I invite you to imagine with me for a moment what it was like to be one of the disciples on the day when Jesus rose from the grave. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection. What was that like? You’re still grieving his death, but at the same time you’re hearing some pretty crazy stories–about the women who went to the tomb and found it empty; about angels announcing that he was alive.

Most of you don’t believe these stories, but Peter (always the eager one) runs to the tomb and finds that indeed the grave is empty. Disappointment and sadness mixed with excitement and hope about a faint possibility. Grief and hope and confusion and disbelief all at the same time. To be a disciple that day would mean mixed feelings, to say the least.

And then two of you decide to leave town to travel. To walk to Emmaus. To walk down the road to Emmaus. I want to walk down that road just a little bit with you this morning.

Reading: Luke 24:13-36.

These two friends, Cleopas and his companion-quite possibly the wife of Cleopas, Mary. One of the three Marys that stood at the cross and watched Jesus die. Cleopas and his companion were traveling together to Emmaus talking about Jesus, this mighty prophet. They’d had such high hopes, but things looked pretty grim. He lay dead now in a tomb…but was he alive?

Jesus joins the travelers, but they are kept from seeing him right away. And I love how Jesus enters into conversation with them– asking them questions, listening to their hopes, listening to their grief.

And then Jesus gives them a sermon of a lifetime– everything you want to know about Jesus from the Old Testament. (I’m not going to attempt to give that sermon this morning.) It’s what happens next that grabs me. Jesus goes inside with them. He coaxes an invitation out, and once invited he goes inside with them and serves them this meal. One writer says this is the first meal of the new creation.

Jesus takes the bread; gives thanks for it. He breaks it. He offers it to them. It is here that their eyes are open and they recognize that this is indeed their risen Lord. Because they had seen him do this before–they had seen him take bread and give thanks and break it and give it. They had seen it when he fed the 5000. They had seen it at meal times, especially that last meal before He was crucified. Jesus chooses to reveal himself. He is the one who makes himself known. And that is still the case.

It is at this point that these two friends (or this couple), look back and realize that their hearts were on fire as Jesus spoke…that he was with them the whole time on that dusty road. They had encountered the living Christ. Or, better put, Jesus had encountered them. Death was defeated and the curse was broken.

And then the two run back (I imagine that they didn’t walk, they run) back to Jerusalem where their home group is gathered and they run in and they say,

It’s true the Lord has risen indeed. He is alive.

These two have received the word and sacrament of Christ and now they cannot wait to go and to bear witness of this truth and to tell the story. And they find as they are telling the story that Jesus is present there again with them saying, Peace be with you.

Stories like this about encountering Christ are so powerful. One of my favorite lines from a band called Over the Rhine is a line that says,

When I least expect it,
Here and there I see my Savior’s face.
When I least expect it,
Here and there I see my Savior’s face.

Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about these kinds of encounters– these community encounters–with Christ this week as I pack up books, as I pack my office. Many of the objects I put away…I have to stop and remember how Jesus met us here in so many ways.

So I want to do something a little different this morning. I brought a box. (Everyone, when they leave a job, has a box like this don’t they?) I brought a box of some of these objects, and I want to share them with you. They are objects that I can’t take with me or I can’t quite pack up until I share a little bit of the story.

My hope is this isn’t all about a walk down memory lane. My hope is that this isn’t all about me. My hope is just to take a short walk on that Emmaus road. To look back on what Jesus has done. To bear witness. To tell that story.

Item 1: A bag

The first thing I brought today is a bag – a bulk bag – of coffee beans. And I brought this for two reasons. I brought this because I drink a lot of coffee. I don’t know the current number of coffee shops that are in walking distance of Bethany, but I give thanks for each and every one of them. I have met there with so many of you over the years that I’ve been here to hear what Jesus is doing in your life, to hear the heart stuff and good stuff and confusing stuff that doesn’t make sense…and what a privilege.

And I brought this also because it reminds me of AGROS UNO in Honduras, the village that we partner with. They don’t grow coffee there, actually, but many people who come to live in the village come from coffee farms or other kinds of farms where they can never hope to own their own land; where they can never hope to sell enough of their crops…to get out of the cycle of poverty. AGROS UNO is a place of hope away from that.

A couple of summers ago, I walked into this village with 21 others from this church–high schoolers and leaders. It was mid-morning and the sun was bright; the sky was a deep, beautiful blue color. We walked up the rise to this hacienda, near the shade of this massive mahogany tree. And there by the tree some of the villagers had gathered. They were very nervous waiting for us to get there. And we were nervous, too; nervous to meet them.

When we joined them, we prayed together in English and Spanish. We all stood on new ground. We were on new ground. They were on new ground. But it was common ground…brothers and sisters praying together. And I look back and I see Jesus in that circle.

Item 2: a red parament

The second thing I brought is the red parament that we put on our table on Pentecost, last Sunday, when we celebrated the coming of our Lord Jesus. (I’m not taking this with me, by the way. I like it a lot, but I’m not taking it.) I brought this because I’ve been amazed so many times at the way the Spirit meets us here when we worship. It’s often here in the Sanctuary when we gather...when the Spirit leads us in prayer, when the Spirit offers us encouragement and speaks in a tongue. Always faithful to bring us interpretation. Always faithful to meet us here.

The Spirit meets us outside these walls, too. One of those places where the Spirit has met me is on the Alpha retreats–the Holy Spirit weekends. Laura and I got to be a part of those for the last couple years and we were amazed what God did. We saw people meet the Spirit in new ways or for the first time. It was as if the Spirit was swelling a wave among us. We always described it that way and we just got to sort of ride along and be a part of that.

At the last retreat in April, the Spirit met me in a very new way. I had come to Bethany (I knew about the charismatic thing) a little suspicious and a little stand-offish. I’d had some experiences that I didn’t like with that sort of thing. But I was intrigued. I sat up there in the corner where the Plunketts are. (Hi) I was visiting and I remember being so intrigued but suspicious, and even when I came to work here I was intrigued and suspicious. But this last April was time to let go of a lot of that and it was time for the Spirit to breathe something new in me. So I look back on many times here and I recognize Jesus through his Spirit breathing new things.

Item 3: a rock

I brought a rock. I brought this rock that I picked up at a Steps of Faith retreat. Steps of Faith happens during Lent every year. We invite our middle school kids and our high school kids to spend some time with the question, What is Christ calling you to next? What is the next step of faith?

• Is it to proclaim your faith?
• Is it baptism?
• Is it caliming your infant baptism and being anointed?
• Is it mission and service?
• Is it something in your devotional life?

What is that?

On that retreat, we take a walk on the beach and we pick up two rocks. The first rock is a rock of something that Christ is calling us to let go of. And later on that night, we throw it far off into the ocean. And I’ve told you before, those are long throws. And then the second rock is something that Jesus is calling us to grab ahold of…something new, some new step. It’s what I love about youth ministry. It’s what I love about all ministry. It’s asking the question, What is God doing? and then encouraging one another to take those steps. I have a few of these rocks…new steps that I needed to take. And I look back and I recognize Jesus walking on the beach with us.

Item 4: peeps

The next item takes some explaining. This is a jar of Easter peeps and other holidays. You can sort of see their little faces smashed up against the window. At some point, someone on our church staff realized that I have this love-hate thing with Easter peeps. On Easter back in Montana where I’m from we would blow them out of a potato cannon every Easter afternoon. And we’re going back there.

As silly as it is, I’m packing up my office and looking at all these peeps. The staff hides them in my office when I go. I find them in various places. And I realize again how great it is to do ministry together on staff, on our volunteer ministry team. Ministering together is what we’re all about. We encourage each other. We challenge each other. We ask each other if we’re taking Sabbaths. And that is a wonderful thing.

And I want to say something about Dan. I came here and I asked for a mentor. And I got a friend, and a mentor, and a brother who called me to walk closer with Christ. In some ways I feel like leaving is making room for someone else to come and be mentored.

This is Trinity Sunday…Father, Son and Spirit…and community. God in community with himself. When we do ministry together we reflect the community of the trinity. And I recognize Christ among that community.

Item 4: a rosebud

I brought a rosebud. And I brought this for two reasons. I brought this because we put one here when there is a new child born or adopted into our family, beginning a life of growing up here. We made the promise today when we baptized Asha to encourage children and love them in faith and in hope of a relationship with Jesus Christ…of serving with Jesus Christ. And I have seen people make good on that promise here at Vacation Bible Schools, during Children’s Times, youth leading, classes, home groups that include children within what they’re doing and mission trips with adults and children. I’ve seen it again and again. I’m thankful for what our kids teach us. And I’m thankful for adults who take the promise seriously that we made today.

But I also brought this rose because it reminds me of grief. Grief that Laura and I experienced when we realized that we weren’t able to sustain a pregnancy after years of trying...and trying is the word. For the many among us who have experienced infertility, or broken dreams of family and not being able to get there.

There’s hope and anger and frustration and all kinds of emotions you don’t want to feel. But we recognize Christ on journeys of grief. God held on to us through that time. I remember for months singing that song, Blessed Be Your Name, and getting to the line of about You give and take away. We couldn’t sing it. But we could hear people singing it around us, and it was true. And for that time it was enough…just to hear it.

As soon as we started talking about that journey, people came out of the woodwork who had shared that. They knew how to give us hope. They knew how to encourage us. We’d always hoped to adopt. We’d hoped to have a biological child first. But when it was time to turn to the adoption journey, all kinds of people came out of this community to give us resources, and encourage us, and walk with us. To give us hope and to pray. I look all around and I see Jesus in this community walking with people in times of grief on the way to hope in many circumstances.

Item 5: a place setting

I brought a place setting from next door because this reminds me of so many Wednesday nights-and one Wednesday Night Dinner in particular this last Christmas dinner. Dan had this crazy idea that instead of the Bible Study that night we would read the Christmas story from Luke during the dinner. So if you’ve ever tried to do anything with a microphone during a Wednesday Night Dinner, or any event next door while people are eating, it’s near impossible. It’s not a silent night kind of atmosphere going on there.

And five of us stood and passed a microphone and told bits of the Christmas story. We tried to get all the major elements: from the enunciation, to Mary, to the shepherds and the manger and all of that. And as crazy as that was, I realized as we were doing this, that this is probably the best way to read the Christmas story–among chaos and clamour. It reminds me of a baby born in a barn somewhere. Pretty crazy. So I look back and I recognize Jesus on Wednesday nights, but especially as we read his birth story over dinner.

Item 6: a cross

I bought a cross…a wooden cross on a necklace. We give these to adults and to kids when they’re baptized or anointed here. And it makes me think when I hold this, of the stories we’ve heard when someone comes to take that step. Of the testimonies and the stories. Or when someone like Asha in hope years from now will look back and tell her story with Christ. It’s not hard at all to recognize Jesus in those stories.

Item 7: the table

There’s a lot more I could tell. But the last object I want to talk about is this table. This communion table. Coming here Sunday after Sunday, meeting the Spirit in this very unique way, sitting and watching others come forward serving at this table. I think it’s the most profound thing I’ve ever done.

And I remember once standing here and serving, and I guy I knew from Wednesday night came forward. Right as I handed him the cup, he said,

Hey Steve, how’s it going?

I said,

Fine,Fine. Umm..the blood of Christ.

And then he wasn’t done. He said,

Hey, what’s for dinner on Wednesday?

I love that because that memory reminds me that this table is connected to the rest of life. This table isn’t a table separate from our everyday dinner tables. The dinner that we have next door when we invite strangers into our homes and eat with them. That is the table.

People have asked me in the last couple of weeks, Steve, when did you say yes to this new church in West Yellowstone? When did you actually say yes, that you would go?

That’s actually not a clear thing to answer. I think I said yes a few of times. But the one that keeps rising to the surface is a few weeks ago when we visited and I preached there and they had a vote on me and all of that. And I was leading communion and it’s always different in a different place…to how you do things…where do the servers stand...where they go.

And at the end of it, I stayed at the table. And at the end of the communion the servers–there were 6 of them–came and gathered around the table, and Mary Sue, one of the servers, leaned over and she whispered. She said, Steve are you going to serve us? And she meant the communion. I said, Yea, Mary Sue, I am. And I meant the call. And that’s when I said yes, from this table to that table.

It’s time to go. For us, it has been a gift. It has been a pure gift to be here. To labor here for a while. It’s time to go and labor in another part of God’s kingdom. I’m thankful for so many things:

• Thankful to be closer to Christ than I was when I came.
• Thankful to walk away from here with Laura.

Just like the disciples on that resurrection day, we have mixed feelings…so much grief and excitement. I don’t expect that will go away, but I do expect that we’ll see Jesus again and again...that we’ll have more stories to tell.

And Dan said, Steve I want you to feel free to give a charge or a challenge as you go. Which is a really dangerous thing to ask your Associate Pastor on their way out. So I will keep it short and simple.

My charge is to keep telling the stories about Jesus-to recognize him and to tell the stories together. Tell them at home, at work. Tell them to the children, to your neighbors. Tell them in Mississippi, in Kenya and Honduras. Keep telling the stories. Encounter Christ and run back to tell the story.

Amen.