I have always felt that this Sunday is the most interesting, and perhaps the

most important in the church year.| Ministers love Baster | it even delude ourselves

into thinking that all those people came to hear us, while the truth of the matter is

—s

that churches would be full on Easter Sunday even if no one was preaching.\ And so, I've

ening: St

always had a soft spot in my heart for thes aay tor those who have a natural propensi
eel —

——

for the underdog, there's nothing like the Sunday after Easter.
—

It's not that I have anything against Easter.| Quite to the contrary, I love it
for the same reasons as everyone clsel\ 1 love the full sanctuary, \ine great music,
ghe resurrection hymns 1 even indulge myself with the yearly fantasy that all those
people are going to come back the next Sunday.

The trouble with Easter is that it isolates an event that happened in the distan’

eee ST iD

past, celebrates that event in grand style, explains it, discusseses it.\ But that

Ye. Resurieclin FASTER.
is only half of what Bawster means.| For Christian Faith the-resmeseetion-cofdesus-tiris

says something about a reality that has to do with the present) It is a past event,

to be sure: neon | Pt the significance of the event is that it speaks

about a Christ who is wondrously present in our world — our lives.

—

I was intrigued last summer to learn about the ancient clans of Scotland.

— — er,

For all practival purposes the clans_ceased to exist as a functional anit of ¢
er | a —————

society in 1145. m order to get at the heart of the Scot's stubborn resistance

es

to the crown, the knglish simply outlawed the clane.\ they are a thing of the past

an have absolutely nothing to do with the mainstream of contemporary Scottish life.
ee =a

But there are occasions when the old Tartans are brought out and sxorn.\ A past
reality is celebrated with great enthusaasm and traditional ritual, even though that
reality has nothing to do with the present.
ere is ¢é Te re i tne a i" - 3 é ing i e
Basyer is a little like that, I fear. | We celebrate some thing that happened <,000

aia ied TT

years 2e0.\ i have a whole set of rituals with which to do our celebrating. [ut the

significance of Easter is not just the empty % tomb, that is ~ the pas tammy reality,
ee

but rather the present reality to which that empty tomb points j\namedy Jesus Christ
eee

page 2.

who is alive and involved in our world and in touch with your life and_mine.
es —— iam <a

—— |

That's the thrust of the New Testament on the subject. There are several appear-—
— el

ances of the Risen Lord to his disciples included in the Gospel accounts.\ All of

ee el

them are strane, precisely because they happen in such normal, common—place circum—

ne ad

stances.\fo read _them carefullly is to sense that the emphasis ms not so much on

the awesome and mysterious fact that Christ rose from that dead, as it is on the

a SE Se

fact that the disciples perceived that he was present with then.\ Those appearences

did nolcontinue indefintely:\ they ceased: |a phenomenon the church ##ied to describe

al SS

in the doctrine of the ascension \ what didn't cease was the experiencegoff the early
= ee a, =
chyttch that Jesus Christ was somehow just as present to them as he had beeen during
—— Sa ee | nite een eel
his life. \They knew he was with nen: \they knew that the power and healing of his

ee

love were still dynamically present witnin their fellowship.\They knew it particul-

=e

arly when they broke bread together.\Por them, (Jesus Christ is Risen") did not so

eee

much indicate something that had happened in the middle of the night on the second

day after his crucifixion, as it pointed to the experience they continued_to have —

the experience of @hrist's presence.

Think, for instance, about the New Testamb’ lesson this eounitn, VE is very helpful
oa — ——
I beleive, in demonstrating something of what the early church experienced after
eel ee ——_—$—$—<—_—

Baster, and something of what the Risen Christ continues to do in the life of men.

——— a Re

——=

Let's look again at the story.

a.

when it happens it is a surprise ~ an intrusion - that cannot be nailed govn:| ane that
eS [Se ey
when it happens it 2 ambig t altogethe | \ + recogniz
p it may be ambiguous and not altogether clear.\ We may not recognize
it at first.
ae w
With this in mind, let us look again at Luke's story.\ Jesus was dead, and now it

was Sunday, the first day of a new week. \ On Saturday | can imagine the disciples

eo SS

together in their locked room, trying to come to grips with the unspeakable trag¢dy

ey

that had happened the afternoon betore.\ | sec them pacing back and forth, trying to

make conversation, being a more solicitous than usual \ but now Sunday, Jerusalem was
a eee a re

returning to rormat\Lite was going on, and two of them decided to do a very logical

thing:\to get away for a whi te:| to escape from the grief - the guilt because they had

—_—— FS

abandoned him - the unanswered questions ~ the deep doubts - the beautiful dream that

=

had died with nin. \s tex hysterical women had come to their hiding place clammoring

about an empty tomb, and all that did was make the tension greater and the gloom
a eee oe

— [ mniamaiesscal

thicker.

So they decided to walk to conus: te of them, ie-orderto-eseope| We are not

told why they wont\ we know that Emmaus is just a few miles outside Jerusalem) that

it was a very smal] settlencnt:\ and | am suggesting that for them the only thing
ae SS Seo

Emmaus had going for it was that it wasn't Jerusalem and Thus an escape.

a

You know the rest | As they walked they were joined by a third man wlth whom

Stee

they talked about the events of the past several days. \ They persuaded the stranger to

eT

SS we SSE

eat the evening meal with them in Emmaus. [anc when, at table,the stranger broke the

bread, blessed it and gave it to tnem, they suddaly, remarkably _ recognized zed him] [Tt

— = ——

was Jesus - alive and sitting right there with thom. \ And then he left. \r the process
=a

— Aer

[ae

of escaping he came to then: [in the most unlikely circumstances the divine broke in

es

ees

on their ives an before they could nail it down, before they could draw a picture

or write a poem, the experience was over. Jone fleeting moment of revealation:\one
— Sees a:

—S

moment of certainty: \and then they were alone again.
eee ae
| conclude from that something that | regard as very important: |namely that Jesus
eae = ore
{0 ser

Christ comes to us in the common experiences of our fives:§ithat he comes to us
— a —

specifically as we eagage in our gentle escapism. |: am infering - and | mean to infer -
|

page 4.

The disciples, after all, were engaging in a very routine_activity. They were
a) nein] ==

trying to get away from it all, taking a walk to relieve the tension and mounting

pressure of that locked room in Jemusalen.\ ey were not sitting in the Temple,
el

they weren't reading the Bible, they weren't prayings\ sey wkee were on the road
see, pe
to Iimmeus.

All of us have our Roads to Emmaus, our method of getting away from it all;
ee

a

reading, watching television, going to_a movie, some activity_that will pull us back
— el

fer

from the pressures and tensions of our tives. bi is not uncommon for a Beetor or
eal a

Psychiatrist to prescribe a little play, a little diversion, a little_activity that
aT =o SSS Se

(eel

demands our physical and emotional attention as an antidote to worry and depression.
oe

Of corse, there are methods of escapism that are unheblthy and destructive.

Alcoholism is an extemely complex disease, but part of the problem for many alcoholics

=

is the deep need to escape from life in general, or from a particularly threatening
ee ed een cee

See

situalTlON, or Sone Cees The appeal of drugs for many people is the same.\ sma in a

St

curious twist, particular to our ciltire at this time, work — instead of being the
inl ===

—

source of tension, becomes the escape.\ The compulsive worker who says he's just

a ed

trying to get ahead may, in fact, be using work as a way of escaping tension and
al Fe nl ————

frustration in other areas of his life — his family, for instance.

EEE eal = —
On a broader level, we need and engage in mass, cultural escapism. fr Roman
aa —— nia«<d! ——ao
Imperors knew that a good circusyh distract_people's attention from the

—————
——

Barbarian invasions in the North. \ streaking did that for us this spring.| After a
———— ne ———— ‘eine

grim winter punctuated by Watergate and all its accompanying humiliation, inflation,

rising prices, and on top of it all a fuel shortage, someone somewhere decided that

Se

it was a good idea to take off his clothes and run through a theatre. The rest is

ee ee eal

eel

history.\Psychologically we had reached the pimt point where some manner of escapism

—

———

needed to come into play.\We needed a cireus, | ana I canthink of a long list of
- ee

activities more destructive and unhealthy that waht, in fact, transpired this spring.

—_

page 5.

mon kinds of human
ld

In any case, the gentle art of escapism is one of the most com
SSS ae

benayior.)a12 of us have our Road to Bmmaus.\ And one of the continuing themes of the
_—_ ————— SE

Bible is that even here — Jesus Christ comes to us.
== Ses ae

Centuries before Christ a Psalmist wrote it down in what has become for me one
Ss ———— ———
of the mogt suggestive and meaningful portions of aut al HS 1 4H Sevmoa
ae — |

forme has become one of the most suggestive and personally meaningtul porrions oT
—, SS

-

‘Whither shall | go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall | flee from thy presence?

1 if | ascend to Heaven, thou art there!
& if | make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

If | take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139:

7210}

The poet, Francis Thompson, called it ‘The Hound of Heaven” and wrote movingly
about how, over the labyrinth of time, he sensed himself pursued, chased and found

by God himself.

that whatever the Road to Emmaus is for

That's the first thing that | conclude:\
h ys tro treree-ne-essane ET Hr
d.

Ik wit

Ww
us, Jesus Christ will keep breaking to wa

—,

The second conclusion Ts.that when it happens \\when the certainty of God occurs =e
a’ , Me
(| in our lives, we will try but fall to nat! it down permanently.\ At Emmaus Jesus Christ

revealed himself to the two disciples and then loft.| But you and | want very badly

4
——

to preserve those moments. \we want to.make normative the one experience of certainty .
ae ed

and grace. | sone people come to worship every week expecting to be hit between the

eyes with a sense of their own salvation.\ Some people want to ‘get_high" on Jesus:
SSS ieee, a 7

to live constantty with the ewphoric sense of Godis presence. \ some churches seem to

ers
tee ene

know how to do it weekly and Mave made the moment of truth into an emotional uphcaval

Seay

that must be played and .teplayed gain and again, as if its meaning would disappear if

the experience is not repeated. | inc | want to say that= that too can be a form of

escapism:\that to demand regular authenticating of one's faith is, essentally, to escape
a ———

from the teality of Lite: that the divine may break in as we walk to_Emmaus, but that

Pi tts not honest to deniand a whole life lived on ies ievel. |

—> mon aehedepetathouhibndplees that when nn divine breaks in, when Jesus Christ

ae ae

comes to us, we may not immediately recognize him. \ That was the disciples! experience.

They walked and talked with him for some time \ they sat down at a table with him: |

Be TTT
=a

presumably they looked right at him. \ and they didn't know who he was. | What clse

ea ae)

could that mean but that Jesus Christ comes in ways that are not always obvious, and

Se

that do not necessarily correspond with our own expectation regarding our encounter

?
with hits hu have been taught, evon though we may not subscribe to it intellectual...
ee

that Christian conversion happens in a certain way,’ that a religious experience
a =e

will be manifested in certain fea] (aaes What when God choses to confront us we wil]

la einai

be as sure of it as anything that has ever happened te us.\ We associate it with the

E=_

ee

dramatic, unnatural occurence:) the bolt of lightning, the mysterious vision.\ Biblically,
as, RE

we recall te burning bush for Moses, and the Damascus road for Paul:| precise, crystal
ee, ee,

a eummienes|

clear experiences of God's reality and God's will.

eS

Most of us are not that fortunate. \ Nor tore the two disciples at enmaus.\ The

recognized him in the breaking of bread: and so, | would suggest, God moves among us.
Sass = ey

See

Jesus Christ comes, | believe, mostly _in th. quiet, honest encounters between people:
er

=e

Jesus Christ appears as a stranger when something kind and surprising and beautiful

happens: \uhen somuone sayale' care about you" and means i+? whon someonc exes %

Se

eae

Li
praying for you and does it s|wnen through the grace of God we are enabled to minister
me. a =

to and heal and help each other. \He comes, | believe, when we break bread together

and enjoy each othor\ne cones, | believe, in a child baptized affirming the mysterious
eee

ae a

-6-

beauty of human birth and the compelling need for human love.

ee aed

He comes,! believe, as we perceive the suffering of other peopte\ he ceveals

himself in the broken bodics of +the-war-dead,\in the drawn face of a starving child,
=== ee eared —E

in the angry face of an oppressed black brother. \ There-isene-eseape=fremthat .
arma

In the final analysis, the presence of Jesus Christ, is what we_hae to offer

the world and each other. \ Owe conmitment compells us to live forathers, to heal the
Se eee ee,

sick and feed the hungry.\ But when all is said and done, all we really have is The
presence of Jesus Christ and the certainty of his presence in the world. | —>~ u
a ae
A\ group of clergymen met last week and as we broke bread together we were a

lamenting the lack of impact the church has on society land the relative impotence of

the combined churches in our own conmunity.\ And the conversation turned to an exper-
— SSM

ience we all shared ~- serving communion to the patients of St. Elizabeth Hospital on

Maunday Thursday.\ To a man_we were deeply effected by this strange role of offering
Se SSS

the presence of Jesus Christ to people we didn't know. Many of us have received

— eee Sas

Thank you notes from those peopte.\ And we concluded that in the final analysis this
Seo Se

(ie a ne
is what we are about as ministers \ and this is what the Church is about 4+ the sharing

and celebrating of the presence of Jesus Christ.

Albert Schweitzer, among his many gifts, was a great scholar.\ He wrote a very

ook werk >
sophisticated wesek which became one of the most influential beeks in the field of
New Testament Scholarship - “The Quest for the Historical Josus| But he ended his
book on a deeply devotional/note.\ | would like to read to you from the last paragraph
STS err eee es

of ‘The Quest for the Historical Jesus*

Fa

'He comes to us aS One Unknown, without a name, as of old....he came to those who
————

know him not. \ He speaks to us the same word, ‘Fol low me! ‘and sets us to the tasks

which he has to fulfill for our time. | He commands. And to those who obey him,
F _ oe [Sener
whether they be wise or simple, he will revcal himself in the toils, the conflicts,

the sufferings which they shall pass through in their fellowship, and, as an ineffable

mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who he is’. ca] |

So We Comes fo vs Were -™ ove fetlouslup : and iw our Loi ls
ove Work, ov: fela\i aslaps - aus om ovr “Roak Me Seas,

Aww

page 7.

Again this year I participated in an experienc e on Nagndy Thursday that has
become very importsnt to vo.\t was part of a group of ministers who served the
Eee | fe ee
————E

Sacrament of Communion to Protestant Patients at St. Elizabeth hospital \ It's a
Stee ey ae

different and strange role for us as Prtestants.| For us, the power of communion is
——— i

— =e

—<—t

generated out of the fellowship of the congregation - people we know vert. mike our
— ee Ce aad ———

Roman Catholic brethren we do not feel that there is any inherent significance or
=e ey

a

power in the elements thengelver:\ ssa so it was different - to take a wafer and cup
ee =e Cal

of wine to poeple I didn't know, and to serve them with the words, \"This is my body ..

—— oe

this is my blood . .'\And even though I am not given to mystical experiences, I gladly

testify that he was present for those patienta.\that exercise confirms for me, annually
———— al a q3
what my ministry — but more importantly, the church and the Gospel — are all_about. -

The sharing and celebrating of the presence of Jesus Chrst in the world.

I cannot prove that presence. \F somehow the resurrectioln — and the presence
— - —

of Christ in the world = could be proved, we would have no choice but to peliove | ina

ee!

my deepest conviction is that the moment we lose our freedom not to believe, not to
| = eee amd ——

love God, not to follow Jesus Christ, we lose whatever it is that makes us human beings

ee

It cannot be provea:\i+ can only beexperienced and pointed to when it happens.

Albert Schweitzer, among his many_gifts, wash. a great scholar. \ie wrote a very

ns

sophiticated book that became one of the most influential works in the field of
————— ian

New Testament Scholarship, (me Quest for the Historical Jesus.) put he ended that book
ee _—_—

on a deeply devotional note.\I would like to share with you the last paragraph of

See

"The Quest for the Historical Jesus" .e-

"Te comes to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old. . he came to those

who knew him note| He speaks to us the same word, ‘Follow me’, and sets us to 4

the tasks which he has to fulfill for our time.\ He commands.| And to those who

obey him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal himself in the *meesy
toils,the conflicts, the sufferings which they ahall pass through in their

fellowship;) and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own

experience who he is. "
—

That ig the meaning of the resurrection.|That is the word that needs to be shared

on the Sunday after_Laster.
— —
ile comes to us ~ here — in our fellowship:| and in our xxraky toils, our conflicts,
—_ —— ——i, ee

our loves, cur joys, our sriefs, our work, our families - and on our Road

‘ony — Pr

to limmeaus.

fmen

Father, you have come to caci of us in the past as a stranger,. Help us to recopnize
vou. Open our ears to your voice as it comes through the volces of others. ind
seueble us to ghare and celebrate ,our presence in the common experiences of our

life toxether. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. amen.