Spring/Summer SEI Emmaus Newsletter 2022

Living by Faith Summer 2022

Southeastern Indiana Emmaus Community Newsletter Mark Your Calendars!

Please be in prayer for our upcoming 2022 Fall Walks: Men’s Walk: October 13th-16th, 2022 Women’s Walk: October 20th-23rd, 2022 Please join us at the VanCleave’s for an Emmaus Community Picnic Saturday, June 25th 5:00 fellowship, 6:00 enjoy a pitch in dinner, and 7:00 worship 3825 North County Road 225E Milan, In 47031 Please bring a covered dish and a chair

Interested in serving on an upcoming walk?

Please fill out a willing servant form

A Simple Way To Pray

by Ron DelBene “Can you teach me to pray?"

“I want to begin a discipline of prayer.

Can you help?”

When we ask questions like these, we are seekers feeling the hunger of the heart.

We wait with expectancy to be told where bread can be found.

Hunger of the Heart A common problem people share about their spiritual journey is that they have asked for help and instead have found fellow seekers who do not know where the bread is. One person stated in a letter to me, “I have asked so many people to teach me about prayer. Some passed over the question altogether. Some told me it was not in the year’s programming.

Some gave me books to read. But no one said, ‘Let me share with you how I pray.’ I began to wonder if any of them did pray.”

Being Prayer Most of us grew up saying prayers, reading prayers, or listening to others praying. Few of us were challenged to be prayer. There is a difference between a person who says prayers and a prayerful person. It is the difference between something we do and someone we are.

Do you know someone who is a prayer?

He or she is probably someone who views life in a different way than most— someone who seems to have found a way to be aware of God’s presence in an ongoing way.

We are called as Christian people to be present in each moment in order to experience that God’s time and our time have intersected. We are called to practice the presence of God. It is this for which our hearts yearn.

Unceasing Prayer A simple way of becoming more aware of God’s presence that many people have found helpful is known as the breath

prayer. It is a simple prayer of praise and petition, six to eight syllables in length. It derives its name from the Hebrew word ruach, which can mean wind, breath, and spirit. We pray “in the spirit.” And as a fourteenth century writer on prayer states, we should “have memory of God in place of breath” [E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer (trans.) Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart (London, Boston: Faber & Faber, 1951), p. 85].

Our prayer should be as natural as our breath. Just as our breathing is an ongoing experience, so can our prayer be ongoing. In Ephesians 6:18, Paul says that we are to “pray all the time, asking for what [we] need, praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion” (JB). To pray “without ceasing,” “on every possible occasion” means that we are to be aware of what God has done and is doing for us.

We can ask for what we need, and we can praise.

Your Breath Prayer What do you normally call God? How do you address God in your prayer? This is a form of praise. In calling upon the name of the Lord we declare the greatness of God and the nature of our relationship with God. Creator, Lord, Jesus, Shepherd, Spirit—each expresses a different relationship.

If God were right in front of you, calling you by name and asking you, “What do you want?” what would you say? Would you ask for peace? For joy? To feel God’s love? To see the light? Take a moment and reflect. What would you say?

Then join the name you call God and your response to God's question. It may be a short prayer such as “Jesus, let me feel your Spirit, lead me in your light!”

“Creator, let me feel your love!” This is your breath prayer.

1 (continued on the next page)

Living by Faith Living Prayer (continued from page 1) Begin to say your breath prayer. Say it as much as possible throughout the day. Keep it at a slow pace. Some people say their breath prayer while jogging, swimming, exercising.

Some people say their breath prayer while doing dishes, driving in the car, walking down the street. Say it while getting dressed, going to sleep. Say it when you find yourself becoming impatient or upset, while at a stoplight, while waiting in line.

Hesychius, an early fifth century preacher and teacher, wrote to a friend that “ceaseless prayer keeps our mental air free from the dark clouds ... and when the air of the heart is pure, there is nothing to prevent the divine light of Jesus shining in it” [Heyschius of Jerusalem in Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, p. 15.].

Thinking about sponsoring a pilgrim on an upcoming walk?

This commitment has many responsibilities which need to be considered before asking a candidate if he/she is interested in a Walk. Please be in prayer before and as you share this amazing instrument of God’s love with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

As a Sponsor we need your commitment to do the following in preparation for the weekend, during the Walk, and after the Walk: • Ensure that the pilgrim has all the necessary details regarding time, place, cost, and expectations.

• See that the completed application and deposit are submitted by deadline.

• See that transportation is provided to and from site.

• Arrange financial support if cost is an issue.

• Arrange for any special care for family and home so that pilgrim can enjoy the weekend.

• Attend Sponsor’s Hour on Thursday evening.

• Support the 72 Hour Prayer Vigil.

• Attend Candlelight & Closing.

• Continue the relationship with the pilgrim & attend 4th Day Events with pilgrim.

• Follow up after the Walk to integrate pilgrim into the Community, Small Groups and Gatherings.

From Weavings, September/October 1986.

Copyright © 1986 by The Upper Room. Used with permission.

Body of Christ [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink” (John 4:5-7).

Jesus traveled through Samaria, a muchhated country by the Jews, on his way to Jerusalem.

Samaria, inhabited by conquered peoples brought to that territory by the Assyrians around 700 years before, lay outside Herod’s jurisdiction. Jesus made a political and Messianic statement by choosing this road over a more familiar route.

Samaritans, like the Jews of Jesus’ time, believed in the Torah (God’s law contained in the Bible); in fact, the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Old Testament—was all they had. They believed that a Messiah would come to overthrow the Roman government. Their faith lay in the fact that the Messiah’s seat of government would be in Samaria, not Jerusalem.

The familiar story of the woman at the well takes place at Jacob’s well. The woman had come to the well at the sixth hour, that is, noon. It would be hot and lonely. Other women gathered at the well early in the morning before the sun rose high and burned hot. It was a social gathering place.

They visited, told stories about their children, lamented their lot in life, and shared joys and concerns. A woman who came at noon with a tarnished reputation was certainly a social outcast. She came to the well then because she knew no one else would be there. Perhaps she had tried early one morning to draw water with the other women. Had they shunned or taunted her and her tawdry way of life? (continued on the next page)

2

Living by Faith 2022 SEI Emmaus Board Lay Director Mary Beth Doll Jones Spiritual Director Ginny Hizer Secretary and Asst. Lay Director Rhonda Henegar Asst. Spiritual Director Scarlet Hudson Treasurer Terri Hardy Registrar Mary Baer Communications Louise Griggs Agape Ronnie McAdams Kitchen Carla Blair Music Kirk Hopkins Team Selection Tiffany Hollis Training Nick Cornell Facilities Mike Hicks Candlelight/Sponsors Hour Steve Allen

Body of Christ (continued from page 2) This familiar story has an element, however, that may not be well-known. In those days, a stone or rock lid was placed over the well. Together, the women would have had to remove the lid so they could dip into the cool well water for their families’ daily supply.

This heavy lid not only kept people from taking more water than their share, but it was a team effort to benefit all of the families in Sychar. So, this Samaritan woman came to the well alone. Did she have to wrestle the lid off her-self? If so, no easy task.

Like the woman at the well, the Body of Christ needs its members working together to accomplish necessary tasks in our churches, communities, and the world. Without cooperation at the right place and the right time, and without vision to see God’s peoples’ needs, many ministries may go undone.

Questions for Reflection: Where does the Body of Christ need to be present and active together where you live? How can families, schools, the police department, homeless shelters, medical clinics, etc. work together more effectively to provide for the needs of your community?

Reprinted from Walking Side by Side: Devotions for Pilgrims by Joanna Bultemeier and Cherie Jones. Copyright © 1998. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. For more information, visit bookstore.upperroom.org.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Gatherings Missie Powell 4th Day/Reunion Group Rowdy Green Nominations Terry Meyer Please reach out to an SEI Emmaus Board Member if you have any questions or have a prayer request.

In addition to our Facebook page and website, our Community periodically sends information to members through text, phone and email. It’s a great way to ensure you are aware of news, events and other information happening in our Community and the Emmaus world at large.

We want to be sure you are included on the distribution list….

Please send an email to update or add your information to our distribution list.

3