<html><body><div><br></div><div>Second part of the draft</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font color="#333333" face="Arial" size="2"> However, in that instant at the dinner table, Cleopas and his friend did what seemed the only, the most important thing to do. They head3ed back to make connection with the larger community. The two had left in despair. Their demeanour had been more like individual ignorance of God’s big perspective than anything else. It seems as if they didn’t </font><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>even know where to start asking questions.</span><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We’ve no way of knowing whether or not the two men were neighbours, even although they seemed intent on eating together that night, but Emmaus wasn’t a big place. They’d have known each other before they even started following Jesus as His disciples. But that wasn’t enough, apparently. They needed someone beyond themselves in order to refocus their minds.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is what Sloman and others have been suggesting is necessary for all societies to function.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just so, we here – whether we’re talking about this congregation, or about the community of congregations in Albany, or the general population beyond churches; just so, we here <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>NEED</u></b> the stimulus, need the repository of knowledge which forms when people are willing to listen and learn, no matter what the source of the discussion.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s way too easy for us to imagine that if we’d been walking that road, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WE’D</u></b> have recognised Jesus right off. These were men who’d been with Him, day-in-day-out for some considerable time. Yet their eyes were clouded, their minds and hearts not able to begin to comprehend who He might be. It took Jesus’ patience with them to dredge up their rule of hospitality and invite Jesus in for the night. It took what Jesus did with His hands that suddenly allowed them to overcome everything that was holding them in thrall. Jesus’ hands, together with His words which had preoccupied them for that tiring journey, these brought healing for their minds and souls.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Ignorance – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">IG – NOR – ANCE,<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></i></b>if you will – the act of turning away deliberately, apparently – ignorance, the mid-set of not being able to imagine anything beyond what people had experienced directly; to tweak that line from one of the best-known Christmas hymns:</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘Fear not,’ said he, for ignorance</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>had seized their troubled minds ….”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Cleopas and his friend, like us from time to time, can’t see Jesus as being alive, at least from a verbal perspective, and where He might be appearing. That’s why we’re shown the work of Jesus’ hands. That’s why we’re called to be the hands of Jesus – so that we can break bread; so that we can show and touch wounds; so that we can bring people to excited and exciting life together, just as Cleopas and his friend couldn’t wait to get back to Jerusalem to be with Jesus’ friends there.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On Palm Sunday – just twenty-one days ago – confused people who chose to ignore what their own people taught and told them; confused terrorists blew up worshippers in their Coptic liturgies in Egypt. It was a tragedy in which devastated people not only in the Egyptian Coptic community, but in communities of all religious traditions and of no religious tradition; people all around the world were devastated by this.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Happening, as it did, in the gateway into the most holy week of Christians and Jews, it seemed to cast a pall on everything which defined humanity.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Eleven days afterwards, “Muslims (were) Moved as Coptic Christians (did) the Unimaginable.” <sup>5</sup> Jesus’ hands were at work. Jesus’ hands broke through all the stereotypes. Jesus’ hands began part of the healing process.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; border-image: none; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>T</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>welve seconds of silence is an awkward eternity on television.” wrote Jayson Casper in Cairo. “Amr Adeeb, perhaps the most prominent talk show host </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>in Egypt, leaned forward as he searched for a response.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘The Copts of Egypt … are made of … steel!’ he finally uttered.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Moments earlier, Adeeb was watching a colleague in a simple home in Alexandria speak with the widow of Naseem Faheem, the guard at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the seaside Mediterranean city.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“On Palm Sunday, the guard had redirected a suicide bomber through the perimeter metal detector, where the terrorist detonated. Likely the first to die in the blast, Faheem saved the lives of dozens inside the church.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘I’m not angry at the one who did this,’ said his wife, children by her side. ’I’m telling him, “May God forgive you, and we also forgive you. Believe me, we forgive you.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘You put my husband in a place I couldn’t have dreamed of.’</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Stunned, Adeeb stammered about Copts bearing atrocities over hundreds of years, but couldn’t escape the central scandal.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘How great is this forgiveness you have!’ his voice cracked. ‘If it were my father, I could never say this. But this is their faith and religious conviction.’</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Millions marveled with him across the airwaves of Egypt.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“So also did millions of Copts, recently rediscovering their ancient heritage, according to Ramez Atallah, president of the Bible Society of Egypt which subtitled and recirculated the satellite TV<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/212755977"><font color="#0000ff">clip</font></a>.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘In the history and culture of the Copts, there is much taught about martyrdom,’ he told CT. ‘But until Libya, it was only in the textbooks — though deeply ingrained.’</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“The Islamic State in Libya kidnapped and beheaded 21 mostly Coptic Christians in February 2015. CT<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/february-web-only/libya-21-christian-martyrs-with-their-blood-unify-egypt.html"><font color="#0000ff">previously</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/february-web-only/how-libyas-martyrs-are-evangelizing-egypt.html?share=JYpPXJMtZpukEkxY%25252fuKLNFi4j9mn6UyI"><font color="#0000ff">reported</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>the message of forgiveness issued by their families and the witness it provided.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“‘Since then, there has been a paradigm shift,’ said Atallah. ‘Our ancestors lived and believed this message, but we never had to.’” <sup>6</sup></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So there’s hope for us! – as Jesus’ hands, looking just like our hands, will take bread, touch it lovingly in blessing, and break it, so that we and anyone who may walk in any door of this building, will receive it and see in the hands and in the breaking the Power and Joy of God’s Love.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p><h1 style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>“Here and Now”</span></i><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'> NPR and WBUR, 18 April, 2017 interview with Steven Sloman. <span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Archives at <a href="http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/archive"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/archive</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><a href="http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/04/18/steven-slowman-knowledge-illusion"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/04/18/steven-slowman-knowledge-illusion</font></a></span></span> </span></h1><h1 style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'> </span></h1><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">2</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“</font><span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><font size="2">The Knowledge Illusion: Why we never think alone”</font></span></i><span style="background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><font size="2"> by Steven Sloman, Riverhead Books, Penguin Random House, New York. © 2017. Page 3.</font></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">3</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“Here and Now”,</font></i><font size="2"> op cit.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>4</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Here and Now”</i> op cit.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>5</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; letter-spacing: -0.35pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>“Forgiveness: Muslims Moved as Coptic Christians Do the Unimaginable<b>. </b></span><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Amid ISIS attacks, faithful response inspires Egyptian society.” <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0in; border: 1pt windowtext; border-image: none; text-transform: uppercase;">JAYSON CASPER IN CAIRO <span style="margin: 0px;">APRIL 20, 2017 <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/april-web-only/forgiveness-muslims-moved-coptic-christians-egypt-isis.html"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/april-web-only/forgiveness-muslims-moved-coptic-christians-egypt-isis.html</font></a></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>6</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jayson Capser, Op. cit.</span></p></div></body></html>