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View this email in your browser Koinonia  DEC Newsletter April 16, 2022 In this Issue: Next Women's Walk From the Community Lay Director From the Community Spiritual Director  Next Women's Walk The Next Women's Walk to Emmaus: April 21-24, 2022 Sabine Creek Ranch, Texas The Follow-up for this walk will be Tuesday, April 26th, 2022,  6:00 pm at Lake Highlands UMC 9015 Plano Rd,  Dallas, TX 75238 We look forward to seeing you there! Please join us for the next Candlelighting! Saturday, April 23rd @ 8:00pm at Sabine Creek Ranch in Royse City for Woman's Walk #280. Show these latest Pilgrims how much the Community LOVES them! Sabine Creek Ranch 576 Sabine Creek Rd. Royse City, TX 75189 From the Community Lay Director Walks, Golf Tournament, New Locations Oh My!   Happy Easter!  He is Risen!  I hope this finds you all well, healthy and having had enjoyed a wonderful Lent and Easter season.  It’s finally time for a Walk to Emmaus Weekend!  We are so excited that next weekend (April 21-24) we will be holding Women’s Walk #280 at Sabine Creek Ranch.  Our faithful servant, Laurie Bubel, has waited patiently for over two years to have her walk.  Through cancellations and rescheduling she has remained steadfast.  Laurie we thank you for your service to the community and hope you are truly blessed by the walk next weekend.  We encourage the community to be a part of the walk by attending send-off Thursday night, Candlelight Saturday night or Closing on Sunday afternoon.  Every time you are able to attend an Emmaus event we hope you are renewed in your faith walk and are able to remember your own walk. And then can you believe its Golf Tournament time yet again – a full year has passed since our inaugural event last April.  The funds raised from the Golf Tournament are used for a variety of things.  Last year the Board decided to use part of those funds to lower fees to attend walks.  Once we know how much money is raised this year we can determine how best to use the proceeds from this year.  There are several items on our radar.  The silent auction is live now!  Visit the Dallas Emmaus website where you can find a link the Golf Tournament website.  There is still plenty of time to bid on the auction or purchase a raffle ticket. Your Board of Directors is working hard to prepare new events for you.  There are new opportunities that have been recently published by the Upper Room that we are currently exploring as a means to remember your walk.  More to come on these types of events in the future.  We are also exploring new locations to hold not only this new offering but the Walk to Emmaus as well.  We have a wonderful facility in mind and can’t wait to share it with you.  We are also considering returning to facilities we have used in the past – don’t be surprised if you see Camp Copass or Lake Lavon make a return to our event rotation.  We are seeing a change in event centers and the timing they will allow for cancellations of events.  While the Board never wants to cancel or postpone a walk there are times when it is unavoidable due to the limited number of registered pilgrims.  All the locations we work with have now moved to a 90 day cancellation window vs 45 days that had been allowed in the past.  With that said it will become very important that pilgrims register for a walk as early as possible.     Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”.  This seems to be especially true right now as we move toward a time of coming together.  It’s finally the season for some activities.  Stay true in the Lord and know that his timing of events has a reason.  I hope and pray to see many of you next weekend for Walk #280 at Sabine Creek Ranch.  May the Lord bless you and keep you until we meet again. De Colores, Liz Henderson Community Lay Director Walk #220, Table of Ruth From the Community Spiritual Director So Jesus appeared to women.  Women were of little importance in Jesus’ day.  Just who is going to believe a woman anyway?  If Jesus were important, he would have appeared to a man.  More than that, if Jesus were important he would have first appeared to the Sanhedrin, the rabbis or better than that, even the Roman procurator.  All men, or course.  Even when Jesus finally appeared to a man, it was no-counts like Peter and the rag-tag bunch of Disciples who deserted him at the last minute.  That Jesus reappeared to a woman and commoners proves only that Christianity is a faith of the weak and slaves.  Yet, such is the way with God’s kingdom.  God turns the power of the world upon its head.  God indeed chooses the weak and gives them power—the very power of the resurrection.  God did with the dead Jesus, as God wants to do to us everyday.          Nobody expected Easter.  Nothing in this life prepared us for what was encountered by the women out at the cemetery that morning.  Those who went to the tomb early that morning were unprepared, unbelieving at what they saw.  They had never, could never in their wildest imaginations conceive of resurrection life over death, no wonder no one believed those astonished women.          We had hints, long before Easter, that God was in the business of life, not death.  But we, too much in the business of death, cannot always believe life.  That’s the real problem.          It is the Church’s claim in reading Old and New Testaments together that the whole saving history of God’s dealing with us is a story of the steady overcoming of death’s dominion.  The resurrection is the final signal, not the opening shot, of God’s ultimate victory over death.          I’ll tell you why the women who peered into the dark tomb were shocked.  There’s something about us—despite centuries of death and divine assaults on morbidity-that still finds comfort, comfort in the darkness of a tomb.  It is to what we are accustomed.  We are comfortable with finitude.          Friday took no one by surprise.  It was a good campaign while it lasted.  But it was too good to be true.  We all know that success rarely lasts and that with every positive step or experience that failure is always close behind.  When we have successes in our lives, some one is always there to point out that all success is short-lived; we better not become accustomed to it.  But as the women went out to check the tomb—SURPRISE—God came back!  On they way from the tomb, Jesus meets them.  God came back.  When we become accustomed to death’s defeat—surprise, God comes back.          The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse and death are beaten.      God came back!  Jesus lives! DE COLORES! Chris Allen Community Spiritual Director Next time you are on Facebook, search for the Dallas Emmaus Community, then select the "Like" button to be updated on the latest news and events including Candlelights, Gatherings, prayer requests and more.  "Share" or "Suggest" the page to your Emmaus friends so they can stay easily connected to the Dallas Emmaus Community too.  The Dallas Emmaus Community has fully converted to Ministry Manager as our database for all community members' information.  If you have not already done so please take a moment to log in to verify or possibly update your information.  This database is used for team selection so it's important your information is up to date! https://ministrymanager.upperroom.org/ Looking for a Reunion Group? Did you know that you can attend any Tuesday Follow-up and find a Reunion Group?   Walk Follow-ups happen on the Tuesday following every walk and include both sharing time for the recent pilgrims and a time for them to try to form Reunion Groups.  If you are in need of a Reunion group, this would be a great place to start.  If you're interested in attending a Follow-up meeting, send an email to the Lay Director or Head TA of the walk for the meeting location.  Contact information can be found on the Dallas Emmaus website  at DallasEmmaus.org      Looking for an opportunity to serve in a powerful ministry?  Visit Kairos of Texas online to find out about the units and areas of ministries near you.     Kairos is a prison ministry whose success is dependent on the community of faith support in providing agape such as prayer chain signatures, cookies, and financial donations.  If you are interested in knowing more about how you can participate, or to find out how to attend a Kairos closing, email the editors for information.    "... whatever you did for the least of my brothers, you did for me."  ~ Matthew 24:40 Contact Information   Dallas Emmaus Community www.DallasEmmaus.org [email protected] 214-502-4072 Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? 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