A stranger met by chance, a spoken word


Easter: Emmaus

A stranger met by chance, a spoken word
that sparks connections, throws a searching light,
makes sense of the confusing and absurd,
invites our hope, turns blindness into sight:
no stranger this, nor chance, but Christ the Lord
who walks with us on our Emmaus road.

Companions at the table, faithful friends
who share our dreams and comfort us in pain,
the hospitality that love extends
to those who stumble, try and fail again:
both then and now, discern the Lord's design
to be revealed to us through bread and wine.

This sudden joy, this blazing of the heart,
the passion to proclaim the truth we know,
a world to heal, the need to make a start,
the barricades of death to overthrow:
we go, and as we run to raise the shout,
the hidden Christ still smiles, and sends us out.


Words: © Marnie Barrell, 1997

Music: Unde et memores

Meter: 10 10 10 10 10 10

This hymn is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author; if you wish to reproduce it further, please apply for permission by sending her an email.

Website compiled by Steve Benner, 1999-2001.