Dear CCOV Family,
If I didn’t get to personally wish CCOV’s seasonal members goodbye over the past few Sundays, I bid you a wonderful time in your more northerly locales! Please stay in touch with me over the coming months—we can always talk and pray together over the phone or through email. I will again be looking forward to your fall/winter return and the energy you bring to worship and to the life of the church.

Meanwhile, we will continue this Sunday with Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. This Sunday I will focus on Jesus’ appearance to Cleopas and another unnamed follower on the Road to Emmaus. If you would like to read ahead, you can do so in Luke 24:13-49. One thing you will note is that the gospel stories that we read starting at Easter about the post-resurrection events all seem to involve cases of misrecognition. At the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene mistakenly thinks that Jesus is a gardener. While on a fishing trip, Peter and the rest of the disciples see a man walking by the shore, but they do not immediately know that he is Jesus. And Thomas, as we talked about last week, refuses to believe until he sees and touches Jesus’ wounds. The journey along the Road to Emmaus is no different: Jesus appears to Cleopas and the other follower as a stranger, but then becomes known to them in the breaking of bread. In a sense, they were blind but then they see.

We often misrecognize things too. It is always my prayer that in church we are reminded that we have souls and that there is a larger reality all around us. Our busy weeks often distract us from what is really important—and cause us to miss seeing that which is truly sacred. I look forward to seeing you in church, where through word, music, and sacrament, we will get a glimpse into God’s larger reality.
Peace,
Rev. Sandi