Old Orchard Garage Sales

Tomorrow is the annual Old Orchard garage sale. It will be our first one since we've only lived here 3 months. I guess it's going to be somewhat chaotic from what I hear.

We're hoping to meet a lot of people at the sale. We're planning on music, flyers, and just hanging out talking to people. We really like getting to know new people and mixing it up with our neighbors, so it should be a lot of fun. We're also hoping that God's going to do some cool things through this event.

If you happen to stop by this website as a result of the garage sale, we hope you might come and join us for one of the Sunday evening gatherings here at our home where we share good conversation and good food. We meet Sundays @ 6 p.m. at 2874 Kenwood Blvd.

Hope to see you then. Enjoy the garage sales!

Hungering and Thirsting

Last night we listened and reflected on the blessing, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled." One comment in my study of the passage stood out. The writer noted that hunger is a sign of health. Lack of hunger a sign of sickness. In a certain sense the writer is saying we can gauge our health by how hungry we are for God's righteousness.
In reading and listening to these blessings, I've begun to notice how much they have to do with our dispositions. Poor in spirit, mourning, meekness--each of these is bourne out of a heart disposition which recognizes our finiteness. If that is so, then to hunger and thirst is a natural result; when we are empty of ourselves, only then can we truly begin to experience a hunger and thirst to fill.
What do you think?

Blessed are the Meek

Tonight we listened to Jesus' words "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." Our hunch is that, just like the rest of the beatitudes, meekness must be understood as arising from the heart and will. The beatitudes are less prescriptive and more descriptive--this is how things are in the kingdom. These are the kinds of people, the state of the heart, of those who belong to God's kingdom. Meekness, then, describes more a state of being than of doing.

Next week we'll attempt to explore what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Maybe we'll see you there. Peace.

A Prayer for Today

O Lord our God, give us grace to desire you with a whole heart,
that so desiring you we may seek you and find you;
and so finding you, may love you;

and loving you, may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us,

for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.

--St. Anselm 1033-1109

The Blessings

Last Sunday night, 8 of us met to begin discussing what it means to live in the Kingdom of God as found in the Beatitudes or the Blessings. So we began with the first 11 verses of chapter 5 in Matthew's Gospel. We looked closely at what Jesus meant by the "poor in spirit" and will explore the rest of the beatitudes in the following weeks. This next week we'll be talking about "blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted", and we're to bring an example or two that we think might relate to the topic. E.g. a story of someone mourning at a funeral or of someone mourning over a social ill.

If you'd like to join us, we meet at 6:00 on Sunday evenings for some snacks, sharing life, and discussing the Bible and faith. Our address is 2874 Kenwood Blvd. We're on the northeast corner of Kenwood and Goddard in the brick house. All are welcome.

Hope to see you there.

We're All On A Journey

Welcome to Emmaus Road:
Whether you are here seeking God or just friendship . . .
Whether you confess Jesus as Lord or are only curious about Him . . .
Whether you’re a part of this faith community or another one . . .
Whether you agree with everything we teach or simply agree to disagree (respectfully) . . .
We welcome you as Jesus openly welcomes all who seek life and value life in others.

What you’ll discover here is a gathering of people seeking to live life to its fullest—life embodying everything our Creator designed and desires for us to be. We hope you’ll also discover here a place of acceptance and belonging among us. But even more than that, we hope you’ll find your place of belonging and acceptance with God through Jesus Christ.

Bob Dylan once reflected on his life, “I was born a long way from home, and I’m just trying to get back.”

We all were.

We hope you’ll join us on the journey.