A Final Note to the Parish: On the Road
Dear Friends,
Nearly eight years ago, you and I officially began our ministry together with a grand celebration in our beautiful church. The place was packed with parishioners, family and friends, Jersey City Episcopalians, visiting clergy, and a busload of folks from Grace Church in Madison. (Yes, parking was a problem!) Gail Blache-Gill and our choir and guest singers and musicians dazzled us with their artistry. My mentor and friend, The Rev. Lauren Ackland, preached a wise and inspiring sermon. Bishop Beckwith presided with his usual high energy and joyful spirit. For Sue and me, our “Celebration of New Ministry” was a mountaintop experience, a homecoming, and the start of a journey both familiar and unknown.
For our gospel lesson, I selected Luke 24:13-35 – the story of the Risen Christ appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus – a story that I have loved since I was a teenager. The setting is the first Easter Day, and two disciples are walking the seven miles from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus. Along the way, they reflect on all that has happened over the last few days – the heartbreaking rejection, torture, and death of Jesus and now the unsettling reports of an empty tomb. On the road, as the two disciples try to make sense of all of this, they are joined by Jesus, “but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
Without knowing it, the two disciples tell Jesus his own story, and then Jesus replies by teaching the Scriptures in a way that sets their hearts on fire. Finally, when they arrive at what seems to be the end of their journey, the two disciples invite this “stranger” into their home. When they gathered at the table, Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” In that moment – in the breaking of the bread - the two disciples finally recognized Jesus. And he vanished from their sight.
The now overjoyed and renewed disciples quickly head back on the road to Jerusalem, back to the others, excited to share the Good News, the best news of all time:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The story of the Risen Christ appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is the Christian life in miniature. We travel the road not alone but together. We encounter Christ in the stranger, in Scripture, and most of all in the Breaking of the Bread. We are meant to offer hospitality, knowing that when we welcome the outsider we welcome Christ himself. We are sometimes called to leave home – to step away from what is safe and comfortable, heading back out on the road to proclaim the Good News.
With God’s help, over these eight years, we have been a lot like the two disciples on the road. We have stuck together during hard times. We have welcomed the stranger, sliding over to make room for newcomers in church. We have opened our doors to people hungry for food, community, shelter, and beauty. Especially during the pandemic, we have heard and read the Scriptures. We have blessed, broken, and shared the Bread of Life. And, we have stepped out beyond our church, out into the community, back out on the road, sharing the Good News, the best news of all time:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
And now, the part of our journey that began eight years ago comes to an end. Today is my last day as your rector. Tomorrow I start my work at St. Thomas’ Church in Owings Mills, Maryland (but mostly, I’ll just be packing!). Especially after our celebration on Friday night, and after reading the many touching contributions to the “memory book,” I feel a tumult of emotions, maybe as mixed up as the two disciples on the road. Sue and I will miss you and this place more than we can say. Just know that this church and this city will always be home for us.
Like many of you, I look to the future with a blend of anxiety and hope. Our world, country, and church are all changing way faster than we can grasp. There seems to be trouble all around. But, although we can’t see what lies ahead, we can be sure of God’s indissoluble and unbreakable baptismal bond with all of us. God will not let go of us, no matter what. And, if we keep open our eyes, ears, and hearts, we will continue to meet Christ in the stranger, in the Bible, and in the Bread.
We have been through much together during these eventful years, a time when our two churches took the bold step of becoming one beautiful community. We have formed ties of love and memory that will endure, despite the passage of time and the widening of distance. I will forever give thanks to God for the joy of walking beside all of you, on the road.
Your brother in Christ,
Tom
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