A letter from Hubert Lem, Lay Director of Men's Walk #33
"Live in me, as I live in you" (John 15 verse 4)
We are less than a week away from the Walk to Emmaus 33. For the past three months, members of the Team have been working tirelessly on all the tasks of
preparation: organizing meetings, writing talks, assembling supplies, working out logistics and sending lots of emails.
We have been blessed with devoted members who have selflessly said "YES"
in the midst of their busy schedules to take on time-intensive commitments in a spirit of humble servanthood. For these blessings I thank our Lord for His goodness and enduring love.
As I prayed this verse came to me: "Live in me, as I live in you" (John 15:4). In Greek, the word "meinate" means "live, dwell, stay, abide, make a home." Jesus is urging us to make our home in Him, as he makes a home in us. What a promise of intimacy.
Henri Nouwen's book, In the House of the Lord, identifies the fear surrounding us and driving the world. And yet Jesus' answer is, "Fear not."
Instead, he says, "dwell in me, as I dwell in you."
Jesus offers us a true home, a house of love, away from fear. To move closer to Jesus is to journey from fear to love.
I like the image that we can live within God's house, and find a safe place there. I make my home in Jesus, as He makes a home in me.
As we approach the Walk weekend, we will need to prepare ourselves to welcome the Pilgrims into this intimate relationship that we share with Jesus. As we live in Him, so He lives in us. The most important preparation that we can do is to prepare a place for Jesus. We may need to clean out some free space so Jesus can enter more fully into our hearts. Seek Him in prayer, meditation, reconciliation and communion.
Only if we remain in Him will our activities bear fruit. In every Walk there are struggles and painful moments, but I have faith that these are ways that our Father is pruning us to make us bear more fruit.
It is my prayer that all the members of the Team, the Community and the Pilgrims, will experience, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, this holy and loving intimacy of living in our Father's house.
De Colores!
Hubie Lem
September 2006
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