Known in the Breaking of the Bread
The “Road to Emmaus” was also the gospel passage for last Wednesday and I’m going to hone in on some of the same points this morning. Hopefully, we will all gain from learning and refreshing our understanding.
Please turn to page 857 in the Book of Common Prayer. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find a Q & A on the Sacraments. The first question is, “What are the sacraments? The answer is, “The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.
This is, of course, from our catechism right in the prayer book. It is essentially what I memorized for my own confirmation and remains the teaching of our church. But what does it mean, really, “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”?
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Ring in Jesus!
One hundred years ago yesterday, the weather was balmy; lows in the mid-60s and highs in the mid-80s. Lake Wales was at the peak of the Florida Land Boom, with lots of people moving into the area. Traffic was terrible. Bok Tower was a set of blueprints. (They would begin construction on it the following year.)
It was an exciting day. The missionary community formed under the name Church of the Good Shepherd gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday. It was their very first service in their brand-new church building, their own worship space, which elevated them from “mission” to “parish” status. They had worked very hard for months to raise the funds and build that wooden church on this very spot.
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God Made the First Move
Scripture lessons like the ones we just heard are the stories of Our God reaching down into the lives of His chosen people. His Grace, and Blessing to a people who truly didn’t understand the gift that they were receiving. A people that had done nothing to deserve this grace. God didn’t wait for a change of heart from His people; He made the first move.
Come let us imagine that night with Jesus and the disciples as they enter the upper room for their Passover meal. Jesus had sent the disciples ahead to make the preparations. They assumed it would be like the other Passover meals that they had shared with Him in the past. Little did they know, this Passover meal would be different, much different. It would be the last meal with Jesus before He went to the cross.
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