Walk to Emmaus -- Men's #1327

In my posting on 24 June I described my attendance at the first meeting for the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327. This past Saturday we had our fourth and final team formation meeting. NOW the Team should be basically ready to serve as a vessel of God's grace during the actual Walk at the end of next week!

Team #1327 got introduced to a couple of new Team members. One is Andy Smith, pastor of a United Methodist church in historic Castroville. (He was taking the place of a clergy member who had had to bow out.) That day Andy previewed his Talk, "Obstacles to Grace". Or "sin" as he aptly told me while we two were getting acquainted during the opening meet 'n greet ('n eat) time. Andy's Talk is the fourth clergy Talk (done on Saturday), and mine is the fifth and final clergy Talk "Sanctifying Grace" (done Sunday morning).

I felt led by the Spirit -- the divine "breath" -- to offer to be Andy's prayer partner, to pray with him just before his preview Talk, just outside the meeting room. Prayer is a very crucial element of the Emmaus experience. Folk from all over the country even overseas sign up to pray half-hour segments of the 72-hour Prayer Vigil tha goes on during the Walk. Before each Talk during that Walk the speaker, having dressed up for his Talk (suit & tie) will pray with his prayer partner in the chapel. The partner continues to pray during the 20-minute Talk, and the two prayerfully give thanks afterward. And this just begins to enumerate the various prayer features. . . .

Mike Solano, the Walk's Spiritual Director, even spoke of prayer during his "Fourth-day Talk" in the worship celebrated early in our meeting. It was distressing that he told us that studies indicate that only 5% of ordained clergy have a regular daily prayer or devotional life. No wonder the organized Christian Church is in such disarray as the Twenty-first Century begins! But Mike's talk focused on the positive, and was generally energizing.

Then Andy went to the Table to preside at the Lord's Supper. Each team formation meeting includes this during the first hour of actual meeting. It follows the order in the "purple book" everyone receives on his or her Pilgrim Walk as a printed aid. In the worship order is the Great Thanksgiving, in which after thanking God our Father for His mighty acts in history and especially in Jesus the Nazarene, the Words of Institution are spoken. As Andy said these over the bread and then the cup, my mortal eyes saw what they always see: a loaf of bread and a chalice. But my eyes of faith saw more: a light came down and surrounded each Element in a soft yet bright glow! Did you ever see the TV show "Touched by an Angel", and when one of the angels would reveal his or her angelic nature to a human, the angel would glow? (For once Hollywood got a spiritual matter correct!) Well, THAT was what the bread and cup looked like to my eyes of faith!

Then, at the end of the Great Thanksgiving prayer Andy said the familiar petition: "Make us one with Christ, one with each other and one in witness. . . ." And again my eyes of faith saw the awesome! (My physical eyes were closed.) Cords composed of that same celestial light moved thru the room and encircled each Team member, binding us together! And at the "Amen" those cords were gone.

I wanted to cry out, "Lord, I'm not worthy of such wonderful insights, revealing Your presence with and blessing upon this Team!" Nevertheless, when the worship was over and we were about to break before previewing the first talk for that day, I shared with my Team buddies what had been revealed to me during the Great Thanksgiving. I knew it would encourage them to have evidence of "God with us"! And as I said at the start of this posting, NOW the Team is basically ready!

Hallelujah! Praise God! - De colores.