From Our
SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS

My name is Jack Scott, Walk 85, and Table of Mark. When I was first asked to attend an Emmaus Walk, I hesitated. After all I was a minister; I was the shepherd of a flock. I had been a minister for 38 years. I didn't need anything; I had all I needed from God. After a year of coming up with excuses for not going, I finally gave in to go. 

When I reached the Hinton Center I didn't know what to expect. Thursday night was the hardest for me, and I will admit that if there had been a way for me to leave I would have. But God had taken care of that ahead of time. 

As the weekend progressed I found out the reason that I was there. Yes, I am a minister, but I needed ministering to. I am the shepherd of a flock, but I needed to be drawn closer to the Master. I needed to be refilled with the Love of God. I was told, "Do not anticipate, just participate." I realized the reason that I was not told a lot about what would go on during the weekend, it was so God would be able to give me special surprises. Like walking along a mountain trail and finding a beautiful flower along the way. Not expecting to find it, just being surprised that God knew I was coming that way and placed it there as a blessing for me. And taking the time to enjoy that blessing. 

Emmaus is not about denomination, it is about Christians who come together to pray, praise, and worship God. 

It is about God taking first place in your life, to draw ever closer to Him. 

It is about renewing the Love that Christ has for us, and being filled to over flowing, and to leave and spread that Love to others. 

Emmaus is about examining our life with Christ and where our weak points are and being made stronger. 

It is about finding out what God wants us to do next and giving us the courage and wisdom to follow that calling. 

It is about having a new and wonderful family of God given to you that will continue to lift you up in prayer as they have prayed for you all during your walk. 

Next to the day that I was saved, my Emmaus Walk was the most exciting and rewarding event of my life. 

Your Emmaus Walk does not end after the first three days; you have just started your journey. God will continue to reveal new and wonderful things to you during your fourth days. You will feel Him closer to you and you will acknowledge that Love that you have experienced during your weekend for the rest of your life. 

As I travel through my fourth days I reflect back many times about my weekend, and experience again and again the blessings that God has given me. I appreciate all the prayers and support that I receive from the Emmaus Community and the opportunity to come and serve others to help them see the Love that God has for them. 

May God continue to bless each and every one of you, and may you be willing to follow where God leads. 

DeColores! 

Rev. Jack Scott 
Spiritual Director 
Mountain Top Walk to Emmaus® 

...clergy too!

July, 2007
Keeping On, Keeping On

Often the topic of conversation as we gather to work on Walks centers around. Whatever became of ….? I remember they came and worked in the kitchen once or twice…what walk were they on anyway? The truth is that many folks attend walks never to return, some for a time or two, and some keep coming walk after walk, time after time. Recently I started to think about what the difference were that kept some keeping on and I’d like to share a few thoughts with you.

The first piece of advice I would give to one interested in keeping their fourth day going, would be “Go to the Lord often in prayer.” If we are not fervent and regular in prayer, we are like a couple trying to maintain a marriage who rarely speaks to each other. It might be done, but it isn’t going to be easy at all. I like to tell folks to commit to praying twice a day. Have a time for scripture (I like the psalms) and prayer early, before your day begins. You will be amazed how much better your day goes if you start out with the Lord. Then, I like to have another time for scripture and prayer in the evening. During this time I include my Examination of Conscience. I look back over the day and ask God’s forgiveness for the times I have failed to follow him. When I “bookend” my days like this I find I even sleep better. By the way, don’t beat yourself up if you miss a time or two. We all have lives and priorities and sometimes we get home and it is all we can do to fall into bed. I use a one sentence prayer at times like that. Something like “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” For me, it pretty much covers the bases. A wise old monk once told me, “Ever day we begin again, we fall down, we get up, we fall down, and we get up…and begin again.” Just don’t let missing a time or two be an opportunity for Satan to whisper, “You know you failed God, you just aren’t cut out for this Christian thing. You aren’t like those other folks in Emmaus. They are holy, but you, well, we both know what you have done and where you have been.” Biggest lie in the universe, but then what do we expect from the Father of Lies?

The second piece of advice would be: read the Bible often. I’m not going to get into a debate about translations here. Just find one you will read, and read it. Now I would like to ask you to read it a bit differently from other books and materials you read. Slow down, often when we read we revert to that form that worked for us in school, we read like we have to read an assignment and we hurry along until we are finished. Slow down, commas, colons, and semicolons mean pause, so stop for a few moments. We say the Bible is the Word of God, let Him speak to you as you reflect over just that phrase or sentence you have read. Remember, we win no prize for speed reading the Bible! When I take a psalm and read it line by line slowly, reflectively and let each line marinate down into the marrow of my bones there is an incredible richness there I used to blow right on by. If you only get half way through one Psalm, so what? Pick it back up tomorrow, or later today. If God has spoken to you, if His Word has opened up to you His Will for your life, is that not enough?

In my mind one of the greatest failings in the church today is the Biblical illiteracy of the body of Christ. We cannot stand firm on the Word, unless we know the Word! Far too many believers let someone else tell them what the Word says and then believe that interpretation because so and so said it. Now I am going to share a secret with you, I went to Seminary, graduated with the best grades I ever had in my life, thought I knew pretty much what was going on in the Word. But today I look back at some of the things I said in those early sermons and cringe. I knew the academics of the Word, the Greek and what theologians thought about it. But I didn’t know the Word until I sat down and read it and let it speak the Word of God for me into my heart. Please, brothers and sisters, read the Word yourself and use it to judge what you hear said in our father’s name! It is imperative that the Body know the Word for there are so many con artists and snake oil salesmen claiming the identity of Our Father in this world. You shall know the Word, and the Word will set you free…but in order to know it you have to spend time with the Lord in prayer and scriptural reflection. Start with the psalms, and go from there to books or passages you think you are familiar with, but read the Word and make it a part of you.

Ok, enough for this month, do these two things and your fourth day will get off to a good beginning. See you soon, up on the Mountain Top and I’ll share a few more thoughts one day soon on how to Keep On Keepin’ On with your Fourth Day!

May the Lord be beneath you to uphold you, within to sustain you, without to protect you, ahead to guide you, and always near you as your friend.

Blessings,
Rev. David Hicks
Spiritual Director
Mountain Top Walk to Emmaus®

May, 2007
Jesus' Self-Portrait

“Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for uprightness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness" (Matthew 5:3-10). These words offer us a self-portrait of Jesus. Jesus is the Blessed One. And the face of the Blessed One shows poverty, gentleness, grief, hunger, and thirst for uprightness, mercy, purity of heart, a desire to make peace, and the signs of persecution.

“The whole message of the Gospel is this: Become like Jesus. We have his self-portrait. When we keep that in front of our eyes, we will soon learn what it means to follow Jesus and become like him.”

These words were written by one of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen. All my life I have had the sense that I was seeking something, something I wasn’t finding. Many of you know what I am talking about. Turning this way and that, following this fad or that, following this religious figure or that, always seeking…searching…but not finding, at least not for long. I used to belong to a YMCA in Atlanta and at lunch it would be filled with people, you had to sign up for treadmills and Stairmasters…people driven, almost like the gerbil with his wheel. Seeking, we are a generation of seekers, aren’t we?

The problem is...we keep looking in all the wrong places. Nothing made by man can fill the longing within. The latest, brightest, shiniest, will soon be the passé’, not too bright, yesterday’s news.

So what are we to do? How can we fulfill the longing within? Try turning off the TV to begin with. I hate that you have to hear it from me, but Oprah and Doctor Phil aren’t going to give you the answer in an hour TV show.

Another thing, get off the “church treadmill” always moving from church to church following the crowd. One more, you only need one book. OK, now I have a bookcase full right next to me as I write, but I really only need one. And it’s the oldest one of the lot, and mine is starting to show it’s age, but I don’t go anywhere for long without it. It’s called simply, “The Bible.” That’s where this seeker found what he was seeking. The fad of today is the forgotten memory of tomorrow, but the Bible has been changing lives and touching hearts for two thousand years and it still is today. Pretty good track record, wouldn’t you say? Now let me let you in on a secret, “Read it for yourself!” Too many Christians today let someone else tell them what the book says without reading it themselves. You got to let it get into your heart, marinate right down into the marrow of your bones. You got to meet the author face to face, stand at the base of the cross and realize it was all for you, what happened there that day, you have got to know the Word if you are to be set free of all that seeking.

Those, whom the Lord has set free, are free indeed! No more seeking, no more disappointing quests, just a thirst to know more about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not a bad way to spend a life time. Hope we will get a chance to share some more soon. Hope to see you at the picnic, or “on the Mountain Top.”

David Hicks
Community Spiritual
Director, South

Jacob Kyker
Spiritual Director
Mountain Top Walk to Emmaus®

While they were talking and discussing together,
Jesus himself drew near and went with them.