Acts 2:14a,36-41 and Luke 24:13-35

Bless thou O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen

The tradition to which we belong, the Protestant tradition begun by Martin Luther believes most strongly that we meet God - that we meet Christ - in the word of scripture - in study - and in prayer.

The scripture reading that I read today speaks about these things.

It is the story of how two men, on Easter Sunday, set out on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus - a distance of about seven miles - were met by a stranger going along the same road - and began to speak to him about all that had occurred in the Holy City during the previous week.

This man - this stranger - responded to their grief, their dejection - their shock and horror - regarding what had happened - how Jesus, a good man, a prophet, a man powerful before God and all the people - had been crucified and buried - and how his body had disappeared from the tomb - by taking them on a journey through the law and the prophets.

In that journey he showed them how the scriptures foretold all that Jesus did, and all that he suffered, even how he would die - and what purpose it served.

The scriptures are an amazing thing -

Moses and David
Isaiah and Malachi
Jeremiah and Ruth

all speak of God's anointed one - of God's suffering servant - they speak too of God's purpose and plan for the world, how the world began - and how it will end.

The scriptures are a way to come to know God, to come to know Christ, and it was through them, one night many years ago now - as I was reading the gospel of Luke that I first invited him to be my Lord and my Saviour.

I met Christ through the scriptures. I came to know him by what they said about him, and wanted for myself, the forgiveness and the joy of which he spoke, the strength and the hope which he offered, the wholeness and the salvation for which he came, - and for which he died and rose again.

The stranger who walked with the two men on the road to Emmaus spoke of these things.

He taught them about the mind of God, and the purpose of God, and how Jesus fit in with it all.

In the record of that encounter we are told that their hearts burned within them as this stranger talked to them about these things, as he "opened the Scriptures to them"

Our tradition teaches us that the reading of scripture, and the study of scripture, and the proclamation of the message of the scriptures is the primary way in which we meet God, the primary way in which we meet Christ.

Prayer is equally important however.

While we get to know Christ, while we meet him, through the Word of God, we commune with him, we conduct our relationship with him through prayer.

I can't number the times that prayer to the God who I have met through the scriptures has warmed my heart, calmed my fears, and given me a basic assurance about the future. In prayer I felt God's Spirit touch me - in prayer I have heard him tell me what I should do - and what I should not do - in prayer I felt his forgiveness and experienced a joy that words cannot express.

There are hundreds of prayers in the Bible.

For every mood, for every need, for every feeling that we experience we can find a matching mood, a matching need, a matching feeling described in the Holy Book.

In the Psalms - and in the prophet Isaiah, and in many other places I have found my prayers to God echoed by those who have gone before me - indeed often I have found the words that I want to pray there...

Lord - you are my rock and my refuge, be swift to help me. You have assigned me my portion and my cup, you have made my lot secure and so I praise you. Because you are a mighty hand I will not be shaken, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil..

Lord, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the time evil.
Forgive me - have mercy upon me - for I have done what is wrong in your sight, my sin is ever before - have compassion according the abundance of your steadfast love.

Father, I will praise you in the morning, and in the watches of the night. I will exalt you, my God and my King, You are gracious and merciful slow to anger and rich in love. I thank you.

Prayer is so precious - in it - the God we meet, the Christ we meet - becomes ever more real to us, his presence ever more immediate.

Scripture, study, and prayer are ways in which we meet God and get to know him better, ways in which we meet Christ and come ever closer to him.

Without them we have very little, Without them we cannot expect to know God, to encounter God, to commune with God.

But the story of the two disciples who walked on the road to Emmaus that first Easter Day tells us something more about how to get to know Christ - something more about how we might recognize him - how we might encounter him.

It speaks to us of how Christ walks with us on our journey - and how, in the breaking of bread he comes to be known to us.

In the Middle East at the time of Jesus, and even to this day, to eat a meal with someone - to have a person into your house and to sit at table with them, is the greatest compliment - the greatest kindness that one can show.

It is an act of profound intimacy - an act of trust - of honour - of friendship.

It was in that act - and specifically in the breaking of bread and in the prayer of thanks given over that bread that the two men, - whose minds were clouded by anxiety and grief as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus had their eyes opened, that they recognized that the stranger who was with them, - the stranger who they had invited into their home was the risen Christ, and having recognized Christ, they are filled with joy and excitement and return to Jerusalem to give witness to the disciples, and to bring them the assurance that they needed.

The Church has long taught us that we come to know God, that we come to recognize God in the literal act of breaking bread and giving thanks.

That we recognize God, and that we commune with God, that we fellowship with God, in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

I believe that is true - but I also believe that more is meant here in the story of the Road to Emmaus

I believe that this story is telling us that we too come to recognize Christ, that we commune with Christ whenever we gather together, whenever we meet with and share with another person our joy and our grief and offer prayer over the bread we break together or the cup that we lift up and share with each other

Jesus said - that where two or three gather in his name there he would be.

When we gather in moments of intimacy. When we share the greatest gifts that we can share with one another: our homes - our tables - our bread and wine - our inner sanctums - Christ comes among us.

I have had great moments in reading scripture. I have had great moments in prayer, moments in which I have been very much aware of the presence of God, very much aware of his plan and his purpose for me, very much aware of the closeness that he has to me - the love he has for me.

But I have had some of my most profound moments of contact, most profound moments of recognition in the breaking of bread with strangers and with brothers and sisters in the faith; in sharing my innermost hopes and fears, my griefs and my joys with men and women who were willing to walk with me for a time and talk with me for a time and to share with me the few things that I could offer them.

we get to meet Christ, we get to know him better, we recognize him - and experience his healing presence, his challenging presence, his assuring presence in those brothers and sisters who are around us - whether they be strangers - or they be friends - as we share what is important with them, as we honour them with our hospitality, our trust, our hearts.

The bible - and the church - calls this meeting - this sharing - this hospitality - this trust which we extend to friends and to strangers alike - communion.

If you would meet God - if you would encounter Christ and recognize him in that encounter, read the scriptures and study them, listen to them being proclaimed where the saints gather - at Church, and in Bible classes, and pray over them with others - and at home alone by your bedside

And reach out to others. Open your homes and your hearts to others as did the men who travelled the road to Emmaus.

By doing so you may well be entertaining angels unaware.
By doing so you may well encounter the Risen Christ,

Where two or three are gathered in his name -- he is there.

Blessed be His Name day by day. Amen.