Emmaus -- Janet Brooks-Erloff
Today the gospel lesson for this Easter season Sunday tells us of the followers of Jesus who move from despair to hope along a road to a village called Emmaus. In this story found only in Luke the bewildered pair are joined by Jesus, the Risen One, who isn't recognized initially but have their eyes, ears, and hearts opened to them as they walk and talk and eventually break bread together.
It got me thinking about how often Jesus did his best work in the great outdoors and was regularly in peril or angry when he was in physical places of worship. Here are some examples scattered throughout the four canonical gospels:
Jesus clarified his sense of divine mission during an extended contemplative sojourn in the harsh Judean wilderness.
He was baptized in a river, far from any architectural place of worship.
When he was overwhelmed by the demands of ministry he climbed a hillside early in the morning for a solitary time of prayer.
He led a few disciples up a mountain where they had a mystical experience with great figures of Judaism.
He taught from a hillside in Galilee and fed a hungry crowd alongside the lake called Kinneret.
He performed miracles in a boat, and on the waters of the same turbulent lake.
When he struggled with the prospect of death in the waning hours of his life it was in a grove of olive trees, likely under a full moon.
On the day of resurrection he was mistaken by Mary, the first Christian as a gardener.
Some time after the resurrection he made a shore breakfast by the lake for the disciples who had returned to fishing.
It's a challenge to not "go to church" these days and much has been made of virtual worship offered from the places in which we usually gather.Yet scripture presents a broad picture of a Jesus of sky,and water, earth and wind. We have figured out how to be outside a lot during these quarantine-ish weeks, always careful to be physically responsible. We figure our sanity has been saved by immersion in the elements and experiencing the movement from one season to another
I'm intrigued by the suggestion that as our societies gradually open up, post pandemic, worship may be permitted outside, first, so that the saints can maintain sufficiently safe distance. Maybe it will be one of those "everything old is new again" moments where we revert. even temporarily, to a Creator/Redeemer/Sustainer experience, en plein air.
Will Jesus, the resurrected Groundling, meet all of us outside the traditional walls of buildings and mindsets? He can make me breakfast or lunch, anytime!
Road to Emmaus --Diane Fairfield
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