3rd Sunday of Easter

April 6, 2008


Strangely Warmed Hearts


In the beginning he had such high hopes for his life as a pastor.

He got the best theological seminary training that was available, and he felt impelled to proclaim the gospel especially to those on the fringes of society.

He set out for his first parish bound and determined to proclaim the gospel with all of his heart and soul.

In the beginning all went well, and he worked very hard as the pastor of a very prestigious church.

But, things began to take an ominous turn, and he found himself increasingly alienated from members of his parish.

Things went from bad to worse, the congregation left in droves, eventually he was even taken to court, and wound up in total disgrace.

He had no choice but to leave the church, and head back for home.

Had he failed? Had God failed him?

What now was this pastor to do?

I wonder what would we have done in that situation?

When he got back home, totally discouraged and disillusioned, someone talked him into going to a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street in London.

There he had an incredible experience with God and he wrote:

“In the evening I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Martin Luther’s preface to the epistle to the Romans.
About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change with God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Those words were written on May 24th, 1738 by an English pastor named John Wesley.

He went from having his heart strangely warmed to being an incredible evangelist and preacher, and, in fact, was the founder of what is known today as the Methodist Church.

It is as if he had a resurrection experience of his own, from that day on his trust in God was without question, and to this day over 200 years later the legacy of John Wesley continues to be a powerful witness to the risen Christ.

On the first day of resurrection two friends were walking on the road to Emmaus.

They were pondering the incredible events in Jerusalem in the past few days.

Along the way they were joined by a mysterious stranger who asked them what they were talking about and why they looked so sad.

So, the three of them continued on the way and they told him the high hopes they had in Jesus of Nazareth, only to have their hopes shattered on a cross on a Friday afternoon.

Yes, they had heard rumors that some women had seen him that morning, but they hadn’t seen him.

Then this mysterious stranger said to them “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe….” and then he began to talk to them about what the scriptures had to say about the Messiah.

It must have been quite a conversation, because when they get home the stranger was going on his way, but they said to him: “Stay with us for it is toward evening and the day is now spent.”

So, the stranger accepted their invitation, came in, sat down at the table, took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them…and then they knew that this mysterious stranger was none other than the risen Lord.

They said to each other “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures.”

Then, they ran to tell their friends, and told them how they saw the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread.

The two on the road to Emmaus - John Wesley in his Aldersgate experience - recognizing the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread.

Dear hearts, those are the experiences of the risen Christ, whether it was the first day of resurrection, seventeen hundred years later for John Wesley, or 2008 for you and for me.

We are all on a pilgrimage of life, we are all on the Emmaus road.

And, along with us, whether we recognize him or not, is the same risen Christ.

Are our hearts strangely warmed….do we recognize him among us…when we receive the bread and the wine do we really see that as Luther says, “in, with, and under’” the bread and wine is the real presence of Christ?

My brothers and sisters, how difficult it is in our day and time to recognize the Christ that walks with us.

There are so many distractions, there is so much noise.

There are so many things that compete to capture our attention.

We both as individuals and as a congregation can become so self absorbed in our own fears and our own ways that we cannot see beyond ourselves.

Yet, the mysterious stranger of the Emmaus road and the risen Lord of Aldersgate street accompanies us each step of our own way in our own pilgrimage, whether as individuals or as a congregation.

In this Easter season we must ask ourselves if our hearts are strangely warmed or if our hearts remain cold because we are not attentive to the one who walks by our side.

We must also say to this mysterious stranger: “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.”

The risen Christ will always accept our invitation to come into our hearts, and to warm them with his incredible love for every human being.

And then, when our hearts are warmed, we, like the two on the Emmaus road can become witnesses of the resurrection.

Five years ago this month we were walking the pilgrimage trail of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain.

One month of rural roads, no computers, no television, no phones - only silence and the incredible beauty of the landscape.

As we walked, day after day, indeed, there was a mysterious stranger with us along the way.

We had passed a couple of women day after day, gave them the trail greeting of “bon camino” which means good journey, but we never spoke.

One evening we wound up at the same place for dinner, and they said “We are Lutheran nurses from Sweden.”

I replied: “Oh, I am a Lutheran pastor from America.”

They smiled and said: “Yes, we know.”

They didn’t hear that from us, so how did they know?

And, at that moment, our hearts were strangely warmed.

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