What are you discussing with each other?

I wonder how many parking lot conversations would suddenly change if we found ourselves asked this question by Jesus:  what are you discussing with each other?  It is a very humbling question.  I wonder how the chatter of our own mind would change if we stopped and asked ourselves this question.  The road to Emmaus is a familiar one.  I think it is natural for humans to want to move when they have experienced something overwhelming: it is a bodily yearning to be somewhere else, to seek something else, to physically enact movement from grief, depression, sorrow to wholeness and light.

It seems we have a hard time recognizing the divine when we are distraught or walking in perceived darkness.  Somehow our senses are dulled and we are lulled into a shunted existence.  It is literally a journey through darkness to light and sadly can be a long journey.  While we may think ourselves alone, while we may feel alone, we never are.  That is the promise of scripture, the power of the walk to Emmaus.

As Simon and Garfunkel made famous:  hello darkness, my old friend.  I think many people come to know the darkness too well, to wear it as a cloak, a barrier of protection.  How have I made myself blind to those around me?  How have I tuned out those walking with me?  Why is my innermost being turned in on itself?

If we open ourselves, epiphanies are possible, are plentiful.  Growth, transformation, and reaching a destination can be laborious and painful.  Yet, very worthwhile.  God loves us with a tough love that propels us forward toward the light.  As our choir sings so beautifully: I want to walk as a child of the light.  As we move to Easter, it is my prayer that the light will be visible in the distance, that we will find ourselves strangely warmed by the presence of the wholly/holy Other.