Emmaus Blog

Thursday, July 31, 2025: 'The church uses me, but doesn't see me'  Migrant women sustain the faith of a church that fails to acknowledge them by Yolanda Chávez Over the past several months I have listened to, recorded and accompanied the testimonies of migrant women serving as catechists in parishes across Southern California. These narratives are part of a pastoral and theological project aimed at understanding how they live their faith amidst displacement and the kind of spiritual leadership they provide, often with no recognition. Many arrived in the United States fleeing poverty or violence, carrying children, fears and a faith that seemed to be the only stable thing in their lives. Today they coordinate groups, prepare families for the sacraments, translate the Word into simple language, pray with other mothers and accompany those who suffer. One of them told me in a hushed tone after an interview: "Sometimes I feel like the church uses me, but doesn't see me....

Wednesday, July 30, 2025:  Perhaps the word love best describes what seemed to be flowing into me; yes, a deep knowing that I was loved. Religion is ultimately not a moral matter; it’s a mystical matter. While most of us begin focused on moral proficiency and perfection, we can’t spend our whole lives this way. Paul calls this first-half-of-life approach “the law”; I call it the performance principle.  We think, “I’m good because I obey this commandment, because I do this kind of work, or because I belong to this group.” That’s the calculus the ego understands. The human psyche, all organizations, and governments need this kind of common-sense structure at some level.  But that game has to fall apart, or it will kill us. Paul says the law leads to death (see Paul's letter to the Romans 7:5; 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, ha...

Sunday, July 27, 2025   Emmaus Liturgy! Join Us This Afternoon for our Emmaus Celebration either at Christ Church United Methodist in Santa Rosa or on ZOOM! We begin with welcoming at 3:45 In Person  in Classroom 8 at Christ Church United Methodist 1717 Yulupa Ave, Santa Rosa,  Or  Join our Emmaus Celebration on Zoom: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81718819732 Meeting ID: 519 315 8   For Phone Users: Dial In: +16694449171,,5193158573# US Emmaus Liturgy for Sunday 7/27/25   Theme: Love & Loss Welcome & Introduction Marcie: (Acknowledge any newcomers) There are many kinds of love. We have all loved and lost. A parent, a spouse, a child, a friend, a pet. And there are other losses like a home, ability, memory, health, environment, and so many others. We grieve these losses in many different ways. This afternoon we want to acknowledge these losses, maybe to share how we’ve dealt with them, or haven’t been able to d...

Sunday, July 27, 2025   Emmaus Liturgy! Join Us Sunday Afternoon for our Emmaus Celebration either at Christ Church United Methodist in Santa Rosa or on ZOOM! We begin with welcoming at 3:45 In Person  in Classroom 8 at Christ Church United Methodist 1717 Yulupa Ave, Santa Rosa,  Or  Join our Emmaus Celebration on Zoom: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81718819732 Meeting ID: 519 315 8   For Phone Users: Dial In: +16694449171,,5193158573# US Emmaus Liturgy for Sunday 7/27/25   Theme: Love & Loss Welcome & Introduction Marcie: (Acknowledge any newcomers) There are many kinds of love. We have all loved and lost. A parent, a spouse, a child, a friend, a pet. And there are other losses like a home, ability, memory, health, environment, and so many others. We grieve these losses in many different ways. This afternoon we want to acknowledge these losses, maybe to share how we’ve dealt with them, or haven’t been able to...

Friday, July 25, 2025:  LOVING THE STRANGER: A Reflection by Brother Toby Most of us have trouble enough loving the people we know without loving strangers. But sometimes it's good to peel back the layers to discover the origin of a word. “Loving” goes back to an Old English word, luflic , which literally means worthy of love. Most, if not all, spiritual traditions encourage us to see the stranger as a divine guest. There is a Jewish text that says simply, To God there are no strangers. And someone we don't know is especially welcomed during Passover. St. Benedict's rule for monks calls on us to receive the unknown guest as if he or she was Jesus. These are all ways of saying, Even though I don't know this person, they are worthy of love. What we most often do, and train our children to do, is something that has been labeled “sharp elbows.” This is because we use our elbows to push through a crowd, to get into the theater, and in many ways, to get to the front of the li...

  Wednesday, July 23, 2025: Steve Lyman Happy! Prophet Jeremiah - not so much... From Steve: Just chillin and watching the Giant’s game. Walking, eating, peeing. All systems are go! We are so happy the surgery went well dear friend. Enjoy this time of recovery and relaxation. Here's a photo from a recent excursion with Shannon... Thanks for sharing this lovely photo. And now for the prophet's warning... A prophet has a responsibility for the moment, an openness to what the moment reveals. He is a person who knows what time it is.   —Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets  The prophet Jeremiah is known for his tears and his rage. He said, “Whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout ‘Violence and destruction!’” (Jeremiah 20:8). He’s known as a prophet of wrath but, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “It would be more significant to say that,” like us, “Jeremiah lived in an age of wrath.” The son of a priest from Anathoth, a small town near Jerusalem, Jeremiah ra...

 Monday, July 21, 2025: Victoria's News about Jim Jepson and important Events  Note From Victoria: I drove down to Pacific Grove yesterday (Sunday the 20th of July) and visited with Jim, his wife Rosemary and their niece and her partner.  Jim looks great and is working hard on his physical therapy in order to return home this coming Friday. Here are two photos of our visit (I brought them a bouquet of my hydrangeas!). On another Note Regarding Alice Waco: Note from Jim Jepson: I have been laid up for a while and finally read this.  A wonderful reminder that Jesus was also forced to flee from his home country, and was shamefully persecuted when he displeased the local religious authorities -- Jim THE IMMIGRANT APOSTLES’ CREED   I believe in God the Creator and Source of our being, who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants.   I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galil...