So it begins

Two Sundays ago was the first night of Emmaus Road. Although it's been a while since I last posted, I thought I'd write an update, since things have moved ahead, and chronicle a little of what's happened along the way.

Throughout the winter and spring, the vision team continued to meet, although somewhat sporadically. We mainly attempted to get on sort of the same page in our understanding of what's going on in our culutre and how we might be Jesus to it.

On June 12th, I had an informational meeting at which I laid out the entire vision for Emmaus Road. We even set up the Upper Room (our meeting place) in the way that we envision it looking for the worship gatherings. During that time, fourteen people spent time listening and offering ideas.

Fast forward to July 9th. The first worship gathering consisted of a basic word and table service, with as much of a participatory element to it as we could reasonably provide without lapsing into gimmick. Here's what it looked like (on paper anyway):

Prior to the gathering, we had a "Prayer Room" set up with dimmed lights, couches, and some artwork by a contemporary Christian artist (http://no1underground.com/). We also had a "Community Journal" set up in a corner of the room where people could write prayers to God, encourage one another, or just express their thoughts.

6:45 contemplative music "Chant"; Powerpoint slide show "the journey" images of streets and paths
7:05 All Creatures of Our God and King
Welcome--Pass the Peace of Christ to each other
Reading of Psalm 23 as Communion elements are brought to the table
Collect for Purity
How Great Is Our God
Gospel Reading (Luke 24:13-34)
Word Spoken
Response to Word
Communion
Jude 24
Benediction/Blessing
Music: U2: Where the Streets Have No Name

Afterward we had the Emmaus Road Coffee House (David Gray "The White Ladder" was playing). It's a time for people to gather and just be together since there's not enough of that in our world today. We drank freshly ground coffee out of real ceramic mugs (no styrofoam please), ate homemade desserts, chatted, and played games together.

The amazing thing about it is that I was expecting 20 people, hoping for 30, and 41 showed up. What I've been hearing since then is that God really used it to speak to a lot of people. I have no idea what the future holds for Emmaus Road, whether it will grow and who it will reach, but obviously it's in God's hands as we faithfully reflect His love to those around us.