20th Anniversary Celebration 1984-2004 February 5, 2005 Marysville First United Methodist Church

Luke 24:31-35 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.  There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

On February 5th almost 600 pilgrims from the last 20 years gathered at FUMC to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Central Ohio Emmaus Community.  They worshipped together, sang together, prayed as a community, and took communion as the Body of Christ.  Many old friendships were renewed, many old acquaintances remembered.  They heard inspirational messages from Rev. Ralph Bauserman, the first Community Spiritual Director, and from Rev. Scot Ocke.  Fourth Day talks were offered by Rev. Kathy Reiff, the current Spiritual Director, and recent pilgrim Mike Truskoski.  Wonderful music was provided by Kevin Mabry, with moving renditions of "He's Alive!" and "I Can See".  And of course, if it is Emmaus, there must be food!  And what food it was!  With incredible efficiency the multitudes were fed in a way only equaled by the spiritual nourishment.  All in all it was a memorable evening of food, fellowship, and worship.  Thanks to the many persons who put in endless hours to make it all possible.  The evening was yet another great example of God's people leading through servanthood.

May God continue to bless our Emmaus community, and let's do this again sooner than another 20 years!

• Rev. Ralph Bauserman's Opening Message
• Rev. Scot Ocke's message - “I Reckons I Will Always Remember That Walk.”
• Interesting Statistics over 20 Years

Please fill out a Willing Servant Survey if you have not done so already!

  Rev. Ralph Bauserman's Opening Message

My name is Ralph Bauserman; I attended the Greater Cincinnati Walk to Emmaus No. 7; and I sat at the Table of Phillip.

Last week, Wilma and I saw the move, “Coach Carter,” one of the better movies we have seen in recent months. In this movie, Ken Carter, a successful businessman has been asked to coach the boys basketball team at his high school alma mater. This is the same high school in which he has been a star basketball player. The school is located in the slums of a California town, a school where less than half of the students graduate. Ken Carter was willing to coach the basketball team if only he could do it is way, and the school officials agreed. The first thing he did was to demand that each of his players sign a contract, a contract that stated that the student had to maintain a certain grade average in order to play basketball on his team. He knew that the only hope these boys had of escaping the slums was to graduate, and find a career. Two of the players left the team immediately, and the remainder signed reluctantly. However, it soon became obvious that none of the players took the contract seriously, nor did the teachers on the faculty. Under Coach Carter’s leadership, the team did exceptionally well; in fact, halfway through the season they were undefeated. You could see the excitement building. Then came the day when the grades finally came to the coach; most of his players were not making grades. Coach Carter locked the doors of the gym, and cancelled the next basketball games. As you might guess, the school, and the whole community were up in arms. Coach Carter had to go! However, must to his surprise, his team decided to hit the books. He walked in on a study session, and the boys began to share some of their deepest feelings with him. One of the boys who had been involved in drugs, and had witnessed the murder of a drug dealer, stood up to speak his peace. This was a boy who had caused Carter the most problems; this was a boy who had little hope of escaping the slums. In one of the most moving scenes in the whole movie, this boy says to Coach Carter, “You have saved my life.”

I have always believed that the church exists to save lives. Everything I have learned from Jesus, everything I have learned about discipleship, leads me to believe that the church is in the business of saving lives. The problem is that for the last 60 years the church has not been taking this mission seriously. The average church member has come to look at the church on the basis of “what’s in it for me.” We have become Sunday morning spectators, sitting in our comfortable pews as an audience waiting for the morning presentation. And somewhere the along the way, we have lost our sense of urgency about saving lives. As a result, thousands upon thousands of our churches have become lifeless, dull, boring, stagnant, and pretty much irrelevant.

However, God has always had a way of breaking into our lives, shaking us up, and calling us back to our purpose. I believe, with all my heart, that the Walk to Emmaus is nothing less than the mighty movement of God, calling the church back to its mission of saving lives. The Walk of Emmaus, at its best, has never been JUST a weekend spiritual renewal event, designed for the purpose of making me feel good. Rather, it is a time when our eyes are opened again, and we discover what it is really like to walk with Jesus. As a part of our continuing walk with Jesus, we return to our churches to do what we should have been doing all along.

In the process, our lives are indeed changed! We return to our church with new commitments, new priorities, and a new vision. Worship and the Lord’s Supper take on new meanings. We become faithful participants in Sunday School and Bible Study. We look seriously at our giving, and we even take those first steps toward tithing. Most of all, we know that we are called to take an active part in our church’s mission of saving lives.

As the result of what is happening in our lives, we begin to reach out to those who are living outside the faith, and we invite them to join us in this walk with Jesus. We stand in awe and wonder as new and exciting things begin to happen in the church. Each week, new people are joining us for worship and study, BECAUSE WE HAVE INVITED THEM. In the midst of it all, we know that this is not about counting heads or church membership, or filling pews or classrooms. This is about putting people back together; this is about new hope, new life, and new beginnings; this is about saving lives, and marriages and families and homes. This is about sharing in the mission to which we are all called!

I wish I could tell you that this Emmaus Community was my idea, that it rose up out of my ministry here in Marysville, that it was a part of my vision. That would not be true; it all started with Bill Kelley. Back in 1983 Bill attended the Walk to Emmaus alone; he couldn’t find anyone willing to go with him. He came back, all pumped up, and insisted that I go. I could think of at least a dozen good reasons why I could not go. I was far too busy to be gone from Thursday through Sunday. My calendar was just too full. Besides, how could this church possibly get along without me for an entire weekend? And then, there was probably a part of me that did not want to go, or feel a need to go. However, Bill Kelley was not about to give in. All of my excuses were not good enough for him. He kept after me until I decided that it would be easier to go then to disappoint him. So, Phillip Connolly, Steve Chute, and I attended the Greater Cincinnati Walk to Emmaus No. 7. For me, it was a life-changing experience. We returned to this church with new vision and enthusiasm to team up with Bill Kelley, that was the beginning of the Central Ohio Emmaus Community.

In 1984, we held our first walks. Since then, you have had 131 walks, with over 4500 pilgrims participating. Many of you, right here in this room, have served on teams. In all these years, you have never forgotten that the focus of the Walk to Emmaus has not been on the participant. The focus has been on the church, and preparing us to be faithful to God’s mission of saving lives.

Allow me to share one more thing. In 1985, Wilma and I were appointed to the Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church, and so it was time for us to leave this community. When we arrived in Reynoldsburg, no one in that 1700 member church had attended the Walk to Emmaus, except Wilma and me. Week after week, I spent hours talking with our people about the walk. Our people started going, in large numbers, wherever we could get them in. Many of our people came right here to this church.

When we started our Emmaus Community at Reynoldsburg, it was with the full support of this community. For our first walks, you provided most of the team members. We could not have done it without you. In a very real sense, the Reynoldsburg Community is an extension of this community; a community that has now had 107 walks, with 4280 pilgrims. When we left Reynoldsburg in 1995, over 300 of its members had attended the walk, and there were over 100 sharing groups meeting each week.

As a result, the Reynoldsburg Church came to have a new vision and a new sense of mission. It is now one great vital and growing church in United Methodism, because it understands that it exists to save lives. However, you need to know that it all began right here; it all began with God working in and through the life of one Bill Kelley. I am so thankful that it is has been my privilege to have shared in a small part of it all.

We have every right to celebrate here tonight. We celebrate because we remember those special moments; we remember the special people who will always be near and dear to our hearts; and we will always remember the special ways in which God has touched our lives, and has changed us forever.

Most of all, I hope we will always remember that if we are going to keep on walking with Jesus, we will always be led where we had not planned to go. If we are going to keep on walking with Jesus, sooner or later, we will be a part of a church that is in the business of saving lives. To God be the glory!

Rev. Scot Ocke's message - “I Reckons I Will Always Remember That Walk.”

Good evening. My name is Scot Ocke and I attended the Central Ohio Men’s Walk to Emmaus #10 and sat at the Table of Luke.

In one of his books, Max Lucado records the words of ex-slave Mary Barber. She was 10 at the time she was set free, but reminisces at age 80. Her mind is clear, her memory vivid. She said, “We were awakened in the middle of the night by my father who put his hand over our mouths and told us to be quiet. Then he helped dress me and my sisters and brother and then led us out of the stick and mud shack. When we got outside we peeked around for a minute. Then we began the walk along a very long path; Pappy toting one of the twins, and holding me by the hand, and mommy carrying the other two. The walk was fast and scary. The bushes slapped our legs, the wind sighed in the swaying trees, the hoot owls and the whippor-wills shouted at us and each other. I was half asleep and scared stiff, but we kept walkin. After a while we passed the plumb thicket, and saw the mules and the wagon, and the quilt on the bottom of the wagon. There Pappy laid us young’uns down. Pappy and Mommy got on board across the front, and drove on down the road. It was cold, dark, it seemed like it took forever ... but eventually we made it North - to freedom.” Seventy years later Mary Barber said, “I reckons I will always remember that walk.”

Friends, each of us here have made a walk like Mary Barber. Her story is ours, for each of us have been slaves in some way: slaves to our schedules, slaves to our fears, slaves to our past, slaves to our sin - slaves to whatever held us back and kept us from walking freely with God. It doesn’t matter if we did it 20 years ago or 20 days ago, in many ways our walk was the walk to freedom.

It has been a little over 20 years since the Walk to Emmaus began here in Central Ohio. It has been a little over 2000 years since the original Walk to Emmaus. But little has changed over time.

The characters are the same. 2000 years ago two unknown disciples walked that road. One was named Cleopas. I half expected to look up his name and find it to mean something big, bold, and meaningful. Instead it simply means, ‘called’ or ‘to call’. The other disciple doesn’t even have a name and we know nothing else about them; the Bible never mentions either of them again. But Jesus called both of them to that road that day and Jesus showed up for their walk.

As common and unknown as we are, He called you and He called me; He has called over 4500 of us to the Walk to Emmaus in this place. He showed up for each and every one.

His methods haven’t changed either. He continues to use very simple tools like bread to get our attention and help us see Him. He meets us in the places of our deepest need and opens the Scriptures to give us the answers to life. He leaves His mark on us and leaves our hearts burning for more.

His motive has never changed. Love. He loves us so we will take the lead and love others through His body the church. Candlelight, acts of agape, moving talks, poster parties, letters, food, all are His ways of love.

Our response should always be the same. We are all different, but we are all asked to give our own authentic response. So in our own way, it is the same. Our pace is quickened, we have a new priority, we realize we are His hands and feet, we go and tell. We forgive, we love, we encourage others to do the same. If you Walk the Road in Marysville or Maine, in Alabama or Australia, in Newark or North Dakota, in Reynoldsburg or Russia, inPeoria or in prison, it is always the same.

The two things that always changes on the Walk to Emmaus are lives and churches. My first, full time appointment as a pastor was south of here in Pickaway County. When we went there in 1989, no one had even heard of the Walk to Emmaus. It was a church that had not changed in 50 years. They prided themselves on their social activities but were very ingrown, lots of gossip, little gospel, little missions.

So we went to work and after many months finally convinced one lady to go on a Walk. We picked her up and took her to Reynoldsburg Church, dropped her off and said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll have a great time.’ She almost cried when we left, but Sunday she confirmed to us it was the time of her life. Two months later, the three of us took her harder to convince husband to the Walk, pushed him out of the car and said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll have a great time.’ Sunday he confirmed it was the time of his life.

After many attempts, I convinced another guy in the church to attend. He was a strange fellow; not many friends, not very social, not in church very often, pretty gruff. I was on the team and had been telling team members they would have to really watch this guy. He would not bond well, he would be hard to reach, hard to get to know. I told them that again Thursday night, and again Friday after breakfast. Friday night one of the ALD’s came to me and said, ‘Scot, I don’t know what we are going to do with your friend.’ I said, ‘I told you he would be difficult.’ They pulled me into the poster party and said, ‘Look!’ There he was, up front, showing his poster, telling jokes, singing, hi-fiving and hugging everybody in the place. He was almost out of control for his joy. I said, ‘What do I know!’ He had the time of his life. He went back home and worked on his marriage, making it stronger, he developed a better relationship with his kids. He became very regular at church, went through Disciple Bible Study and then taught it! Emmaus changes lives!

Over 75 people from my little, ingrown church attended the Walk in a few short years. That church started to grow, they became an outward focused church, started a new worship service, doubled in size, began new missions projects, people came to know Christ and were baptized. That little church was having the time of it’s life. Emmaus changes people and it changes churches. That’s the purpose of Emmaus.

I reckon I will always remember my Walk some 18 years ago because it was the walk to freedom. I reckon I will always remember the Walks that members of my church families have taken because it freed them. Emmaus never changes, but it changes lives and it changes churches.

On the back of tonight’s program it says we have served over 4500 pilgrims. That is a wonderful legacy. But do we know there are 45,000 more around us? Do we know that slavery didn’t end in 1865? All around us are thousands more people like Cleopas and his friend, like Mary Barber, like my friend; these are the unnamed thousands who are slaves to their past, slaves to their sin, slaves to their blindness; those downtrodden and hopeless about life. Jesus wants to walk with them. Jesus wants to set them free. He has the tools to do it. All He needs are pilgrims to Walk where we have walked, and for us to remember our Walk and to tell others and what He has done for us.

What would happen if everyone of us sponsored three pilgrims in the next three years? In three years that would 1800 more pilgrims. And what if those 1800 sponsored three people? We would have 5400 more. You know what I am saying. We could show them the love of Christ by carrying their luggage, serving in the kitchen, and participating in the 24 hour prayer vigil. Think of all those lives that would be changed, all those churches that would be changed.

It is my prayer that as great as the past 20 year have been, the next 20 would be so much greater. That 20 years from now we would still be coming to monthly gatherings, meeting in share groups, inviting and serving pilgrims. When the next 20 year celebration would happen thousands more people would gather like we do tonight, and whoever would have the honor of standing in this place would say with all of them, as I say with all of you tonight, “I reckons I will always remember that walk.”

As we come to Holy Communion tonight, there will be 4 stations here at the front. Those of you on my right will come to two stations over here . Those on the left over here. After you have received the bread and juice and eater, a third person will press a commemorative coin into your hand celebrating this anniversary. As that person puts it in your hand, they will look you in the eye and say some of what is on the coin, “Christ is counting on you.” I hope you will respond, “And I am counting on Christ.” Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for the past. Most importantly, thank you for your faithfulness in the future. Christ is counting on us.

Interesting Central Ohio Emmaus Statistics Over 20 Years