Recognizing God Along the Paths Of Life

The Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13-35                                                                 Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                                     April 10, 2005

         Last fall I was asked to be part of the Planning Team for Grace Presbytery’s spring Spirituality Retreat. We met numerous times over the past 6 months. The time for the retreat finally arrived - earlier this very week. We met at a picturesque church camp (on its own little peninsula) along the north shore of Lake Lewisville.

         The keynote speaker, Teresa Blythe, a Presbyterian, works as a Spiritual Director in Tucson. She is also an author, and does book reviews for the Presbyterians Today magazine. She specializes in finding ways to help people recognize God in popular culture, especially in media, like movies, TV, and music.

         The title of our Spirituality Retreat was “Seeing the Unseen God.” Teresa’s four keynote presentations were entitled: “What drives our need to see and know God?” “Where is it that we see God?” “Ways our popular culture envisions God” and “Guidelines for discerning how to make sacred use of popular culture.”

         Her presentations included clips from TV shows as diverse as Joan of Arcadia to King of Queens to The West Wing to PBS documentaries about the lives of St. Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc. Movies included clips from Dead Man Walking, K-Pax, The End of the Affair, Gladiator, The Ten Commandments, American Beauty, Star Wars, Michael, and Sister Act.

         Teresa’s main premise is based on the current, and I think correct, notion that people today want less information about God and more experiences of God. This seems to apply especially to those who may not be regular church-goers.

         One of my responsibilities as a Planning Team member was to work with two others folks to plan, write, and lead the morning and evening devotionals and worship services. We chose Scripture passages that made reference to seeing the “unseeable” God, of having dreams and visions of God, and as the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Nancy Willet, who is out of town today, used this Corinthians passage just last Sunday in her sermon entitled, “To Know or Be Known: That Is the Question.”

         As providence would have it, the Scripture we chose for the closing communion service at our Spirituality Retreat is the same text as today’s assigned lectionary passage from Luke 24.

         In this story, the resurrected Jesus joins two disciples who are walking along the road to Emmaus, somewhere outside Jerusalem. These two disciples did not recognize Jesus as they traveled, spoke, and listened to him. But when they arrived at Emmaus Jesus broke bread with them, and it was at that point that “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” – as in experiencing the presence of Christ among them. This story leads us to ask: How often do we travel along our paths of life and faith to recognize the presence of Christ in our midst?

Biblical scholars believe that the purpose of post-resurrection stories was to reveal how these ancient gospel writers tried to put into words the very real phenomenon of experiencing the continuing presence of Jesus among and within the Christian community decades after his death. Today’s story reveals how followers of Jesus (and that includes you and I) are able to move beyond the tradition about Jesus to an experience of Christ and God in our midst. We often term that as moving from a secondary faith – such as the faith passed on to you by your parents and church and Sunday School classes – to a primary or personal faith, where your faith experience of God is alive and real for you. For some folks this movement and transformation is very gradual, almost imperceptible. For others, it more like what we call a conversion experience.

In today’s story, Luke reveals two distinct actions of Jesus that led those disciples to recognize him. In the first, Jesus recites and interprets for them the Jewish scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. As Presbyterians we take the act and process of reading and interpreting the Bible very seriously, for we believe that God and Christ are indeed revealed to us through these ancient words and stories.

In fact, one of the vows for ordination as an elder, deacon, or a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) asks: “Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God’s word to you?”

The second action of Jesus that Luke reveals as leading to recognizing the presence of Christ is when the risen Lord breaks bread with them. This action, and the language used, is certainly intended to recall the last supper with the disciples. It makes a clear and intentional reference to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, a tradition already well established in the ancient church when Luke wrote his gospel some 40 years after the death of Jesus.

Is it not often true that the experience of eating together with others often gives rise to the recognition of God among us? That’s one reason why I truly believe that breaking bread with others, such as church potluck luncheons, after church lunch groups and the like, are such an integral part of being the community and family of faith.

Today’s passage informs and reminds us that the interpretation of scripture and the breaking of the bread (word and sacrament) appropriately go together, and that they are interrelated in recognizing the presence of Christ today. And, by the way, that is why Presbyterian clergy are ordained to the position and office of Minister of Word and Sacrament.

The Presbyterian understanding of the Lord’s Supper is also shaped by this story in Emmaus, whereas we believe that it is Jesus Christ who is the host at the table - not the pastor. I often mention this when we prepare to take Communion.

Yet unlike the Roman Catholic tradition of proclaiming the physical presence of Jesus in the bread and wine, Presbyterians proclaim that it is the real, spiritual presence of Christ that is with and among us in the sharing of the bread and the cup.

The importance of experiencing the living Christ in word and sacrament, then, cannot be overemphasized. That’s one of the reasons why its important to be part of a local congregation.

Another important element in this story to point out is that an experience of God is not so much something that we seek after, as it is God who seeks us. And, I believe, this applies not only to Christians but also to all of humanity.

In addressing the question, “Where do we ‘see’ the unseen God,” Teresa Blythe mentioned the following, yet not all-encompassing, list: in Jesus; in stories from Scripture; in meaningful metaphors; in dreams and visions; in inexplicable experiences; in prayer insights; in other people; in nature; and in art and culture. In other words, then, since God is everywhere, we should be open to experiencing god in all things and in all places.

Teresa also mentioned that we see hints of the presence of the unseen God in all of the above by paying attention to those things in life that touch us deeply and those things that draw our attention. When that happens, it is good to get into the habit of asking ourselves, and reflecting upon the following: What statement, if anything, is this making about God and God’s presence in my life?

Theologian Paul Tillich phrased seeing the unseen God as attending to that which is our Ultimate Concern – that which we revere.

But we must remember that seeing, knowing, and experiencing God is highly subjective. It is a personal experience (yet often felt in the presence of a community) which can’t be proven in some objective way. We need to be cautious, therefore, not to judge other people’s experiences of God. For after all, God is mysterious. And God can choose to reveal God’s self whenever and however God so chooses.

Crucial to our spiritual lives, as followers along the path of life, is our desire to pay attention and be intentional about recognizing God in our midst.

So, may God bless you in your journey and in your ability to recognize the unseen God along the paths of life that you travel. For I truly believe that the risen Lord meets us along the road to our Emmauses; those ordinary places and experiences of our lives.

Amen.