Any Other Road

In honor of my favorite Bible passage today, I am going to post this guided meditation that I used for my youth group on Sunday. It's based on today's reading: Luke 24:13-35, the Road to Emmaus. If you're unfamiliar with the passage, please read it first before continuing with the meditation...

Guided Meditation (not mine!)

It looks like any other road
this road that we are walking today.
I invite you to close your eyes
sit up straight with your feet on the floor,
be comfortable.
Breathe in deeply, and out slowly.
Do you see the road?

What kind of road is it?

What do you see?

What do you hear?

Are there other people on the road?

What is the weather like?

How fast do you want to walk today?

Leave the city, one foot in front of the other,
sandals patting down dust,
even as grief washes from head to toe.
Nothing went the way we thought.
And today's news is even more unbelievable than last week's.

alive?
is it possible?
why can't I see him?

One foot in front of the other,
walking home,
on just another road,
any road - it doesn't matter now.
Nothing matters - no journey will ever be the same without him.
but where is he?

Just another road,
like any other road.
Can you see it?
One foot in front of the other,
on the road again,
but alone this time.

A stranger comes alongside you.
Do you talk to strangers?

He walks near you for a ways,
in comfortable silence...
and then asks the question:
what are you thinking about?

What will you tell him?
What are you thinking about?
It's been an amazing three years -
healings,
miracles,
parables,
feeding people,
restoring community,
telling stories,
loving outcasts.
Which story to tell?

Think of your favorite story about Jesus.
Tell is to this stranger as you walk along this dusty road,
one foot in front of the other.

...

This stranger listens well,
he asks questions,
he nods in all the right places,
and he can tell that the story makes you both excited and sad.

As you finish telling your story,
you mention that it doesn't make much sense.
Things seemed to be going so well until that last night,
that last dinner,
that Passover Party.
That's when the real questions began.
Sure, other things didn't always make sense...
but broken body, life poured out,
arrested,
beaten,
crucified,
killed...
and now alive again?

...

The stranger looks at you as you walk down the road,
thinking out loud.
What are your questions?
Keep wondering out loud together as you walk,
one foot in front of the other,
through the dust,
wondering.

...

As you come to the end of your questions,
your voice trails off
and both of you stare down the road,
walking slowly together.
Then this stranger begins to tell a story of his own...
but it's a story you know well,
except this time it begins to make a little bit of sense.
Just a little bit.
Grief and confusion are still there,
but now there's something new...
something warm...
something blooming in the desert.
Listen -
what story is he telling you?

...

As he finishes his story,
you look up and realize you're almost home.
You've just met this strange man,
this storyteller,
this listener,
this fellow traveler,
but you invite him in for dinner.
There's something about him...
As you sit down at the table,
he offers thanks for a journey safely completed,
for new friends,
for hospitality,
for a simple meal of bread and cheese.

and as he takes some bread and offers you a piece,
you see.
He's been with you all along,
transforming the journey,
making it part of the story,
part of God's story,
part of our journey together.
On the road,
an ordinary road,
any road like any other,
yet unlike any other.

He's alive!
is it possible?
You see him!
Hurry, on the road again...
What will you tell the others?


Peace.