’ is the next. Just before my walk, we began having serious conversations with Rev. Johns-Boehme, the KDA minister at the time, about devoting a year or so to working with Park. My Walk to Emmaus was spent reflecting on that challenge and committing myself to the task. In part, I stand in this pulpit today because Emmaus encouraged me to be willing to accept the big challenge and to take the journey of adventure that a real commitment to Christ demands.
Just as I have been challenged by the adventure of the work of God in this placed called Park Christian Church, you are being called to the same journey. It will probably not be easy and it will not be convenient, but it could be the most exciting adventure of your life. Are you up to the challenge? Will you embark on the journey?
