Weekend "Walk" Time of Renewal

I haven't written a blog in a few days because I volunteered to assist as a spiritual director on a women's "Emmaus Walk" this last weekend. Walk to Emmaus (see link to find out more) is a movement sponsored by the Upper Room of the United Methodist Church. It is a weekend for Christians who are seeking to deepen their faith. The result of the walk is a stronger understanding of God's grace and a renewed commitment to be an active disciple of Jesus Christ.

The walk retreats, held separately for men, women, and youth begin on Thursday evening and end on Sunday evening. I took time away to lead worship on Sunday morning, but spent the rest of the weekend with walk "pilgrims" and team. This particular walk was hosted by First United Methodist Church in South Lyon.

It is a great privilege and pleasure to work on an Emmaus Walk. As a pastor, I help to lead times of worship, offer a message and spend time in prayer with individuals. As important, there are things that I do not do on an Emmaus walk, like text, send emails or check Facebook. There is space for personal prayer and spiritual reading. Even as I "work" on a walk, my spirit is renewed.

On this particular walk, I was challenged to consider what I need to let go of in my life to allow God to fully work. After a time of prayer, the word that kept coming to me was "distrust".  I was challenged to let go of my distrust of God on some important matters.

Certainly I trust that God, through Jesus Christ, has made my life new and I trust that God is with me all the time. I trust that God will help me through the tough times and I trust that I will have eternal life in the the presence of Christ.

Where I struggle with trust is in the real practical things. For example, when I find out what a church building or program cost is going to be (especially if I think it is too much), my stomach hurts and I start to worry that we'll run out of funds. Bob Fuchs, our Director of Discipleship, has the spiritual gifts of generosity and faith. He sees things a differently and keeps saying, "Don't worry. We'll have enough!" This does not stop me from worrying!

I know that my worry about costs and my worry about how we'll achieve our church's vision are founded in distrust of what God can do. This weekend, I made the commitment to trust, to trust that God is using Brighton First to make disciples, that God is using this church to lift people from the darkness to the light. And I have committed to trust more in places where I have been trusting the least.

(Note: If you are curious about taking a "Walk to Emmaus", God may be calling you to this type of retreat. For more information contact Bob Fuchs or myself.)