In one of our recent emails regarding me being here with y’all this morning, Mary+ said “please plug campus ministries, but remember, too, that it’s Mother’s Day.” So, as we hear what the Spirit is saying to us about our eyes being opened to Christ through the opening of scripture and the breaking of bread together, let’s look anew toward campus ministry and Mother’s Day as opportunities to reveal Christ. Walk with me on this road today and let’s see who we encounter and what we realize.
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| The Supper at Emmaus, de Maistre |
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"… they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24: 30-32, 35)
What does it mean to break bread together and how are scriptures opened to us? More specifically, what might this mean in context of our diocesan campus ministries or in relationship to Mother’s Day? More personally, what are you hungry for, how do you participate in the feeding of others, and what actions bring to life the words in our scriptures… all such that Christ can be seen and experienced?
Luke 24: 13-25
Although we’re now in our third week of celebrating the resurrection, this morning’s story takes us back to the distraught, disorientation of those first few days after the crucifixion. We’re walking with a couple of non-descript disciples (their lack of particular description or distinction helps any of us be in their shoes) who are still absorbing the shock of having their dreams shattered and seeing their sense of the future violently killed. Their friends have scattered in fear and grief and they’re so absorbed in the sense of loss that they’ve lost their sense of perspective – they can’t even see what’s right in front of them. Can’t we relate to at least part of this – being so focused on the trauma or hurt of the moment that we lose sight of the bigger picture?
Our risen Lord meets them where they are and walks alongside them – listening to their pain, anguished concerns, dreams, and hopes. Having heard their cries and aware of what they’re hungry for, Jesus educates them – leads them through the prophetic wisdom of their ancestors and encourages them to reconsider all that has happened in context of new vision and new hope.
As another preacher once said so well:
One of the most wonderful things to come out of the resurrection is that we learn this about Jesus: no matter how bad things become for us, no matter where we go to hide ourselves when the world gets to be too much for us, even if we lose our faith for a time, he will come to be with us. He won’t ask us for explanations, we won’t have to justify our position, and there will be no recriminations. He will simply meet us as we walk, each of us along our own road to Emmaus. It may be in a shopping mall where, out of frustration, we are buying something we don’t really need, or it may be in a car that is taking us away from those things we can no longer endure; or it may actually be on a road as we try to walk off the results of that recent medical test that took us completely by surprise. Whatever route we take when we just can’t take it anymore, Jesus will meet us there. Even though it is us who are going away, he is always faithful. In the words of the noted preacher Barbara Taylor Brown, “He comes to the disappointed, the doubtful, and the disconsolate. He comes to those who do not know their Bibles, who do not recognize Him even when they are walking beside Him. He comes to those who have given up and are headed back home, which makes this whole story about the blessedness of being broken.” (from a 2005 sermon by The Rev. Judith Carrick, Deacon in Diocese of Long Island)
Aware that talk about scripture, no matter how inspired, is necessary but not sufficient to meet the depth of their needs, he seeks to feed their deeper hunger through actions in the literal breaking of bread with them. Christ embraces a divine hospitality that endures in them amid their grief and comforts them with familiar actions at a table that finally enables them to remember – to see again – who he is, who they are, and the power in this community of faith.
His physical presence is temporal / fleeting, leaving open the realization that the continued unfolding of his real presence among them must come through regular remembrance like this, discussion, and continual learning as they live communally according to what he has taught them. Sharing these sacred stories and eating together in his name will nourish them and ennoble their subsequent actions in the world.
And here we are this morning, pretty much doing the same thing a couple of millennia later. Each time we come into this space together, Christ in Spirit meets us on our road to Emmaus, encourages us to hear something anew as the scriptures are opened, and invites us to break bread together at this table in order that he be revealed in our shared actions.
How do we relate this to our campus ministries? And specifically, here in Newton, what might this mean to our relationship with the Bethel College community?
On our college campuses there are many people who are walking disoriented –intentionally so. These students have chosen to put themselves, at a critical time in the development of their beliefs and character, in an environment that is constantly challenging and testing their preconceived notions. There hopes and dreams can change dramatically from semester to semester as their perception of themselves and the world around them is challenged from many angles.
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| Peer Ministry: K.U. Canterbury House |
What if we dared to meet them on their road to Emmaus - venturing out to meet them where they are? What if we dared walk alongside them for a while, listening to their struggles – not demanding anything from them or admonishing them for naiveté or ignorance, but hearing them with the ears of our heart and patiently waiting for opportune moments, every now-and-then, to offer wisdom from scripture? What needs might be met (theirs and ours) if we then invited them to our table(s) for a meal? What might be re-kindled in our hearts in the breaking of bread together? The experience would be transient in one sense – college students come and go. And, yet, what enlightenment and new life might endure in our hearts (theirs and ours) if we encountered the risen Christ together?
Less than half the Bethel student body identifies as Mennonite. The school is more open now to interreligious dialogue and ecumenical engagement than perhaps any time in its history. They have a new physical venue established for campus ministry through their Agape Center. St Matthew’s is already listed on their “find a church” list. The college has an ethos that resonates well with our Anglican ‘three legged stool’ of engaging scripture and tradition with reason. One of their stated central values is an “ethic of integrity that celebrates the fundamental connections between spirit and mind, faith and learning, individual and community and fosters personal development through participation in a range of activities.” Their Director of Church Relations (Dale Schrag) is on their website saying, ““The real evidence of Christian commitment, after all, is always found in actions, not in words; in relationships, not in propositional positions. And, authentic relations, by definition, must be predicated on love, not on the goal of changing the other person.”
Can we not hear Christ inviting us to meet each other on the road to Emmaus to open the scriptures together, share in some meals together, and discover what we both see anew about Christ within us and around us? All it takes is some patient, faithful initiative on the part of some in this community who hear this call.
And what does the revelation of Christ through the opening of scripture and breaking of bread together have to with Mother’s Day?
Beyond the profit-minded commercial exploitation of the sentimentality of this day, the deeper history of this observance is rooted in the recognition of a nurturing/nourishing source of life that desires peace, reconciliation, and the reunion of families that have been torn apart. Is Christ not in this?
How often have our mothers, or those who have served as in place of our mothers, patiently kept track of where we are on this crazy journey of life and lovingly come to walk alongside us when we were feeling lost… when we have struggled to make sense of our circumstances? Who has listened to us as we expressed the burdens and aspiration of our hearts? Who among us has not heard what our mothers have said – listened as our moms tried to help us see the bigger picture and gain new perspective - only to realize later the full wisdom of what they were sharing with us… only to realize later how fleeting and precious those intimate, loving in-person moments are in this life? Gender-role critiques aside, who is credited as most often having fed us when we were hungry, sometimes from her very breast and heart? Who, by her tireless example, has revealed to us the comfort and peace of routine actions around the table?
While your mother might not have literally opened a bible to you, can it not be celebrated today that she opened the scriptures to you by serving as an earthly example of divine mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, essentially revealing Christ’s intentions for us? In her actions, including the breaking of bread for us, has your mom not helped rekindle in you a sense of faith, hope, and charitable love?
Today, let us hold fast to the love that burns in our hearts at the mention of “mother”… and give thanks this day for what this can teach us about Christ’s love for us.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"… they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24: 30-32, 35)
Each time we gather like this, like those early disciples, we’re traveling that road trying to make sense of our lives, losses, and loves. Each time, we literally open the scripture and read it aloud – hoping for nourishment and revelation. Each time, as we approach this altar we participate in the breaking of bread in Christ’s name and yearn to be fed through his promise, mystical presence, and divine love. Each time we do these things, Christ is with us as we feast on his presence… indeed, his presence within us – in our souls and bodies.
Let us go forth from here considering how we, each time we break bread with others, have an opportunity to meet the needs of others in Christ’s name. Each time we encounter friends, family, or college students in distress or on a wandering road, we have the opportunity to open the scriptures with them through our loving actions as well as our compassionate and forgiving words, revealing the good news of Christ.
Wherever you are on life’s journey – whatever road you’re now traveling – pray that when our risen Christ meets you there, perhaps in an unexpected form, you will recognize his voice and hear anew the hope he delivers.
Pray that when your hunger is being relieved by the familiar actions of a loved one, you will experience Christ revealed in your midst.
Pray that when you approach the Word of God with a sincere heart, new wisdom and insight may be opened to you through the Spirit of Christ.
Pray that these encounters will be so overwhelming that they will set your heart on fire with such love of Christ that you simply can’t help but run and tell others the good news.
AMEN
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