Thoughts, Prayers & Art

Originally Published: April 23, 2025

We’ve all walked it
the road to Emmaus.
Weary from the week,
discouraged by the headlines,
wondering if hope is still alive.

Like the two disciples,
we rehearse our disappointments,
naming all the things
that didn’t go the way we thought they would.
We try to make sense of a world
that crucifies love and buries justice.

And yet—even in our confusion,
even in our grief
the risen Christ draws near.

But we don’t always recognize him.
Not at first.

Maybe we’re too lost in thought.
Maybe we’re afraid to hope again.
Maybe the face of Christ
looks too much like the stranger,
the refugee,
the person we’ve overlooked.

Whatever the reason
we often miss the divine right beside us.

Until that sacred moment
the breaking of the bread.

Because it’s in the breaking that we see.
In the ordinary made holy
a meal shared,
a story retold,
a heart rekindled
we realize:
He was with us the whole time.

So where is your Emmaus?

The drive home from the hospital?
The kitchen table where you sit alone?
The waiting room, the grocery line,
the long walk on a gray day?

And who is the stranger beside you?

Emmaus isn’t just a story
it’s a pattern.
It’s how grace moves.

God walks with us in our unknowing.
God listens to our confusion.
And then
in bread broken, in love given—
we see.

Open your eyes today.
Don’t rush past the sacred in the now.
Be surprised again by resurrection
in the middle of your ordinary, aching, beautiful life.