From a DEC Board Member
In our lives, we have the opportunity to celebrate milestones. These milestones arrive in the form of birthdays and anniversaries. What anniversaries have you celebrated or will you celebrate this year-birthday, work, marriage, graduation? This year I will celebrate many of these same anniversaries. October happens to be an important month for me to celebrate this year I am celebrating three chances at life this month. First, In October of 1965, I was given life. I was a 10 lb+ baby born at Baylor Hospital as an honorary Baylor Lineman. I was a cute little guy. Can we agree that I was probably cuter then than I am now? I also had more hair. I was the last child born into a loving family of five. God gave to me the breath of Life.
In October 2004, I finally understood the love of God, and, this October, I celebrate 18 years since my Walk. My three days at Mt Lebanon were life changing. My dying moments helped me to fully understand Grace, both the Grace that God has given to me and the Grace that God knew I needed to extend to others.
And finally, last year at this time, I was clinging to life in the ICU of Presbyterian Hospital fighting a bad case of Covid. After two weeks, I was moved into a regular room where I finally was able to receive visits from my wife. Almost every day when she came to visit me and give me encouragement, I cried as she showed me cards, emails and texts, and told me of the prayers from my church family and my Emmaus family. She would ask me if it was a sad cry or a happy cry. It was always happy. The feeling of knowing you are being prayed for is the most spiritual healing; more so than any medicine the doctors could prescribe. You are responsible for another rebirth.
I actually believe that I have been given life three times in my now 57 years, each one unique and rewarding. As a member of the Dallas Board of Directors, a past Lay Director, and a team member on more than 16 walks, I can honestly say that I have been part of an amazing process that has given life, or the understanding of God’s Grace to many Pilgrims. And, I am ready to continue with you.
You are beginning to hear of our new program within the Dallas Emmaus Community: Day Four Restore. Emmaus is seeking a rebirth. We have survived 2 years of Covid and distancing from one another. We have seen many years go by from our individual walks. We have often experienced burnout from our many years of serving the community. But we are not done. God is calling us to renew our experience and revelation in Emmaus and to restore our commitment. I need and want to see all of you at a Day Four Restore event. I want to sing with you, renew with you, share memories with you, laugh and cry with you. Mostly, I want to share the joy of life with you, and thank you for your prayers for me and my family. Finally, I want to reinvigorate our community and encourage Sponsorship so that we can grow and share our love of God. Will you join me? Let’s celebrate a new anniversary.
De Colores!
Keith Chapman
Dallas Emmaus Men's Walk #184, October 2004
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From a Community Spiritual Director
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
I don’t know if you were counting, but you prayed this prayer 14 times when you went on your Walk to Emmaus weekend. (It is not prayed before the Priorities talk). When a pilgrim first prays it, it likely feels a bit scripted and wooden, but by the time you prayed it before the “Fourth Day” talk on Sunday afternoon, you likely almost had it memorized. You said it so many times that it
was lodged into your memory bank.
I hope that all of us who have experienced the Emmaus walk have this prayer not only memorized in our heads, but also emblazoned in our hearts.
I have two favorite phrases from this prayer.
My first favorite phrase is “kindle in us the fire of your love.” Oh, how I love that phrase! I love it because it implies that the fire of God’s love within can be enlarged and (pardon the pun) inflamed! Although, I don’t encourage you to play with fire, you have probably breathed on an open fire before in an attempt to make it burn brighter and bigger and hotter! That is what we want inside of us, brothers and sisters in Christ! We want the flame of the love of Jesus to burn in us! I attended a conference recently where we sang this chorus:
Set a fire down in my soul, that I can’t contain, that I can’t control! I want more of you, God!
That is what we are praying when we pray, “kindle in us the fire of your love!”
My second favorite phrase from this prayer is “you shall renew the face of the earth.”
What a vision! God will renew the face of the earth! Oh how we need a renewal in the world in which we live. We live in a broken, fallen world full of sin, pain, hurts, suffering, natural disasters, war, and so many other ills. Our world is indeed sick and needs to be renewed. Only God can truly “renew the face of the earth.” But, this does not mean that we are passive spectators in this restoration project. Indeed, we learned on our Emmaus weekend that Jesus works through his body, the Church, to accomplish his will upon the earth. How amazing! Jesus chooses us to be a part of his restoring process! The kingdom of Jesus will come upon the earth as it is in heaven! And his Kingdom shall come through large measure through his Church and we can be a part of this… if we choose to respond to his call.
And that call is to bring the fiery love of Jesus into our world. We do this by demonstrating the red, hot, blazing love of Jesus in our homes, in our places of work, in our schools, in our churches, in our communities, and in our world!
So, Lord, kindle in us the fire of your love so that the face of the earth will be renewed to look more like the Kingdom of Christ! Do this, Lord!
And, here is why this is so relevant to the Walk to Emmaus community! Our little community can be a catalyst for starting and stoking fires in our local churches and communities. That is why we exist, remember? The Walk to Emmaus exists to create and strengthen leaders for the local church. The Walk to Emmaus is a fire starter and a fire stoker for the local church!
Do you remember how the fiery love of Jesus was made known to us as Jesus walked alongside of us our Walks to Emmaus? Jesus still walks alongside of us as we participate in reunion groups, as we sponsor pilgrims, as we pray for Emmaus weekends, as we prepare agape, as we write letters, as we serve on teams, as we participate in Day Four Restore weekends!
All of these actions are means of grace that kindle the fire of God’s love in our lives, in local churches, and in our world!
So, let us pray that prayer one more time and pray it like we mean it, like we intend to embody it, like we are expecting God to answer this prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
De Colores,
Rev. Andy Roberts
Assistant Spiritual Director
Dallas Walk to Emmaus Community
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Day Four Restore Events
Day Four Restore is HERE!
We have scheduled our FIRST Day Four Restore event. This is a single-day retreat event for Emmaus Alumni. It is meant to rejuvenate and invigorate the Emmaus community
The Event will be held on:
November 19th, 2022
8:30am - 3:00pm
Lake Highlands UMC
9015 Plano Road
Dallas, TX 75238
You are INVITED TO JOIN US!
If you are attending please register using this form: https://forms.gle/MiRqHg69urUVa6ew6
Day Four Restore is a one-day retreat designed to refresh the spirit and renew the commitment of those in the Dallas Emmaus Community. The one-day event is open to those who have previously been on a Walk to Emmaus or Chrysalis event. The event includes two talks, one by a Clergy, and one by a Lay person. There are table talks and other spiritual events, along a brief communion service. We will have the opportunity to worship, to pray, and most importantly to spend time renewing our relationships with Jesus! Lunch will be provided.
Please register your attendance so that we can get an accurate count of attendees.
De Colores,
Larry Naeyaert
Community Lay Director
Walk #169, June 2003
Table of John
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In the Community
One of the things we want to highlight in the coming months is how members of the Emmaus Community are making a difference in their churches. Please feel free to submit stories with pictures of ways in which alumni of the Walk to Emmaus Event are making a difference in their local churches.
Crisis Response Ministry - Faith in Action
From The Wood's UMC in Grand Prairie, TX
I am Roz Henwood, and I was on Dallas Emmaus Walk #51, April 1992, at Lake Sharon and sat at the table of Hannah.
The priority talk seemed to straighten my life out that weekend. It seemed to set a path for my life. I thought I knew what I was called to do, but things just didn’t feel right. The path got really bumpy. I tried to figure out which fork in the road to take and to get through the dark tunnel I was going through, but with God’s help, He led me through the tunnel into the light and I finally, after years of wandering, found what I was being called to do. For the first time, I actually felt in my heart I had found by destiny. I became involved as a CRM (Crisis Response Ministry) Chaplain. We were deployed when there were disasters of every kind as a ministry of presence, giving emotional help, as well as spiritual help when needed. We were patterned after the Good Samaritan. This was 10 years at ago and CRM has expanded into police departments throughout Texas assisting in helping victims. This is when I found where God has been leading me. I was sworn in as an Assistant Chaplain of the Grand Prairie Police Department last January.
I have volunteered also in Victim services for the last eight years along with my therapy dog, Rusty. We minister to victims of crime and the members of law enforcement. It is so rewarding and I no longer have that nagging feeling in my heart that there is something else I need to do. At least until God sends me a different direction!! Don’t ever give up hope in finding what your destiny is. May take a while, you may never know, or you may have accomplished it without even knowing it. Depend on God for discernment and direction!
DeColores!!!
Roz and Rusty
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Next Woman's Walk
Tee Women's Walk originally scheduled for November 3-6, 2022 at Sabine Creek Ranch has been rescheduled for:
February 23-26, 2023
Catholic Conference and Formation Center
Dallas, TX
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