I'm now on the prayer team at Emmaus. I'm not exactly sure if that is what it's called but the concept goes like this: each Sunday during communion and the last few songs of the service, there are a few people available to pray with others in the congregation. An announcement is made before communion - "If you want prayer, there will be a few people available under the popup tent in the back." This week was only my second week under the popup tent. It's just a regular square popup tent. If it were outside you might think that the people standing under it were grilling some burgers or selling things at a farmers market, or watching their kids play soccer. But for about 20 minutes every Sunday it becomes this 9ft. by 9ft. sanctuary - a sacred space where we experience God through prayer. Most of my 20 minutes under the tent this week was spent simply watching people walk by, receive communion, and walk by again. I didn't know much about the stories of most of the people I watched walk by. Still, I...

We did something pretty cool at Emmaus this week.  It may rank up there with the most amazing worship experiences of my life. Every week we celebrate communion together as part of the service. For the last 7 weeks the sermons have focused on helping us wrap ourselves around this communion experience - particularly focusing on 7 different parts of a prayer for communion that we pray together each week. This week was the final week of the communion series - week 8 - and here's what went down: The Set-Up When people showed up, they they were surprised to find that the room full of tables instead of the traditional rows of chairs that they are used to. Each table had 8 table settings, some kind of hot egg casserole, a plate of bread, a bowl of fruit, some salt and pepper, some crayons for the little ones, and a table tent (is that what they're called) with...

It was one of the best sermons that I've ever heard. We've been exploring the communion liturgy and this Sunday we got to the words of Christ. I think that I've focused in the past on "This is my Body, broken for you... and this is my blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins." I have thought that the experience of communion rest squarely on these words - it has been about suffering, sacrifice, forgiveness, and the physical elements of bread and wine. But now... Nate explained the nuances of the word that is used for "in memory of." Apparently the greek word is "anamnesis" and instead of the mostly passive mental experience that might come to mind when we hear the word remember, anamnesis an affectionate and active recollection. I thought the most helpful picture of this that Nate painted was the difference between remembering your mother who has passed away by putting a plaque on a park bench and practicing anamnesis by going to where she grew up, visiting her school, walking the streets that she...

It was part four the of the Communion Series. We focused on confession - the point in the communion liturgy when we move from belief to action. We do something. Up to this point the prayer is lofty, heady, and maybe a bit elusive. "Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires are known..." When I hear those words, it's easy to tune out, to think that I can't really relate. But then... "Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor." We're called here to do something. Confess. Don't just to think about it; actually do it. in this act of communion we are somehow prepared for communion - prepared for this physical experience of Christ. I've been haunted this week by a line from a song that we sang near the end of the service - during communion. I had never heard the song before. It was strong and beautiful. It's called Center and it starts with a simple acknowledgement that Christ is the center of everything and the one that holds all things together. Then there's a plea for Christ...

Jesus dies. Then he raises from the grave. He shows up and interacts with his disciples on a few different occasions. Then, sometime after these few interactions, the disciples go fishing -- they go back to life before Christ. They don't know what to do. I think I can relate. They go back to what felt normal - back to what came naturally to them - back to what was safe and comfortable - back to work - back to providing for their families and for themselves. What else were they supposed to do? They went fishing. Then Jesus shows up. And he cooks fish. He eats with them. There are no fireworks, no rebuke, no eloquent sermon or theological dissertation. Just a small fire and a few fish. It's this picture of a family. This group that has gone through so much over the past few years and especially the past few weeks... here they are sitting down together for a meal. Some of them may have thought about the last time that they were together around a table. They may have about Jesus breaking bread...

"Lights will guide you home -- And ignite your bones -- And I will try to fix you"

I was teaching Sunday School so wasn't in the service this week.  I tried listening to the Sermon online two separate times but it was so scattered that I couldn't follow it.  Maybe it's me.  I would suddenly realize that I hadn't been listening for the past few minutes and I had no idea what was going on.  I decided to skip this one. 

The next line of the Communion Prayer is this: "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit." 

In Sunday School we read Pslam 51 and looked at a story from The Voyage of the Dawn Treador where Eustace, who has been turned into a dragon, has an interaction with Aslan in which Aslan carefully and painfully removes the scales from Eustace's body so that he's no longer a dragon.  He's now just a naked and vulnerable little child.  Then Aslan dresses him in new clothes.  This is beautiful and I think it's what we all long for.

To be cleansed by the Holy Spirit... 

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"Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid..." We celebrate the Lord's Supper every week at Emmaus. This is beautiful. It's an act of worship that involves taste and touch and smell -- senses that typically get left out in a worship service. I think it was Luther who said something like, "God gave us five senses. Why would we ever use less than that in worship?" And yet we do. So often our experience of God in a worship service is nothing more than auditory; we hear a sermon and some songs. Sometimes it's visual too as we see the cross or some other images that frame our experience. But in communion... In communion we are called out of our seats. We're brought face to face with someone who looks us in the eye, calls us by name and tells us that Christ's body was broken for us and Christ's blood was shed for us. Then we touch this body. And we smell and taste and savor this moment. It's truly beautiful. For the next 7 weeks we'll be...

I wasn't in the worship service this week. Bracken is going through major separation anxiety so Morgan and I are taking turns hanging out with him in the nursery. This week was my turn. I listened to the sermon online today. When you listen online, you miss the music, the people sitting around you, the passing of the peace, the visual images that fill the room and create such an amazing space, the Lord's Supper, the elbow in the ribs when something is said your wife thinks is especially significant for you, the coffee... Even with these internet limitations, the sermon was still quite powerful. It was the second week of the 2-week kickoff of 2009 _together. Last week we briefly explored what _together has to do with our resources (as far as the church budget goes.) This week we turned from resources to relationships. The foundation for both weeks (and possibly for the entire year) is the simple assertion that "The full Christian experience cannot happen when we are not sharing life with others."...

Emmaus has a theme for each year. In 2007 it was "Rooted." In 2008 it was "Worthwhile." The theme works out to be a general concept around which various sermon series are gathered. I was skeptical at first. I thought it would be too hard to sustain interest and focus over 52 weeks. But coming out of 2008 I have the overwhelming sense, more than ever before, that I was able to carefully consider what in my life is worthwhile and what isn't. Being reminded of this theme each week (sometimes bombarded with this theme) turned out to be a wonderful blessing. And so, for the last few weeks of the year, I began to wonder what was next. The leadership team at Emmaus did a great job generating a buzz for the 2009 theme. There were a few announcements over the past month encouraging people not to miss the first 2 services of 2009 - when the new theme would be revealed. There was an all church email reenforcing this message. Kathryn then sent a personal email to some of the volunteers to generate more hype. All of this communication alluded to the fact that there would be a new theme but stopped short of giving any clue as to what the new theme might be. Maybe I'm weird (maybe?) but I was on the edge of my seat. I told Morgan that I was more excited for church last week than I ever had been before. It was like we were left with the season finale cliffhanger a while back, then teased with a few internet trailers. And then the time came for the premier. ...