Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today, we are “riding high” on the glorious wave of Easter Week. This brings us to stories of Jesus’ appearing in his resurrected body, such as today’s on the road to Emmaus, when their hearts “burned within them” as Jesus spoke to them about the Messiah.

This resurrection moment puts everything into perspective—our lives, our foibles, our doubts, our mortality—and gathers them up into the love of Christ.

We can face death because Jesus already did, in order to make us whole and living parts of his created world.

I find William Arms Fisher’s poem “Goin’ home” to be a poignant expression of this “gathering” idea, especially when combined with the famous melody from Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony. The full text of this beautiful poem is printed just below the video.

Happy Easter to all of you!

—Justin