Spirit of Journey
Open our minds to know your voice.
Open our hands to do your work.
And open our hearts to hold your Spirit.
Companion God,
You call us to be people of journey.
You call us to enter into the story of your people that stretches back through all of time.
Remind us that our journey of faith is walked in and with this community.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, who walks with us.
Amen
The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
When have we failed to recognize Jesus’ presence in our lives?
How might the scriptures help to nourish our life and help us to interpret our own story?
When have you experienced that moment of recognizing the presence of God in your life; in nature; or in another person?
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Like a pilgrimage, the labyrinth represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world. The labyrinth is a metaphor for life's journey. It is a symbol that creates a sacred space and place and takes us out of our ego to ‘that which is within.’
As we go about our day, O God;
As we strive to walk with Jesus as people of Journey,
Remind us that we make this journey in community
And we find you revealed in one another.
May your grace, mercy and peace,
Bless us, keep us and transform us all,
This day, now and forever. Amen