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Reflections From Your Board President SEPTEMBER 2007
Here it is, the autumn time of year when the robust growth of spring and summer has begun to ebb. We feel the chill in the air and smell the pungent odor of decaying leaves and plants; time for moving indoors, turning the furnace back on, and putting our gardens to bed. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes beautifully describes these rhythms of life in Chapter 3:1: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”. He goes on to describe many things that we are all familiar with....planting and reaping, weeping and laughing, keeping and throwing away, to name a few...that are governed by God's timing, God's seasons. We are experiencing a "season" in Walk to Emmaus that has been challenging to us. This past year we have had to cancel two Walks, primarily because of an insufficient number of Pilgrims. We have experienced the board resignation of one of our Clergy Advisors, another resignation of a Lay Director prior to a scheduled Walk, and been buffeted by internal divisiveness in our community. Has God been aware of our struggles? Has the Holy Spirit been among us, giving comfort and counsel? Has Christ been our Rock, our strength when we are weak? ABSOLUTELY!! For all of you who attended the meeting on August 25th at Calvin Presbyterian, with National Emmaus representative John Whittemore, I thank you! I sensed in the sharing from many of you a desire to affirm Walk to Emmaus as a place where God's grace abounds. Your personal testimonies of how God touched you on your Walk weekends reminds us that this ministry is powerful! As we on the board prepare to move ahead with the ministry tasks of Emmaus, I would ask each of you who have been touched and changed by the outpouring of love on your Walk, to prayerfully and joyfully sponsor someone to attend a Walk. As John Whittemore stressed to us at the August 25th meeting, the focus of the Walk is the Pilgrims! More to the point, Walk to Emmaus would soon cease to exist were it not for hosting Walks and sponsoring new Pilgrims. Though each weekend is unique, with different people at each Walk, held in different churches, the format for each weekend is the same. Testimony after testimony from Pilgrims new and old confirm that in spite of many differences in theology and Request to Serve a Puget Sound Walk to Emmaus Requests to serve on a Walk to Emmaus weekend can be found on the PSWTE website at: www.pswte.org/rtw.htm The form can be printed, downloaded, or filled out online. Be sure to read and sign the Statement of Leadership Commitment on page 2 of the form. personalities, God's work IS accomplished through his willing servants. As that familiar Emmaus song says so well, "Freely, freely you have received; Freely, freely give!" Also, please consider nominating someone for a position on the Board for 2008, even yourself if you feel called! There are also committee positions which will be available. Nominations may be e-mailed to the President- Elect, Carl Gay, at clgay@tfon.com. Plan to attend the Closuras for the upcoming Walks: Men's is October 14th at Silverdale UMC 3:00 sharp! The Women's is October 21st, same time, same place. Send Palanca! Pray for the Pilgrims and the team! That is what we are about in the Walk community. Thank you, all those who sent me encouraging notes, e-mails, and phone calls the past couple of months. Thanks for being the hands and feet of Jesus. Let us all reflect on the words from the Apostle Paul in I Cor. 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. but the greatest of these is love." Amen! To God be the glory. May HIS will be done on earth as in heaven!
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