Easter 3 – A

April 6, 2008

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

Traveling is magical for me. Nothing perks me up like getting out of Dodge.  In a lot of ways, it doesn’t really matter where I go – there is just something about shutting the door on the house knowing that I won’t open it again for a few days or a couple of weeks. That single action of shutting the door sets me free.   When I am going someplace familiar, I look forward to it with great anticipation as I suspect is true of many of you who have special places.  One of my sacred places that I always looked forward to visiting when I lived in Baltimore was a back-country camping spot in West Virginia.  It was a beautiful place in the Appalachian Mountains that was right by a crystal clear stream that had the perfect configuration of boulders for sunbathing that surrounded a perfect swimming hole.  In my sixteen years in out west, I hiked and backpacked to many wonderful places but never anything quite like this little spot because the mountain lakes and the streams in Washington State were always, always very cold.  This place in the mountains of West Virginia is a place I experienced God as well as relatively warm water.

In today’s gospel, we encounter two men on a trip out of town.  We don’t know much about them except that they are part of the larger group of followers of Jesus and one of them is named Cleopas. We are told that they are talking as they make their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Maybe they needed to debrief from all that had happened to Jesus; maybe they needed to escape and take a break from all the pressures of the recent weeks.  Maybe they needed time to grieve the loss of their leader.  At any rate here they are on this remote road and what should happen but a stranger comes sidling up beside them asking all kinds of rather invasive questions.  As we know, they don’t figure out that it is Jesus until they arrive at the home where they will be staying and Jesus breaks bread.  There are lots of wonderful things about this story such as Jesus’ playfulness as he lets these two men retell the entire story of his death and reported resurrection without revealing who he is but today we will focus on the importance of place. Despite the fact that it was never a town of any significance, Emmaus is where these two travelers discover the identity of their companion. It is where they discover who Christ really is.

Emmaus is really a nothing place.  Most Biblical authorities cannot even agree on where Emmaus is located.  However, it is a special place for these two travelers because it is where they encounter Christ.  The importance of place for us is equally powerful.  When I first arrived in the diocese in 2005, the most burning issue at a Diocesan level was the closing of Gordonwood the diocesan youth camp.  The passion around this issue was palatable.  I came in toward the end of the discussions but the intensity was still alive.  In talking with young people, I came to understand how important Gordonwood was to them.  During most of 2006 and 2007, I assumed that Gordonwood was an exceptionally beautiful place with large clear lakes for swimming and all of the qualities of the finest State Parks in Michigan.    However, when I probed a bit more I found out that while Gordonwood is a lovely place, it is not spectacular in terms of the natural world but it was spectacular to these young people because it is where many of them came to know Christ.  The importance of place...

My former church had at least five AA meetings when I became rector in 1997.  AA groups were there all the time and while it was a great ministry, the frequent meetings made it difficult for the church to have much in the way of mid-week programs.  Finally the vestry decided to ask the Thursday evening group to find another location.  The weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth was formidable and quite frankly something I did not really understand until someone finally said to me: “The reason this is so hard for me is that this room is where my life changed forever.  It was in this room that I discovered that God could help me stop drinking.”  Then I understood the power behind the resistance for that group to find another location.  I finally understood the emotion.  The power of place...

The power of place has been –played out in many levels for the rectory reborn as a youth house; it is a place of many fond memories and a place that holds significant spiritual power for many long-term members of this congregation.  It is for this reason, perhaps more than any that finding a good use for this building felt urgent to me when I arrived in 2005.  While it took me a while to discern how we might use the rectory, I felt from the beginning that tearing it down was just not right.  The rectory reborn as a youth house will now be a place of memories and coming to know Christ, in fact, it already is.

While our travelers from today’s gospel came to recognize Christ in a home, it is clear from this story that this was a very open home, one where radical hospitality was practiced. This home in Emmaus truly functioned as what is typically described as the commons. The idea of the commons has been talked about in recent years in many different venues.  The commons as an idea has been around since the days of the Roman Empire.  A narrow definition of the commons is that of a public square in the midst of a city or town.  Kellogg Park here in Plymouth is a perfect example of a traditional concept of the commons.  Boston Commons and Central Park in New York City are other well known examples.  In Italy, they are called Piazzas and they are located in virtually every village and city in Italy.  However, in recent years especially among people of faith, a much broader concept of the commons has emerged.  If the commons is a place where people just hang out, a place where people feel free to engage in all kinds of conversation then the church can also function as the commons. 

When the church is functioning at its best, it serves as the commons.  It is a public place that practices the kind of radical hospitality found in Emmaus.  It is a sanctuary away from home.  It is a place to meet friends and have conversation and come to know Christ.   We are on the verge of blessing the latest addition to our commons here at St. John’s.  This has already become a place of great significance for people of this church.  The youth are developing a strong attachment to it but that’s not all.  It is a place for adults as well, a place that is serving the purpose of being one of the commons of St. John’s.

For the followers of Jesus who came to recognize that Christ was alive in this home in Emmaus, that home undoubtedly became one of great significance just as this church has been a place of blessing to many who come here.  The power of place cannot be underestimated especially when it is a place that practices the kind of radical hospitality experienced in Emmaus.