Did you know . . .?
The purpose of the Walk to Emmaus is the renewal of the Church as the body of the Risen Christ in the world, by the renewal of Christians as committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
If someone asks you why the Walk to Emmaus movement is so important, do you say it’s because the Church is so much in need of renewal? And when they ask why you continue to identify yourself as part of the Community, and why you continue to offer yourself in service, do you answer that you are doing your best to renew the Church?
When you came back from your pilgrim Walk, did you look at your local congregation with new eyes, asking where you could build up, strengthen, motivate, inspire, equip, teach, help, sponsor, enable and accelerate the things god was doing there long before your eyes were opened?
And when you were asked to serve on a weekend team, did you commit yourself to the sacred trust of teaching and motivating brothers or sisters in Christ to follow ever more closely, just as you now follow more closely in the footsteps of the Master?
We may enjoy a weekend more or less, feel more or less close to others in the Northern Illinois Community or our local congregation, feel more or less equipped for the service that is asked of us, have more or less free time to devote to training, Gathering, Reunion and weekends. Those things are not how we have chosen to measure success and fulfillment. Is the Church stronger today because of the Spring Walks recently completed? Is she stronger because of the talks you have given, the fellowship
you have shared, the prayers you have offered, the money you have contributed? Is she stronger because you will live out in the future commitments you made in the Chapel, in your Reunion Group, or on the ride home?
As I welcome new folks to the faith and membership of the Church and my local congregation, I ask them if they will support her ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, their testimony and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
When I measure those commitments against the contributions we all make to the Emmaus community, it seems that we are well suited to the work we have chosen. Let’s renew the Church with our Fourth Days!
De Colores,
Jim Bell
Community Spiritual Director