The newsletter of the National Capital Area (NCA) Emmaus for the glory of God

Fourth Day JournalVol. XXXII No.4 April, 2014

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Fourth Day Journal- April 2014

From the Emmaus Community Lay Director

Matthew 13:3-9 and 18-23The Parable of the Sower

13 3 And he told them many things in parables, say-ing: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!”

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When any-one hears the word of the kingdom and does not un-derstand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that per-son immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Sowing, Gardening, and Weeding….

As I write this article we as a Christian Community still find ourselves in the Lenten Season. This will

hold true for the majority of the month of April until we will be blessed with the glory and wonderment that Easter holds. As noted last month, I have taken a new attitude toward Lent – it is a time of reflection, but to a goal. That goal is preparing for Easter and the significance that the resurrection of Christ has as the cornerstone of our Christian faith. It is not an overstatement to say that the very roots and founda-tion of Christianity stem from the resurrection. That is so worthy of celebration and preparing one’s self for all that Easter means!

It is also springtime, at least the calendar indicates so. Spring as a season has a fundamental feeling of anticipation, departure from winter, and an outlook for new activity and growth in all of our surroundings. Green and color replaces dull, stark, and too much white.

With Easter and Spring coinciding there is a general feeling of joy for what lies ahead. The scripture reading and parable seemed so appropriate for this month where we will be anticipating results and ex-pectations from our efforts in the coming weeks.

This particular parable is pretty straight forward as parables go. The message is pretty clear; based on the care, preparation, and attention for placing one’s effort; seeding will have differing results. The results from baron, rocky, or thorny environments are not surprising to anyone; no matter the quality of the seed or the good intentions of the sower, nothing will really come from those efforts.

However good seed on fertile soil has the greatest chance of yielding a magnitude of good and fruitful benefits. So taking time and preparing yourselves and our seed (Christian Action and Discipleship) dur-ing Lent sets the stage for benefits and value beyond what we may have envisioned at the start. While that is wonderful, that fertile ground can also be ripe for weeds to thrive and disrupt or overtake what we intended to have as our main intention.

Therefore, it is not enough to sow good seed in fer-tile ground and then walk away and think you are fin-ished with the task at hand. Weeds are ever present in our lives no matter what form they take and what toll they take on our spiritual or physical gardens.

A dear friend of my wife shared some thoughts about weeding that I think are an interesting way to pre-pare ourselves for the remainder of Lent and for the ‘growing season’ after Easter for all we do as Chris-tians.

“The weeds always speak to me of sin in my life. Some weeds have roots that go down deep, but if you pull with a steady pressure, not too

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

fast, the whole thing will come up. The sins of fear and gluttony have been like that in my life...

Then there are those weeds whose roots are a complex network, an in-tricate mess that covers quite a bit of area. If you take a firm hold of that plant and move it slightly to and fro that tangled mess will be up-rooted. Selfishness and pride are like that...

And then there are weeds that pro-duce the daintiest little flowers on the wispiest of stems. When you first pull on them you can't see where the root base is. The plant leans away from the root, almost like a decoy. The slightest tug will separate the stem from the root and if you aren't careful to watch you won't see where the root is. These are those elusive sins of greed, vanity, gossip, laziness, and certainly more.

Wow, an afternoon of weed pulling can be very convicting or it can be very purifying. It depends on what I will let the Gardener do in the fertile soul of my heart.”

Dearest Brothers and Sisters within our Emmaus Community, will you join me for the remainder of Lent to weed out the sin in our lives? Will you take some time in preparation for our continued Faith Walks to consciously remove sin and seek forgive-ness? Time to be in His Word and prepare the fertile soil of your heart to receive an overflowing abun-dance of His Love? As we enrich our hearts and minds in preparation of Easter we should cherish that we are forgiven and we are loved children of God.

With the passing of Lent, do not dwell on the convict-ing of ourselves but treat it as a time for purifying and growing our internal spirit. For the Easter Week-end (Good Friday – Easter Monday); even with the passion and act of crucifixion, and then the Resur-rection; there is no greater proof of God’s love for us. For us as Christians, mercy and forgiveness is abun-dant. Christ is our redeemer and savior, who as-cended into heaven, leaving us with the Holy Spirit to be a force to touch and guide us for all the days of our lives through all the stages of our garden.

Decolores

Tony Papp, CLD

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

2014 WEEKEND EMMAUS FEESApplication Fee $35.00Pilgrim Fee $175.00Team Fee $225.00

Join us at our next Ultreya Gathering7:30 p.m., Friday, April 25, 2014

Messiah, UMC.

INSIDE THIS ISSUEEmmaus CLD Message……………………..…1April 25, Messiah UMC, Ultreya……..……….22014 Weekend Fees……………………….…...2Inclement Weather Policy………………….....3Emmaus SD Message……………………….…3Emmaus Music Directors, “Sing Praise”….32014 Emmaus Walks…………………………..4Community Palanca…………………………...4Reunion Group Coordinator Needed..……..4Outreach Prayer Request………………….....5E-168 Love One Another………………………5E169, Your Faith Has Made You Well………6Ultreya Gatherings……………..………….…...7Chrysalis CLD Message……………………….72014 Board Committee positions……………7Emmaus/Chrysalis Board /Directories….….8Business Sponsors………………………….…9NCAE Decals and Stickers, $5.00 each…….9

From the Emmaus Spiritual Director April arrives and we find the hope of warmer weather and the great celebration of Easter. Easter is the defeat of sin, death, and darkness. Easter is the promise of new life, eternal life, and hope.

As a pastor, I find that Easter and Christmas Eve are among the most challenging times to preach. The reason being, we all know the story and how do we top something that fantastic? Our words pale in comparison. Yet, in that very notion, we discover a great truth.

God’s love and grace are so wonderful, so large, so embracing, so comforting, so hopeful, so inclusive that we don’t have to worry about finding the right words to express our joy and our gratitude. We don’t have to worry about finding the right words to describe the peace and hope we have found. We don't have to worry about finding the right words to demonstrate the depth of our gratitude.

I think our best words are very simple words. First, we say “Yes!” to God. Secondly, we say “Thanks!” to God. And thirdly, we say, “I love you, too!” to God. In that great simplicity we have stated a major belief.

The ladies of E-168 just coming back from the mountain had as their theme, “Beloved, love one another.” When we know love, we know God. Holy Week is an intensely emotional week. We experience human lows and human highs. We start with joy as we watch Jesus enter Jerusalem on that donkey. We find Jesus being upset over the people who sought to turn the Temple, Jesus’ Father’s house, into a den of thieves. We witness Jesus being so vulnerable and reflective as we observe Maundy Thursday’s meal and time in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then comes betrayal, denial, cruelty, scheming, all leading to the terrible death of Jesus. Saturday arrives and all is quiet; confused; hurting;

at a loss; a sense that it may all be over, having ended so badly.

Sunday breaks forth and the tomb is empty, the cloths have been left behind, several appearances take place, and we find Jesus alive and bringing comfort to his disciples. Jesus has overcome the powers of evil and invites us to come with him. We journey down that roadway to Emmaus, we sit behind locked doors, we stand looking into an empty tomb with tears in our eyes — and in our depths of despair, we rise stronger and more assured. Jesus lives. He lives in our hearts

and minds. He reigns with God in heaven for all time. Love has triumphed! And we are invited to the party!

Blessings and De Colores,Doug Geeting, SD

From the Emmaus Music Directors, MD’s

1 Thess. 5:16. Rejoice Always!!!  "The Only Name" is a great song which states - JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, just that name!  We can testify there is power even in whispering His name. When we all praise His name together in song - it is so very powerful. This Ultreya, just pause and enjoy the shower of praise, rejoicing in Him. Jesus, just that name!Praises!

Mary Ann and Jim and Jerry! MD@EMMAUSNCA.ORG

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY In case of inclement weather on the night of an Ultreya, please listen to the local television or radio. If schools are closed, and after school activities are canceled in the county in which the Ultreya is held, the Ultreya will also

COMMUNITY PALANCA

I am the Community Palanca Cha. I need volunteers to make placemats for me. We need 270 decorated placemats for each team that goes to the Mountain.

I will have blank placemats at the Ultreyas each month. You can create your own design, either free hand, trace from a coloring book, use markers, glitter and glue to create your designs. You can either do them yourselves or get your Sunday School classes to do them. The pilgrims really like them when they come from the children. There are two kinds needed: the ones that are decorated with cute pictures and words, and ones that specifically say “DeColores”. It does not matter what the picture is, it only needs to say “DeColores” somewhere on the placemat. If you wish to make a set for a specific weekend that is great but you need to mark the envelope this is for E-# and I will make sure it goes on that weekend.

You can do placemats for Chrysalis they need the same decorated and instead of saying DeColores they say FLY WITH CHRIST. If you want to do them for Chrysalis you can get them from me also, and re-turn them to me.

Or what about your cloth Palanca bags that you re-ceived on Friday. How many of you sew? You can go to your fabric store and pick up some material. Rainbow material works well, I guess because most people don’t want to use it as a dress. I will have the dimensions available for you if you’re interested at the Ultreya.

Do you remember your Joy Flag Parade? Joy flags are always needed. These can be made from paper or fabric, and can be as simple or intricate as you

desire, as long as they say “Joy” somewhere on the flag. These should always be the pennant shape, too. You may also specify the joy flags for specific weekend also.

First stones are simple. Go outside, pick up a rock, and write “First” on it. Please write “F-I-R-S-T” and not “1-S-T on it. We have felt for the “I’m Lovable” flower pin that you received on Friday. Men get a pennant-shaped ribbon, and felt is available for both. Do you remember being showered with Warm Fuzzies on Sunday? If you love yarn, then this is the project for you. At the Ultreyas there will be the prayer wheel for you to sign up to pray and also, there will be a sheet passed that will have snacks for the weekend. You can sign at the Ultreyas. Food for the weekends needs to get to the Head Cha before Tuesday of the week that the team is going unless you are sponsoring someone and will be going to the mountain on Thursday.

Where do I get all of the material or instructions, you may ask. Well, you can pick up placemats, felt for flowers and banners, and yarn for warm fuzzes at the Ultreya each month. You can also pick up or re-turn items at the Ultreya. There is usually a table near the church’s entrance where items are placed. Or you can find me and hand items to me.

If you’re not available to attend the Ultreya, you can contact me. My email address is LindaL-Smith999@verizon.net and phone number is 703- 216-2469. And if you’re concerned about getting an item to me quickly, we can always keep in touch by phone and work out something. If you are willing to serve as Palanca Chairman for your church please fill out the information on the clipboard that I will have at each Ultreya in the front. Please list which items your group is interested in doing, so when I am running low on items I can contact the chairman.

If you are in a reunion group this is a good project that you could do. So, check with your group and see what items you all would love to do. If someone from your church has already signed up then you don’t need to. I am looking forward to working with you!

If you would like to get placemats please call Linda Smith 703-216-2469 and she will meet you to get them to you.

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

2014 Emmaus WalksE-168 ~ Mar. 27-30 - Carolyn RitenourE-169 ~ May. 1-4 - Paul SalbertE-170 ~ Oct. 2-5 - Beth MickeyE-171 ~ Nov. 13-16 - Sam ParrisAll weekends will be held at the 4-H Training Cen-ter near Front Royal, VA

Thank you De Colores! And Fly with Christ

Linda L. Smith

REUNION GROUP COORDINATOR NEEDED:The NCA Emmaus Community is seeking a new Reunion Group Coordinator. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please let a member of the Board know. Many thanks to Todd Hastings who has been serving the community in this role for the past several years.

E168- Love One AnotherMarch 27-30, 2014

A Message from the "R"1 JOHN 4:7-8Beloved let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knowth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.

Dear Brothers and Sister in Christ,

As a team we are learning to "love one another" and we are ready to share God's love with others. God's love is perfect and there is nothing you can do to stop His love for us. God is love. Love, love,love, just a little bit of love! God's team E168 is excited to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are ready to make the pilgrims our new best friends by pouring out loads of love. We are anxious to pray for the new pilgrims and each other as we prepare for our journey on E168. Please pray for the team and the pilgrims. We trust God will fill all of us with His love and we can pass that love to others. Our team appreciates your prayers, support and love. Carolyn

Carolyn Ritenour

CADRE AND TEAMVikki Beaty ~ Assistant Dining Room Cha, Assistant Agape ChaKathy Channell ~ Old Buffalo, Floater Cha Carroll Cobb ~ Talk Room Cha Richard Cobb ~ Spiritual Director Roxanne Cuddy ~ Dining Room Cha Lavonya Douglas ~ Table LeaderGarey Eakes ~ Spiritual Director Sara Eakes ~ Table LeaderRossana Finegan ~ Table Leader Nancy Geeting ~ Chapel Cha Linda Girten ~ Talk Room Cha Faith Gorham ~ Closing Cha, Palanca Cha

Monique Hines ~ Assistant Chapel Cha, Assistant Closing Cha Kris Jullien ~ Assistant Rector Jennifer Marth ~ Assistant Head Cha Kathy McCray ~ Music Director Dawn Mosteller ~ Agape Cha Martha Petrizza ~ Assistant Talk Room ChaSarah Purdy ~ Music Director Carolyn Ritenour ~ Rectora Denise Sanchez ~ Table Leader Stephanie Scholz ~ Head Cha Shari Spring ~ Table Leader Deborah Wright ~ Mananita Cha, Assistant Palanca Cha

PILGRIMSBecky Ash ~ Old Bridge UMC Melodee Ashley ~ Salem UMC Debra Bobbitt ~ Spirit and Life UMC Nati Brizuela ~ Spirit and Life UMC Donna Bullock ~ Falmouth UMC KJ Cabacar ~ Christ UMC Bonita Chase ~ Old Bridge UMC Jennifer Clardy-Chalmers ~ Clarendon UMCTracey Clark ~ Victory Christian Ministries International Lori Douglas ~ Harvest Life Changers Margarita Estela ~ Spirit and Life UMC Cathy Fields ~ First UMC Rachel Foster ~ Reston Community Church Amy Franco Sandy Greer ~ St. John's UMC Michele Guentner ~ Epic Life Church Christian & Missionary Alliance Kathy Hardin ~ Cameron UMC Sue Johnson ~ Lake Ridge Baptist Stacy Jones ~ Salem Fields Lea Anne Long ~ Christ UMC Izzy Kenney ~ Christ UMC Andrea Ker ~ St. Paul UMC Amanda Meres ~ St. Paul UMC Ingrid Mihos ~ Grace Bible Charlotte Mitchell ~ First Assembly of God Vera Morton ~ Woodlawn UMC Jennifer Penninger ~ Spirit and Life UMC Sylvia Rainford ~ Howard University Michelle Rowe ~ St. Paul UMC Lucy Sandoval ~ Mount Olive Baptist

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

OUTREACH PRAYERS REQUEST

Pray for all Spiritual Directors, Lay Leaders, Commu-nity Boards and Fourth Day Brothers and Sisters worldwide.

Be blessed,

Gary & Debbie McCluskey

E169- “Your Faith Has Made You Well”- May 1- 4, 2014

A Message from the "R"

A collection of saints ready to staff a weekend for faith development on the first four days of May, 2014. We’ll deliver God’s word shaped around Luke 8:48, Your faith has made you well. Being well in this passage points to eternal life that only Christ can give and He witnesses it to us as the Shalom Shalom, or Prince of Peace. We will also contem-plate the verb, made, as Jesus told those their faith made them, not going to or will one day. Along with

studying scriptures we will enjoy table discussions, great music and meals together.

You are invited to join us as a teammate, rally in prayer support or encourage friends to walk these days with us. The guys and friends of E169 look for-ward to seeing you at the next Ultreya. Please check www.emmausnca.org for more details and informa-tion.

Peace,

Paul Salbert, Rector

CADRE AND TEAMCharlie Carroll ~Head Cha Charlie Duren ~ Audio Visual Cha, Asst. Talk Rm. Cha Chuck Bailey ~ Dining Room Cha, Asst Agape Cha Chuck Bonneville ~ Talk Room Cha Dave Moore ~ Floater Cha, Asst. Closing Cha Eric Teitelman ~ Table Leader, Jack Christie ~ Old Buffalo, Asst. Mananita Cha Jeff Pehl ~Mananita Cha, Assistant Palanca Cha Jerry Wills ~ Assistant Music Director Jim Stacy~ Table Leader, DDU 4th DayKen Denham ~ Assistant Head Cha Marc Petrizza ~ Closing Cha, Assistant Chapel Cha Mark Gibson ~ Table Leader Neal Ailstock ~ Table Leader Paul Salbert ~ RectorRaúl Castillo ~ Palanca Cha Richard Cobb ~ Spiritual Director Rob Lloyd ~ Spiritual Director Russ Craig ~ Music Director Scott Burgess~Agape Feast Cha, Asst. Dining Rm. ChaStan Esterline ~ Chapel Cha TJ Cuddy ~ Assistant Rector Tom Overcasher ~ Table Leader Whitney Bobbit ~ Table Leader

PILGRIMSJames Allen~Sleepy Hollow UMCMike Arnold~Mel Bailey ~ Christ Chapel AOGDavid Bales ~ Holy Trinity Catholic Adam Barbour ~ Spirit and Life UMC Tim Beatty ~ Christ UMCGreg Berry ~ Pender UMC Scott Boden ~ Prince of Peace UMC Fred Carns, Jr. ~ Annandale UMC John Clarke ~ Annandale UMCPaden Coats ~ Central UMC Steve Fisher ~ Christ UMCGreg Guydo ~ Old Bridge UMC Matt Hampton ~ Prince of Peace Ron Ingraham ~ Victory CMI Phil Johnson ~ Sleepy Hollow UMC

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

Michael Lopez ~ Christ UCCJohn McClaugherty ~ Christ UMCShannan McDaniel ~ Mary of York CatholicJohn NewtonReggie Riley ~ Victory CMI Ryan Saw ~ Spirit and Life UMCBen Titus ~ Chestnut Hill SDAShawn West ~ Old Bridge UMC

National Capital Area Chrysalis

From Our Chrysalis, CLDLuke 18:16New Living Translation (NLT)16 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

Here it is March already this has been one tough winter. There have been some highlights one of those highlights in our Chrysalis community has been C-85. We welcomed 25 new Butterflies into the Chrysalis community back in January. After seeing the youth arrive on Friday evening looking all

scared and not sure of themselves and then to see them again at closing was an amazing transformation. They became a family up on the mountain! Each one said that they now had a new family that they could lean on and depend on each other in the tough times that we all have. In my eyes there is no greater thing we as a community can do than to grow God’s family. I think of our NCA community as a family, a part of God’s family. I only hope we can grow His family more and more through our weekends.

C-86 is coming up July 10-13 this is our young adult weekend. Those young adults ages 18-25 are able to attend. Please get your teaming applications as well

as those applications for the youth to walk! We are also starting to plan for our next high school weekend in August, so get those applications in soon!

Fly with Christ JR Williams, CLD

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

014 ULTREYA GATHERINGSMar. 21 Cameron UMC - AlexandriaApril 25 *Messiah UMCMay 16 St. Paul UMC - WoodbridgeJune 20 Springfield UMCJuly 18 Annandale UMCAug. 15 Christ Church - Fairfax StationSept.19 First United Presbyterian-Dale CityOct. 17 St. John UMC - SpringfieldNov. 21 Clarendon UMC - ArlingtonDec.19 Bethel UMC - Woodbridge*NOTE: The April Ultreya has been moved to the 4th

Friday of the month, due to Good Friday on April 18th.

2014 Board Committee PositionsUltreya Coordinators Glenda Lambert, Bev Barth-

maier, Charlie Carroll, (Dawn Mosteller)

Lay Assistant To Board SD’s Charlie Carroll, Dawn MostellerUltreya Offering Counters Glenda Lambert, Bob Jones,

(Debbie McCluskey)Nomination Committee Bob Jones, Bev Barthmaier,

(Nancy Geeting)Finance/Budget Committee Tony Papp, Glenda Lambert,

(Michael Gentile), Jim McCray [Treasurer]

Website/HolyNet Committee Michael Gentile, Chris ScholzScholarship Coordinators Tony Papp, Glenda Lambert,

(Chris Scholz)Facilities Liaison Nancy Geeting, Mike Gentile,

Chris ScholzOutreach Committee All Board Members {assigned by

ideas or events}Chrysalis Rep Debbie McCluskey, Tony PappCLD / ACLD Tony Papp / Chris ScholzSenior SD / SD Doug Geeting / Garey EakesNOTE: Positions within Parentheses are for 2015 Members to be familiar with for Continuity.

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

NEW – NCA Emmaus Car Magnets and DecalsThe NCAE, 4”x6” car MAGNETS and REMOVABLE DECALS are available for $5.00 donation or more for each decal. All proceeds go to Scholarship Fund. For more information, please contact: Jack Christie at 703-491-8670 or email: jackchristie153@gmail.com

Fourth Day Journal• April 2014

Fourth-Day-JournalEmmaus of the National Capital AreaP.O. Box 2243Merrifield, VA 22116