Northern Colorado Emmaus Community – September 2007

Northern Lights

 

 

Kitchen Support Needed!

 

It's never too early to sign up to help in the Kitchen at Walks 22 and 23. For questions, please contact Anita Williams at anitaandroger@msn.com or Jan Davies at jdavies@mesanetworks.net. Working in the kitchen is a great agape gift to the pilgrims and team. Thanks!

Anita Williams

 

 

October Team Members and Pilgrims

 

Please keep Tim Pennick and Jorie Maggs in your prayers as they continue to prepare for walks 22 and 23. Team members include: Jim Bessee, Dennis Miller, Bill Neufeld, Cal VanZee, Roy DeBlieck, Harold Trent, Phillip Heidemann, Perry Cogburn, Bill Yates, Walt Frizzell, Troy Knuppel, Jeff Wayland, Mark Janssen, Robert Gudka, Ping-Hui Kao, Bob Schooler, Taylor Leaming, Bill McAleb, Cliff Penick, Al Adams, Margaret Gilkin, Brian Ricke, Freddie Latham-durant, Michael Chamness, Diane Penick, Tiana Penick. Kris Bakich, Sue Poet, Krista Goddard, Willa Lewis, Sue Ellen Trovato, Brenda Bates, Sherry Wells, Barbara Fell, Debbie Kiesel, Renee Howard, Shirley Brown, Darlene Nemich, Larry Wiley, Burry Bessee, Deb Olenyik, Carol Lillie, Dave Lillie, Sue Aggson.

Pilgrims include:  Brandon, Casey, Eric, Keith, Mike, Ric, Ryan, and Scott. Adina, Barb, Karissa, Melissa, Sharon, Terri, Tiffany, and Tracy.

 

 

NCEC Calendar

Ø      September 8, 2007 – Emmaus Gathering, Longs Peak UMC, 1421 Elmhurst Drive, Longmont, CO at 5:30pm.

Ø      September 13 – 16, 2007 – Columbine’s Men’s Walk #9, Id Ra Ha Je, Bailey, CO

Ø      September 27 – 30, 2007 – Columbine’s Women’s Walk #10, Id Ra Ha Je, Bailey

Ø      October 4 – 7, 2007 – Men’s Walk #22 at Laramie UMC

Ø      October 11 – 14, 2007 – Women’s Walk #23 at Laramie UMC

Ø      October 25 – 28, 2007 – EOTR Men’s Walk  #128 Hermit Basin

Ø      November 1 – 4, 2007 – EOTR Women’s Walk #129

Ø      November 10, 2007 – Emmaus Gathering, First Christian Church, 2000 N Lincoln Avenue, Loveland, CO

 

Greetings on behalf of the NCEC Board of Directors,

 

As we approach the Labor Day Weekend, we hope and pray that each of you has had an awesome summer season and have had time for rest, reflection, and the celebration of God’s abundant blessings in your life.

 

I also hope you had a chance to read the recent e-mail communication from Reverend Dave Lilley of the Laramie United Methodist Church.  In his message, Dave shared memories of his Emmaus experience and what it has meant to him as well as the importance of sacrificial giving as it relates to sponsorship and community support of the Pilgrims and Walk Teams.  Remember it is, indeed, a blessing to be a blessing!

 

We are anxiously looking forward to Walks #22 and #23 scheduled in October in Laramie, Wyoming which will be led by Tim Penick and Jorie Maggs respectively.  Please join me in praying for Tim, Jorie, the Walk Teams and Pilgrims the Lord is calling to participate on these Walks.

 

The registration process is well underway.  We currently have 8 Pilgrims for Men’s Walk #22 and 8 Pilgrims for Women’s Walk #23.  Remember we need a minimum of 15 Pilgrims to hold a Walk so we are about half-way there!!  Be sure to visit our website at www.norhcoloemmaus.org for more information on these Walks and to sign up for the prayer vigils as well as support teams.  Let’s keep our momentum going!

 

As always, please prayerfully consider inviting someone you know to experience the Walk to Emmaus.  Remember the fire you had in your heart when you came back from your Walk and share it with others.  There is a wonderful gift waiting for those who choose to attend a Walk to Emmaus weekend.  Remember, Christ is counting on you!!

 

Yours in Christ,

Dan Kiesel

NCEC Community Lay Director

Notes from an Emmaus Journey

Rev. Al Adams

 

Hello, Love!

 

  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

   For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?         - Jesus, in Matthew 5:43-47 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

   “You’re familiar with the old written Law, ‘Love your friend’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy’.  I’m challenging that.  I’m telling you to love your enemies.  Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.  When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. 

   This is what God does.  He gives his best - the sun to warm and the rain to nourish - to everyone, regardless:  the good and the bad, the nice and the nasty.  If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus?  Anybody can do that.  If you simply say ‘hello’ to those who greet you, do you expect a medal?  Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”

                                                            - Jesus, in Matthew 5: 43-47 (The Message Version)

 

******************************************

 

I was buying potatoes, minding my own business.  “Hello, love!”, came the cheerful voice next to me.  Knowing the young man couldn’t possibly be talking to me, I continued with the potatoes.  I’d say I studied those spuds more intently than I’d have thought possible.  I wondered: did this store have security?  “Hello, love!”  I moved over to study the onions.  “Hello, love!” 

 

I began to step over to the mushrooms and finally looked up into the kind eyes of an older gentleman, who shrugged as he said, “I’m sorry.  This is my son, Benny.  He doesn’t mean anything.  He’s autistic.”  It was only then that I looked at Benny, only then I saw the disarming friendliness in this young man’s eyes.  As Benny chose vegetables for his dad, I learned his story.

 

Benny’s dad told me that he’d been diagnosed when he was three, and never spoke until he met a parrot one day in a pet store.  The parrot greeted Benny with - you guessed it - “Hello, love!”.  That became Benny’s only spoken words, and he used them often.  His dad explained that many autistic people ‘fixate’ on certain words or actions and use them often to help them feel comfortable or to express themselves.

 

Benny’s dad went on to describe the incredible persecution Benny faced in junior high school and the incredible joy when he discovered writing through the computer and educational therapy.  The pride he had in his son simply shone in his eyes as he told me about the time they’d discovered that Benny had almost genius-level intelligence.  He thanked me for not saying anything hurtful, for not running away fro his son.  Little did he know how close I came to doing just that.

 

A year or so later, I ran into Benny’s dad in the store again and asked how he was doing.  “Didn’t you hear?”, he asked me.  I hadn’t.  He told me.  It happened when Benny was walking home from the bus stop through a park near his home, just one week before he would have graduated from high school - with honors.  Benny met a group of teens, and greeted them with his usual “Hello, love!”.  They berated him. He replied, “Hello, love!”  The meaner they got, and the more scared Benny became, the more he repeated the only thing he could verbalize.  As they beat him unconscious because they thought he was gay (or something), “Hello, love!” was all he could say.

 

Taken to the hospital trauma unit, then to intensive care with very little hope of recovery, his family gathered around his bed.  Days went by, and he went further downhill, closer and closer to death.  His dad told me it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.  Benny just opened his eyes, sat up, looked at a point in the room, and said - clear as day - “Hello, love!”.  Then he lay down, and in less than five minutes he died.  His dad said that he knew for a fact that Benny wasn’t talking to any person in that room.  Benny’s face glowed with happiness like he’d never seen before.  He was convinced that Benny was talking to God.

 

************************************************

 

“Hello, love!”

That’s how God greets each of us every morning.

“Hello, love!”

Good or bad, nice or nasty.

‘Hello, love!”

 

God never gives up hope for our relationships - with God, and with each other.

Jesus is pointing out the fact that we’re made in God’s own image, and He’s challenging us to act like it!

It wasn’t easy for Benny.  It’s not easy for us either.

 

Is Jesus saying we should let people abuse us?  I don’t think so.  Here’s what I think He IS saying:

   1. Respond with the energy of prayer.

   2. Let them bring out the best in you (not the worst).

   3. Work out of your image-of-God self - your true self.

 

**************************************************

 

I got to know Jim (Benny’s dad) well enough that he asked me to go with him the day the first of the teens was to be sentenced.  The judge asked for a victim impact statement from Jim.  He rose to his feet.  The courtroom was so silent we could hear each other breathing.  Jim said that since Benny couldn’t speak for himself any more, he would speak for him.  Then he closed his eyes, brought his hands together in prayer, and said, “Hello, love!”  Jim opened his eyes, looked the defendant straight in the eye, and declared, “Hello, love!”.  With that, he left the courtroom, tears streaming down his face.

 

**************************************************

 

Did Jim want vengeance?  He’d probably be the first to tell you ‘yes’.  Would Benny?  Again, he’d probably be the first to tell you…’no’.

 

As hard as it is for most of us to fathom (or perhaps even stomach), God greets each and every one of us daily with eternal hope.

 

God reaches to our depths (no matter how deep they are) with rock-solid, universe-wide redeeming power.  We choose how we will respond.  That freedom is a gift from God.

 

So close your eyes.  Right here.  Right now.  Can’t you just hear God greeting you?

 

“Hello, love!”

How will you respond?

 

De Colores!

 

 

Why We Do Chrysalis:

Testimony by Shannon Campbell:

(Shannon will be the next Youth Lay Director for Chrysalis Flight #59!)

 

When I went to Emmaus, I wasn’t sure I would get anything out of it, but then the weekend came to an end and I didn’t want to leave. I was 17 years old and so excited about Jesus Christ. I wanted to give other teenage girls a chance to feel the same way. When I attended Emmaus, I had just got out of a rehab and behavioral modification program for a

Methamphetamine addiction and I didn’t have any friends who I knew would support me in my sobriety. In fact I had friends who tried to convince me sobriety was over-rated and dumb. I decided that I wanted to work with Chrysalis and help teenage girls. That is where I met some of the most amazing people, my best friends and my biggest support system.

Chrysalis has been the best experience of my life, and there are so many teenage girls and boys who need to experience the love of Christ and the love of the Chrysalis and Emmaus communities. So I encourage everyone who reads this to reach out to a young man or woman and give them the priceless gift of Christ.

If you would like a team to come to your church and discuss the POWER of Chrysalis please contact one of the 4th day members or email the address below.

Looking Forward:

 

GIRLS FLIGHT #59:

January 18/19-21, 2008: Loveland Christian Church

BOYS FLIGHT #60:

February 15/16-18, 2008: Brighton United Methodist Church.

 

The Lay Directors & teams appeal to the community to shower the flights with that awesome agape love. Remember to attend send-off, candlelight and closing. Inundate them in snacks and letters.

 

 

 

Send in Nominations for 2008 Chrysalis Board members. Please prayerfully consider the individual. They will need to agree to serve a 3-year term before being put on the ballot. Send questions to Chrysalis at Chrysalis_4thday@yahoo.com http://www.emmausrock.org/chrysalis/

 

 

Chrysalis Board Members:

Chairperson: Jim Lollar

Asst. Chairperson: Donna Gaul

Treasurer: Julie Lovell

Secretary: Susan Wheeler

Registrar: Penny Smith

Spiritual Director: Dennis Shaw

Clergy: DeEtta Goettel, Loren Boyce

Team Selection: Penny Smith, Susan Wheeler, Julie Lovell, Jody Irsik, Courtney Gaul,

                               Kevin McClung

Hoots: Summer Miller, Courtney Gaul, Lara Fischlein, Lauren Newsom

Facilities: Ron Lovell

Education: Donna Gaul, Kevin McClung, Willa Lewis

Music: Linda Fischlein, Shelee Lovell, Heather Nolan

Agape: Shannon Campbell, Colleen Frizzell, Lauren Newsom

Web Master: Jody Irsik

At-Large: Joe Beisel, Sam Hastings

COTR to EOTR Rep.: Courtney Gaul

EOTR to COTR Rep.: Vaughn Platt

Trailer: Bob Jones

Outreach/4th Day

Committee:

Colleen Frizzell, Shannon Campbell, Courtney Gaul, Jody Irsik, Ron Reynolds, Terry Hartman,

Several community members involved as well on the performing team.

 

 

 

 

 

Board Members will be changing in January 2008

 

 

 

Articles for the next “Northern Lights” must be received by

September 25^th. Please email them to fourthday@mesanetworks.net

(Don and Brenda Bates – Communications - NCEC)