I have blessed these past three days to be in Yakima, WA, with my colleagues for what is known as the Turner Lectures. The time is filled with driving in one of the most beautiful places in America during one of the most beautiful times of year (the fall colors were spectacular and there is snow at the top of Chinook Pass),  time to catch up with old friends and new ones, time for sharing meals with together and wineries (Yakima Valley is famous for its wineries and some of us took time to enjoy a little Eucharistic wine tasting =).  The focal point of our time together are the lectures and this year’s speaker, Dr. Bonnie Bowman Thurston did an amazing job of bringing a familiar topic (the story of the Road to Eammus) to light. The title for her lectures, The Road to Emmaus: Template for Christian Spirituality in a Modern Mode, stirred too many thoughts to be expressed in one blog entry; however, I kept thinking about this one portion of that Biblical passage today:

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=248381714

Here the companions who have been walking with Jesus and talking with him, finally recognize his presence with them in the breaking of the bread. They talk about how their hearts burned within them as the unrecognized Jesus walked with them and opened up the Scriptures to them. Dr. Thurston spoke about the importance of Word and Sacrament in the church– and how the Sacrament of Communion or Eucharist is where the hearing of the Word makes sense…is the place where all we have heard and learned about Jesus culminates into this aha moment of recognizing his living presence with us.

As a part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) where weekly we gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, this resonates with me on a level that is hard to put into words. For me, the Lord’s Supper is the place where I can go and know in a way like no other how much God loves me…so much so that, as Dr. Thurston said, “God unGoded himself for me”…and for you…and for everyone…