The Emmaus Road (Easter 2)
“He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus.” Luke 24:30,31
In our gospel for today we have a story well known to churchgoers, although it does have one or two conundrums in it which we can leave for another time, perhaps. It was about two followers of Jesus, who, after his death and resurrection did not recognize who he was until they sat at table and shared their food with him. The points I want to highlight this morning are just two. One is about failing to notice the blindingly obvious, which we all do from time to time. The other is about hospitality and food.
I want to set this in the context of Kenya, and you may well ask: why Kenya?
Well, we had hoped to have a Kenyan visitor here this morning, but let me go back a step. You will know from your reading of the ‘Eagle’ that for some time now we have been working on a link between St John’s and St Michaels & South parish church. This link has expanded now to include a church in Nairobi which we can partner. That church is Lavington United Church, which is an ecumenical partnership between the Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches of Kenya. So it fits our profile, as they say, very well indeed, and considerable work has already been done in laying the foundation for that partnership.
The Kenyan visitor we had hoped to have with us today is one of the clergy on the staff of that church, the Revd Joshua Omungo. Sadly, the British High Commission in Nairobi refused to give him a visa, and that is another story. The plan was for me to have a conversation with him, in place of a sermon, but now instead, you just have me.
The object of this partnership is not about aid, not about us
having our hearts melted by the pictures of deprived children from
the streets of Nairobi, and feeling that we must rush in and give
them some cash. I have very strong views on that kind of activity
– again, I’ll leave that too for another day. What this
is about is a partnership between equals.
Let me tell you a bit about Lavington Church. I was a lay member
there in the first year of its life in 1961, and last year when we
were in Kenya, we attended worship there. It was a wonderful
experience. It is a well organized church, with an extensive
programme of what they refer to as ‘social work’ –
practical Christianity and outreach. They are doing it well. So the
plan is not to replicate what they are doing, but rather to get to
know them, to visit them, to have fellowship with them, to worship
with them, to pray with them and support them. They, in turn, will do
the same. We, if we have eyes to see, will see Christ in them, and
they will see Christ in us. That is the ‘blindingly
obvious’ part which we must not fail to notice. We are not
going to do anything other than that, at least in the short term.
So Joshua’s presence here this morning would have been a very visible signal as to what we are about to engage upon.
I mentioned the visiting – Kenyans to Dumfries, and we to Lavington. I hope that these acts of hospitality will go far in cementing a meaningful relationship as we get to know one another, begin to understand one another’s culture and faith. For some, this will be a new and exciting experience. One thing I can promise you is that if you are keen to get on board this programme, especially in the exchange of hospitality, it will change your life.
A major part of Kenyan and, indeed, Scottish hospitality is the food. So let me say a word about that.
You might not think so to look at me, but I am a man who likes his food. The last time I was in America, seeing people there who were the size of a small bungalow, I was much given to muttering under my breath ‘There is a man who likes his food’.
Now, I, like many of you, I would hazard a guess, am in constant danger of finishing up like the aforesaid small bungalow. I struggle with my weight. I am fortunate, however, to have a mentor who keeps an eye on me and gives me good advice. But I have another problem with food. And, to be absolutely honest, most of us do.
I was listening to a programme on Tuesday which was in the series ‘What is the point…………? The first in the series was, as it happens, ‘What is the point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?’ I think Archbishop Rowan can take care of himself, in spite of what the press throws at him. Tuesday’s topic was ‘What is the point of Michelin stars’, and was looking at the question of whether we need to elevate food to an art form.
Let us not be in any doubt. We live in a poor world, where, for the most part, food is about getting enough on your plate, and not about how nicely presented the plate of food is. Even when I came back to Britain to live, some 30 years ago, after having lived among some of the poorest people in the world, I was very impatient with what I saw as people here treating food and eating out as if it were a hobby. I hope you can understand that impatience. Part of me still feels guilty when I go to eat out, especially if I am spending on one meal more than some people earn in a week, or, in some cases, in a month. For many of us in the northern hemisphere, food is not about survival. It is about self-indulgence, and I am the first to put up my hands and confess to this. And without wanting to sound too apocalyptic about it, one day the chickens will come home to roost, as populations from the southern hemisphere migrate to the north in search of food. This too is blindingly obvious. However, we would rather not think about it, I suspect.
The Emmaus story has many aspects we could have looked at, and we would not have covered them all in a sermon. The blindingly obvious, the table fellowship and the plain food, however, are apposite for where we find ourselves at the present time, both in terms of Lavington and, indeed, world poverty.
By forging this link with a church in the southern hemisphere, I know that we are not going to solve the world’s problems in terms of food supplies or international relations. But it is far more than a mere gesture. It is, at the very least, the start of a process of consciousness raising, which will, I am quite convinced change lives and enrich us all.
I feel as well that this morning I ought also to comment on another blindingly obvious fact, namely that the organ has now gone for refurbishment. I see this, and the fact that we are spending a considerable sum of money on it, not as a tension between whether we should spend money on a box of whistles or give it to, say, Christian Aid. I want to see it, when it is restored, being used in recitals to raise funds for whatever charities people want to support. Organise a recital yourself, for whatever you feel is important. With good planning, you could easily raise £1000 in an evening. It has the potential to be significant in that area of your lives, and to change the lives of other people for the better. To me, yes, that too is blindingly obvious.
Please remember Kenya and the Lavington Link in your prayers, that we will neither fail to spot the blindingly obvious, nor be grudging in our hospitality. Remember the Emmaus road.