Leaving Church

 Luke 24:13-35

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 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?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Church is SUPPOSED to be a place where, together, we can live into the hope of an abundant life, a place where we take out our hearts and souls, open them up, and have them fed and nourished so that we grow toward the lives of fullness, meaning, purpose and joy that God created us to live.  SUPPOSED to be that way.  Supposed to.  

Many of us have found out, in the most heart rending ways, me included, that church doesn’t always do like it’s supposed to do.  Sometimes, and frankly, all too often, the church that is meant to build us up and remind us always of God’s infinite love, ends up instead doing the exact opposite…  Tearing us down, demanding that we become something God did not create us to be, or treats us the way the world does, rather than the way God would have us love one another.  

When you walk away from church because the hope you were promised there has been ripped away, it creates an indescribable and unrelenting pain… a pain you just want to walk away from forever.  That’s what Cleopas and that other disciple were doing.  They were walking toward Emmaus, sure, but I suspect going TO Emmaus was WAY less important to them than walking AWAY from that pain.  The hope they had placed in Jesus, in the disciples, and in God for an abundant life had been crushed in the most horrific and dramatic way.  The disciples they had held up as leaders sat broken and cowering in an upper room.  It was finished and they just wanted to leave... forever.   

It was on that road… the road AWAY from the church that Jesus began to walk with them.  Jesus, you see, doesn’t just walk with us on We’ve Got It All Figured Out Boulevard.  Jesus doesn’t just walk with us on Perfect Life Lane.  Jesus doesn’t just walk with us on We’ve Got our Poop Together Street.  Jesus walks with us on whatever road, alley, or back woods trail to the outhouse we walk.  Think about it.  If ANYONE knows the life crushing… life ending pain that can be inflicted by a religious institution that's gone off the rails with hate and fear… it’s Jesus.  

So Jesus catches up with them and asks them to tell him their story and Jesus…just… listens.  He doesn’t make excuses for it or try to fix it... he just listens.  Jesus knows that if healing is to have a chance, you have to tell that story as many times as that story needs to be told.  

When they were done, Jesus told THEM a story.  He told them THE story.  Beginning at the beginning, Jesus told them how God has always cared for God’s people and all of creation.  He reminded them that God loved us all into being, breathing life into us.  A flood couldn’t get in the way of God’s love and neither could enemies, slavery or exile.  Not even death could stop God from loving God’s people!

  

Jesus told them THE story and then... well, then he just let that story sit with them.  God’s story works.  Jesus knew that.  How long does it take to soak in and work?  Well, it looks like even Jesus couldn’t predict that.  He didn’t push it.  He just kept walking down the road content to let God’s love work in it’s own time.  In this particular story, it happened to soak in just in time for dinner.  I suspect that’s more the exception than the rule.  But when they were ready... so was Jesus.  

This story of soul crushing hurt isn’t just an old story… it’s our story.  That other disciple in this story without a name… that’s us!  Each of us who have had our hopes and faith crushed by one thing or another… we are that disciple!  Each of us who have been blackballed, hurt, betrayed, and abandoned by the church.  AND… and… while that is absolutely and painfully true, it is also true that Jesus is walking with each of us RIGHT NOW, on whatever road you are walking right now even if, like them, the trauma of that life-crushing hurt is currently making Jesus impossible to recognize. 

You and I are meant to see ourselves as that unnamed disciple AND together you and I are also called to walk with those who are even now walking that road away from the church.  We are called to walk beside them.  To listen without trying to fix it or make excuses for it.  To tell THE story with words, sure… but even more than that, to tell the story with the way we live, day in and day out.  To live the story of God’s infinite and unchanging love for them and all of creation.  And then, we are called to simply let that love story work in it’s own time.  It will work.  It will.  And it will work before dinner too!  Dinner on what day?  I don’t know.  But just so we're ready, we make sure to set the dinner table every single week.  Amen.