Emmaus Blog

Saturday, October 24, 2026: Join us Tomorrow for our Emmaus Liturgy starting at 3:45pm. We will celebrate in honor of Dia de Los Muertos / The Feast of All Souls Everyone is Welcome!  We meet in person in Classroom 8 of Christ Church United Methodist at 1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa 95405 or on Zoom: Join Zoom Meeting with this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=83840699097 Passcode: 1234 Or from your browser start Zoom.com Click on the MEET tab at the top of the page From the dropdown menu select Join a Meeting Enter the Meeting ID: 519 315 8573 Passcode: 1234 Homework: JoAnn and Jim ask that you bring a photo of someone in your family or a friend or someone you love and respect who has passed. Emmaus Intentional Eucharistic Community. JoAnn- The first of November marks the end of the yearly cycle in the circle of Earth festivals according to Earth-Centered people from around the world. It is one of the four cross-quarter holidays. Samhain, a Celtic holiday, an...

Friday, October 23, 2026 Dear Emmaus Siblings, As the leaves continue to fall around us and the air becomes cooler, soon within a week we will be celebrating Dia de los Muertos.   As we prepare ourselves for Sunday's Emmaus Liturgy, let each of us bring to mind those family members and friends that each of us have lost through death over the years and most especially our  Emmaus Siblings that have gone before us who hold us close and we, too, hold them in love.  See you soon.  🌠💕 Blessings and love, JoAnn and Jim A Blessing for All Souls by John O'Donohue Though we need to weep your loss, You dwell in that safe place in our hearts, Where no storm or might or pain can reach you. Your love was like the dawn Brightening over our lives Awakening beneath the dark A further adventure of colour. The sound of your voice Found for us A new music That brightened everything. Whatever you enfolded in your gaze Quickened in the joy of its being; You placed smiles like flow...

Thursday, October 22, 2026:  God knows how to have fun in ways we mortals can’t even begin to imagine. On a recent Nova program , I learned about the role rocks may have played in bringing forth life on our planet. I’ve always loved rocks. Apparently, God is comfortable being a humble, inscrutable mineral, waiting to see what his own inner turmoil might bring forth. God knows how to have fun in ways we mortals can’t even begin to imagine. But watching Nova wasn’t fun for me. My species is complex and by all appearances, quite destructive. I am ashamed and befuddled. “Sit with that,” God says. So I sit. And sit. The paint dries, the hands on the clock move, the clouds drift by, the grass grows, the flowers bloom, and the molecular miracle that I am begins to vibrate in harmony with the universe—a stringed instrument being plucked in defiant hope by God, my buddy, my nemesis, my imaginary friend. The thread that initially stitched me together is intended to dissolve. I know this. I a...

Wednesday, October 21, 2026:  something wild, dangerous, unfettered, and free in the character of Yahweh." My  family recently gained new neighbors when a family of Carolina wrens moved into the mailbox affixed to our house. The mother bird and I had been negotiating this arrangement for a couple of weeks; she would begin to place twigs and grass inside the mailbox, and I would remove her efforts while retrieving our dusty, twig-laden mail. Then, my family went away for a weekend. In a mere 48 hours, the mama bird not only created an entire nest but also staked her claim definitively by laying five beautiful eggs — inside my mailbox. I am not too proud to admit defeat. Her need was clearly greater than my own, so I wrote a note to all postal workers informing them of our new feathered neighbors and asking them to redirect our post to the bin beside the door.  My daughters, ages 7 and 4, were ecstatic about these winged developments. We checked the nest multiple times a da...

  Monday, October 19, 2026:  Empire and Christianity:  The Games of Empire Once Christianity became enmeshed with empire, we could no longer talk about the opening line of the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). Emperors don’t want people who are poor in spirit. They want loyalists. They want people who salute the flag and follow the rules.  They want national security states. Any talk of nonviolence frankly goes underground until the twentieth century. That’s how well empire Christianity buried the gospel message. Empires need clear judgments about up and down, who’s in and who’s out, who’s right and who’s wrong, who’s our enemy and who’s our friend.  Here’s an example of how thoroughly it infected the church. In 1054, with no sense of irony, the bishop of Rome and the patriarch of Constantinople, representing the Latin church and the Greek church traditions, mutually excommunicated one another. Each side effectively called them...

SUNDAY, October 11, 2026: Join us today and Celebrate Indigenous People and their Wisdom with Enid, Mary Ellen and Jane. Meet with us starting at 3:45pm in Person or on Zoom: In Person: We meet in Classroom 8 of Christ Church United Methodist Church 1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95405 You are invited to our Emmaus Celebration using Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81756952234 Passcode: 1234 If you start Zoom from yoou browser :  Meeting ID: 519 315 8573 Passcode: 1234 Using you phone? One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose) Ring the Singing Bowl (Mary Ellen) – Let us take a moment of silence to prepare ourselves for today’s liturgy. Introduction (Enid) -  Tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples Day. Our liturgy today will celebrate the indigenous people who lived on our land for thousands of years before settlers arrived on our shores. We meet today on land that was home to the Southern Pomos. They along with the Coast Miw...

Saturday, October 10, 2026: Join us tomorrow and Celebrate Indigenous People with Enid, Mary Ellen and Jane. Meet with us starting at 3:45 in Person or on Zoom: In Person: We meet in Classroom 8 of Christ Church United Methodist Church 1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95405 You are invited to our Emmaus Celebration using Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81756952234 Passcode: 1234 If you start Zoom from yoou browser :  Meeting ID: 519 315 8573 Passcode: 1234 Using you phone? One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose) Ring the Singing Bowl (Mary Ellen) – Let us take a moment of silence to prepare ourselves for today’s liturgy. Introduction (Enid) -  Tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples Day. Our liturgy today will celebrate the indigenous people who lived on our land for thousands of years before settlers arrived on our shores. We meet today on land that was home to the Southern Pomos. They along with the Coast Miwok lived in So...