On the Road to Emmaus

I have to share this: When I was pondering the long version of this past Sunday's Gospel lesson, thinking about the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus and how I might write about that from a new angle, the absolute only thing that came into my head was the title song from the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby film Road to Morocco. It was frustrating. "Stop that," I told myself. "Can't you see that I'm trying to be theological here?"

Then I thought about an interview I'd heard on the radio awhile back, about the very popular Hope-Crosby "Road" movies; the interviewee was explaining that, when the two enertainers were first approached with the series concept, they were skeptical. They thought the story lines were dumb, and that the movies would flop at the box office. Hope and Crosby had to be convinced to risk their reputations on the project. And, of course, it turned out that they were completely wrong in their predictions; a Depression- and war-weary moviegoing public loved the escapist silliness, and the "Road" movies were a huge hit.

I wonder if there isn't a parallel here with our own road trips of faith. Sometimes it's hard to imagine where we're headed, or even buy into the premise in the first place; we find ourselves thinking, What am I doing here, on this road? I must be insane. And, like the travelers in our Gospel lesson, we might have a hard time discerning the presence of the best traveling companion of all, walking alongside us. It takes faith to keep walking...but if we do we can find ourselves on a tremendous adventure, in good company. And there might even be singing too.



On the road less traveled...