A journey is a journey. A trip has a map, a GPS or a plan of some kind, but a journey requires openness to change, trust in journeying companions and living in the moment. The story of the Emmaus journey (Luke 24:13-35) is a perennial favorite Easter story. It is a story of ordinary events – a walk home, conversation, remembering, a meal, and recognition. It is a story of emotions that move from sadness, maybe even anger, and disappointment, through eager learning (feeling fire within) to joy and a need to “run back to the others and share.” The disciples experience something very deep as they make their way back home. “A walk and a meal can transform our life.” The walk is a familiar trail, and the familiar may be around us; neighbors, children, pets, tiny birds that look at us, asking for our notice. God finds ways to reach us, and speak to us, always; alone or in a group. The events in this story follow a weekend like no other, and result in a moment when they knew, “Yes, He is risen. We recognized Him in the familiar breaking of bread!” God graces us with peak experiences that come when we need to be reassured and reminded we are not alone. They may come when we are sharing what we have, when we are pondering, when we are tired and hungry, or when we are fired up with excitement and energy. God knows our needs and God will find a way. Happy Easter!
Silent Psalm
Slowly, the cool dark
earth beneath my feet exhales.
Slugs leave silvered trails.
Tree trunks breathe, listen.
Mists rise, coiling up like smoke
swallowed in stillness.
Towering elms, midget
walnuts, still-green mossy logs,
tangled ivy, fallen
oak leaves floating red-
veined in silky-soft sea-grass,
seagulls’ feathers, frisky
squirrels and that dear orange
butterfly – All praise our God!
Saturday, April 22 will be Earth Day. Sometimes people ask, ”What can I do to respect, protect and nurture the Earth?” Each one of us needs to find our own answers and do our own search. In our local paper, one environmentalist wrote a column about plastics, that huge umbrella of manufactured materials that can be made into so many of the products we use so liberally. We see bags, bottles, jugs, clamshell containers, stretch wrap, disposable cutlery, stir sticks, straws and so on. Plastics are made of very long and strong chains of carbon atoms; this makes them last a long time. Plastics have a very large carbon footprint; it takes huge amounts of petroleum to make just the plastic water bottles so commonly purchased and tossed away. Plastics pollute our land and our water bodies. Plastics may have additives that cause health problems. We could all make an effort to learn the plastic recycling symbols: Number 4 plastics (bread bags, grocery bags and milk bags) can be recycled into new products; Number 7 plastics belong to a catch-all class that is diverse and essentially unrecyclable. We could make choices about our use of and dependence on plastics.