Traveling Together with Jesus

By Brother Fred Jaxheimer

A household ministry effort was the inspiration for what became the Emmaus Road Transportation Ministry. The vitality and growth observed from that humble beginning to today can be traced back to the faith and vision of those who helped organize it and expand it in August of 2016. The next month it became a functioning ecumenical ministry sponsored by Christ Lutheran Church in Conyngham Pennsylvania. It was a prayerfully discerned and brave response to fill a large void in available transportation which was exacerbated when other transportation services and ministries in the area folded.

Our mission field started with the members and friends of concern from the nine Valley Interfaith churches and those who utilized the Valley Food Pantry. In 2024 we expanded our scope to provide transportation for the homeless who are referred to us through Willow Foundation’s Heartwood Center. We provide trips for those needing access to local food pantries, monthly grocery shopping, and for scheduled medical / health service appointments. We have also honored some requests for travel related to pastoral care. And several members of our ministry team have also moved food from distribution centers to local pantries, and other ministry sites in Hazleton and the Sugarloaf Valley.

“Yes, a big part of our team’s ministry work is getting people to needed medical services or helping them acquire groceries; and yet, I view it as much more. We strengthen relationships in the community, and help people heal – physically, and sometimes emotionally, or spiritually. We give people peace of mind, and we are helping many of our travelers stay healthy and living in their own homes. We are present for those who often feel unnoticed and we proclaim the Gospel, bringing it to life out in the world.” – Br. Fred Jaxheimer, Emmaus Road Ministry Team Lead

Our outreach grew to providing 260 trips for medical services and an additional 95 trips for groceries in 2019. Our efforts expanded at a very unnerving pace to an amazing 26,000 miles logged and over 1000 volunteer driver hours recorded for that year alone.

When a traveler on our roster needs a ride to access food or a medical appointment, they call the Emmaus Road cell phone which will reach one of our two Travel Coordinators. The request is added to our calendar, and a coordinator calls to find and schedule a driver.

“Emmaus Road has been a blessing to me. Everyone was there for me when I needed rides. All of the drivers are friendly.” - Henry Parks - Traveler

Emmaus Road drivers have the very loving experience of providing people with access to food and health services. They even do simple things like deliver jugs of water to a home with no safe water for drinking or cooking. They take our veterans to the VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre for their medical care. And our drivers and travelers express their joy in road trips with each other. Our ministry name comes from St. Luke Chapter 24 because our ministry is modeled after two people traveling together and our Lord Jesus being with them, whether they recognize His presence or not.    

“I have been a driver for the Emmaus Road Ministry since it was started. I volunteered because, having retired, I had free time to do something, and what better than to drive for this ministry? After several assignments, I began to realize the impact I was having on the individuals I was helping. Besides just driving, there is conversation, and a meaningful connection with another person. Being there to listen to and talk with someone who is often alone and was happy to have someone to talk to was enjoyable. Sometimes the conversation was helpful to them, but other times it was helpful to me. Just like the travelers on the Emmaus Road from Luke’s Gospel, where travelers have become aware of the risen Lord, I have also been enlightened. I have very much enjoyed being part of this ministry and plan to continue as long as there is a need.”  - Tom Chegwidden - Driver

In 2020 our transportation ministry did not grow in the way it did in previous years, that is in the earthly ways we sometimes measure growth: like the number of trips, volunteer hours, or total miles driven by our team. Yet the ministry still grew in depth and importance. Although we shutdown all travel for four months during the pandemic and our mission tasks became more difficult, we maintained contact with our travelers. Drivers also helped haul food to ministry locations and made many home deliveries. Emmaus Road grew into a deeper relationship with the community. As we gradually resumed “normal travel,” it was clear that our team had spread the light of Christ through a very dark and unsettling time. In 2021 we rejoiced in our efforts to provide trips our travelers needed to get their COVID vaccinations.

 “I have only good things to say about the drivers,” “We don’t know what we would do without you.”  – Barb & Joseph Zahay - Travelers.

“I hear frequently from our travelers about the dedication, patience, and caring concern, of our drivers and coordinators. Our team is an uplifting presence to them.”  – Br. Fred

“I felt a need to give back to my community, and our transportation ministry gives me a continual way, week to week, to care for others. Our drivers are committed to the people we help. Our travelers care a great deal about us. They appreciate us and tell us consistently how grateful they are for our help. We have become well connected friends. – Mary Lou Keck, Travel Coordinator.

Over nearly ten years - our ministry, which began with 10 travelers and 9 drivers, has grown to 33 travelers, 24 drivers, and 2 travel coordinators.

Our umbrella insurance requires volunteers to provide us with a clean 3-year driving report from the PA DMV as part of the detailed application to become an approved Emmaus Road Driver. Our ministry offers 14 cents a mile reimbursement for our drivers. However, over 90 percent of the drivers have opted out of reimbursement. We have given out appreciation gifts. Last month, we gave each driver and coordinator a 25-dollar gift card for gas or convenience store items. All participants sign a Release and Waiver of Liability Form which is based on the Pennsylvania form for activities related to transportation provided by volunteers. Written ministry reports are provided annually to the Valley Interfaith Council and are included in the bulletin of reports for the Annual Congregational meeting at Christ Lutheran Church, Conyngham.

For the record, our efforts are not always easy or smooth. At times we help people who are “hard to love.”  And looking at our Unusual Incident logbook there have been calls to local police to perform welfare checks when we could not find or contact a traveler. We also had one accident, which thankfully was only a damaged rural mailbox and a scratched bumper. Brother Fred once gave an entire day to taking a traveler car shopping so that she could start providing her own transportation. When travelers moved in with family or found a new assisted or senior living home where they no longer need our help, our team put in significant effort to help them transition to their new living arrangement. Our team members value relationships and embrace sacrificial love.

Some trivia: After almost 10 years, our longest logged ministry trip was 130 miles and our average trip distance is 35 miles, which is the total distance, from the driver leaving home until the driver returns home. Brother Fred still holds the record for the shortest round trip of 1.8 miles. (it was a short trip with a long story)

And a closing quote: “The Emmaus Road ministry has provided me a great way to assist members of our community. My faith journey is strengthened by helping to meet the needs of others.” – Julie Varner – Driver 

[Note:  The quoted remarks and pictures included in this blog were from a public Local Hazleton TV News station segment and/or a ministry video presentation at an ELCA Northeast Pennsylvania Synod Assembly. Permission was granted for public use.]

Reflections on Being in Assisi

Br. Howard N. Dana 

As people who have been to Assisi, Italy know, it is a dramatic place.  The medieval walled town rises on a hilltop where the Romans founded a settlement in 295 BCE—over 2,300 years ago.  The church in Assisi’s main square still has the façade of the Roman Temple to Minerva.  Though expanded over the years the town walls rise as imposing as ever.  And above it all an ancient fortress commands the high ground, strategically placed to detect attacks from all directions.  While peaceful and beautiful now, fortified Assisi is still ready to defend itself.  It is ready to offer safety and security within its walls.  But its security comes at a price.  In ancient Assisi, the wealthy were in control of the town and all it contained.  Their grand homes sat on the nicest plazas.  Their dead were buried in church crypts.  Their children wanted for nothing.  As long as things happened within the walls of Assisi, they were safe and predictable.  And then along came Francis and Clare.

Born around the turn of the 13th Century, both Francis and Clare had wealthy, powerful parents.  Each had parents who wanted them to be cultured, educated, and ready to carry on the family business.  Their parents wanted safety and security for their children.  But neither Francis nor Clare wanted that.  Each understood what lay outside the walls of Assisi.  And each longed for a more daring life than their parents had in mind.  As safe as it was within Assisi’s wall, the vast agricultural plane below the city was a daring, dangerous place.  As we remember from grade school history classes, in those days people did not live where their fields or flocks were.  Mideval houses were clustered in villages and towns.  Each day people set off with their flocks or to their fields, returning to safety again each night.  In Francis and Clare’s day walking along a road at night could get you robbed or worse.  Soldiers from neighboring towns might invade your fields.  Lepers and other social outcasts were not allowed within the town walls, so they fended for themselves on the plane.  So, to turn their backs on Assisi and all its safety was the first radical move both Francis and Clare made.  They chose a daring life over a safe one.  And in this choice, they have much to teach us, a people obsessed with safety and security.  To find a life worth living, both Francis and Clare had to turn their backs on all that was safe and secure.  They went so far as to embrace poverty, relying exclusively on charity from other people to live.  This, of course, enraged their wealthy, status-seeking parents!

After their deaths, Assisi built enormous churches to house the bodies of St. Francis and St. Clare.  It is quite moving to sit in the beautiful space where Francis’ remains are interred with five of his closest friends.  Clare’s tomb is different—and equally moving.  As one sits in the quiet of a beautiful chapel near the body of a saint, it is too easy to imagine the person was going to automatically end up being admired.  But this was never the case with Francis and Clare.  When they were alive, both were scorned by Assisi, if not outright despised.  Neither was very welcome within the town walls.  Their respective ministries were carried out on the dangerous plane below Assisi.  It was in a small, run down chapel at the edge of a field that Francis gathered his first few brothers.  It was in that same small chapel that he and these brothers welcomed Clare the night she ran away from home.  As she professed her desire to follow their work, they arranged for her to be protected in a nearby monastery.  They also fulfilled her requests to have her nice clothing sold for the poor—and her beautiful hair cut off.  There was no going back to the safety and conformity of Assisi.  Living off charity and working with nearby lepers was the path now.  No longer did the material world hold either Francis or Clare.  Once safety was gone, they were free to be the Christians they wanted to be. 

Franciscan theology says we do not have to go looking for God—God comes looking for us.  It also implies that if God comes looking for us, when God finds us God will have plans for us.

It would be a mistake to think following Francis and Clare requires a kind of 13th century LARPing—that’s Live Action Role Playing for us older folk.  To be a Franciscan is not about dressing up in a costume and pretending to live a poor and selfless life—though the costume is sometimes helpful.  It is about turning one’s gaze from the expected to the marginalized.  Franciscans have eyes for the poor.  They have eyes for suffering and injustice.  They have eyes for animals, both wild and domestic.  They have eyes for the earth and the perils of climate change.  Franciscans need not look different from everybody else, but we must act differently.  We must not let safety get in the way of doing what is needed.  Daring is required.

Growing Ministry in Taiwan

CFC Candidate Leon Bouwmeester tells of the growing Episcopal presence in Taiwan. Recently, Leon gave a presentation about Franciscan Spirituality at a newly developing church community in Zhubei (meaning, the North of Hsinchu). Hsinchu is north of Taiwan and about 2 hours away from Taipei. 

A few years ago, the diocese began a church-planting initiative in Hsinchu. The community first gathered in a rented second-floor space, and over time it has grown in stability and numbers. Recently, this growth made it possible for the diocese to purchase a new space — a ground-floor unit and its upper level in a newly built building — which now serves as the first Episcopal church presence in Hsinchu. The church is dedicated to St. Matthew, (and just four days ago, Saturday, March 28, 2026), the new space was formally dedicated. The community is not yet a fully established parish, but a mission. The dedication service was a joyful occasion for the whole diocese. The Episcopal Church in Taiwan has around 1,000 members forming 16 communities(churches) in total, and about 130 people attended the service. It was a very strong turnout and a sign of encouragement for this growing mission. CLICK HERE for more information in English.

The following day, Palm Sunday (March 29), marked the first Sunday Eucharist in the new space. My own talk was not part of the dedication itself. It simply happened to take place on the same weekend. The priest-in-charge (Shawn) invited me share on Franciscan spirituality after lunch that day. Around 12 people attended the session. 

The Episcopal Church in Taiwan is still developing, and in many ways its spiritual culture has been shaped by the broader Protestant context here. Because of this, traditions such as the saints and religious life are less familiar to many. In that sense, opportunities like this feel especially meaningful to (priest-in-charge) Shawn and me.

In Celebration of Absolom Jones

by Br Peter Pearson

On Sunday evening, Feb 15, Brothers David and Peter, along with a friend, met at Saint Thomas African Episcopal Church in Northwest Philly for a celebration to honor the memory of Absolam Jones, a freed enslaved man, who was ordained a priest and served in the same area where he had been enslaved. Together with several other friends from a variety of denominations, Jones saw the people of Philadelphia through a severe outbreak of yellow fever and worked tirelessly to shepherd those entrusted to their care. Today Jones is remembered on the calendar of saints in the Episcopal Church.

On this evening, there were over a thousand people gathered to worship God in Jesus and to celebrate the memory of this servant of God. Bishop Daniel Gutierrez, Ordinary of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, presided and Bishop Michael Curry, the former Presiding Bishop, preached. Scores of clergy from the Episcopal Church, along with clergy from the African Methodist, Lutheran, and Methodist churches were also present. Three or four choirs, (one from Minneapolis, Minnesota) and a dance troupe also contributed to the joyful celebration which lasted for three and a half hours. 

Perhaps the most memorable part of the liturgy was the fiery and prophetic preaching. Bishop Curry repeatedly reminded us that he was being biblical and not political, but his message was not lost on anyone in the room. He challenged us to follow the example of people of faith throughout the centuries; to be courageous, to be faithful, to do the loving thing, the right thing, and to never give up. It’s difficult to put into words how inspiring this experience was for us, especially here, especially now.

A link to the service is attached and Curry’s sermon begins at 1:11:00.

https://www.aecst.org/AECST_Video/feb152026.htm

Family is Forever

 by Br Joe Nuber, Guardian

When people join our community they become family to us. They are, of course, still members of their original family, but they are also part of our family. So when members of our community leave this world and enter into eternity with God we grieve along with their family members. We have recently lost two professed members of our community just days apart from each other, Br. Luis Rivera, CFC and Sr. Patricia Rhoads, CFC at the end of January. Both of them had suffered for some time with their health and yet they were always positive people who clearly carried their crosses following Jesus with love in their hearts. I was fortunate to be able to attend both of their services along with other members of our community. In both cases I was blessed to hear the priests speak of how they lived out their vows and had lived lives of service to others often even when they themselves were not feeling well. They are both examples to us of what it means to be Franciscan.

I wrote to Sr. Patricia’s husband, Br. Robert, something that has been helpful to me in the past. I took a portion from a Carly Simon song, Life is Eternal. It goes like this, “Life is eternal, Love is immortal, and death is only a horizon and the horizon is nothing but the limit of our sight.” As followers of Jesus we believe in eternal life and we believe that God is love and so love must be immortal. We have all experienced the horizon. For example, I cannot see the ocean from where I live, but I know that it is there. And so it is with our loved ones who have entered eternity. We cannot see them anymore, but we know that they are there in God’s loving embrace. And so Br. Luis and Sr. Patricia are still part of our family. They are now with Br. Francis and Sr. Clare who have taken them to be with God.

Greetings from the Netherlands Antilles and the Island of Saba

When I turned 75 and was the next month diagnosed with a rare cancer, I was pretty much thrown face-to-face with some questions I had never addresses before, or at least not with the same intensity.  As a Franciscan, it wasn’t about asking God for some cure or healing but rather a challenge to attempt to go deeper into the healing that I believe is already available, present and life giving, no matter what outcome.  I didn’t make any bargains around getting better if God effects a cure but I did make some promises to myself, with my wife Sarah, to try each day to live more fully in faith and hope, and engage with the “fullness of life” more deeply, or at least try.

So, sometime later, when I received a “random” email from someone I had never heard of describing an opportunity to serve the Church on a small island that I had never heard of, in an Anglican Diocese I had never heard of, well, I was, not exactly ready to jump in and engage in this “fullness” without a lot of questions being addressed... Oh well…

Over time, Sarah and I made the decision to jump in, and have faith that all will be well even though we continued to have many, many unaddressed concerns. 

What goes around comes around.  My first mission was in the Philippines on the tiny island of Biliran, where I was ordained a Deacon.  Now, literally on the other side of the world from there, I, and this time with Sarah, am back on an even tinier island.

Saba is a municipality of the Netherlands.  5 sq. miles with about 1,500 permanent residents.  Its prides include having two Dutch National Parks, one, the highest point in the Netherlands, a rainforest atop Mt. Scenery and the other, the pristine coral reefs which surround the island.  Temperatures are between 73-83 every day, all year round.  The first same sex marriage in the Caribbean was conducted here.  And, what do you know, childcare, healthcare, education for  all!  There is one main road across the island that joins the port to the airport (boasting the shortest commercial runway in the world).  The official name of the road is “The Road.” Dutch architects in the early 40’s said a road could not be built so the Sabans built it anyway and it opened in ’47, just around the day I, and my Sr. Warden were born!

We have two Anglican/Episcopal Churches, Christ Church in the Bottom and Holy Trinity in Windwardside.  Christ Church  was built in 1777 with Holy Trinity completed just a few years later!  They are lovely, with a depth of real beauty that cannot be duplicated.  While presiding and preaching I look down the mountain and out over the emerald blue Caribbean.  Things are very simple here.  Folks are incredibly warm and engaging.  And though we may have 40 in the congregation (almost a full house) they sing and pray like we are 200!

God’s glorious creation is “in your face” and for that matter in all your senses all around all day!  Sarah and I are limited to three months by visas but it is certainly an adventure that will be remembered.  (Any of you clergy out there who might want to enjoy a peaceful time and be awakened each morning by the roosters, it’s worth consideration.  Give me a call.)

 A blessed 2026 to all!

Br Bob Flick

Walking the Resurrection Talk

By Br Walt Hampton

Easter is coming.  We sat we are Easter People. It’s the high holy day in Christianity.  The centerpiece of our faith.  The defining moment.

We say we believe in the Resurrection. And yet, it is a fairly unbelievable story.  A dead man rising?  It stretchs the limits of what we understand.

So, for many, the Resurrection stays in the background. A nice story. Abstract. Cerebral. Maybe historical. Maybe not. But distant.  Yet, if we are followers of Jesus, we are called to follow him all the way.  Life.  Death.  And Resurrection.

Resurrection is not just something that happened to Jesus. It is something that happens. Over and over.  It is happening now.  This is the heart of Franciscan theology. God is always breaking into the world. The Incarnation is ongoing. The Christ mystery unfolds in every moment. Birth, death, resurrection—again and again.

This is not metaphor. This is reality.  Resurrection is not locked in the past. It is not a doctrine to believe. It is a way of life.  We see it in nature. The seed falls to the ground, buried in darkness, and rises in new life. The caterpillar dissolves, disintegrates, and emerges with wings. The forest burns, only to regenerate with greater richness than before.

Death is never the end of the story.  We see it in history. The Berlin Wall falls. Apartheid ends. The enslaved are set free.  What was once declared dead rises again.  We see it in our own lives. The loss that seemed unbearable, and yet we kept breathing. The failure that crushed us, and yet we learned and grew. The grief that swallowed us, and yet love found us again.

We have all known resurrection.  Mary Magdalene experienced it that first Easter.  She stood outside the tomb, weeping. Everything she had hoped for was gone. Jesus was dead. The story was over.  And then—he called her name.  Mary.

And suddenly, the world cracked open.  She mistook him for the gardener. Maybe she wasn’t wrong.  Maybe Jesus, the Christ, is the one who tends the garden of new life. Who brings forth what was dead. Who calls us out of the tomb and into the light.

The Gospel writers don’t tell us how the resurrection happened. They simply tell us that it did.  And that it changes everything.  If we are an Easter people, we cannot simply admire resurrection from a distance. We must walk the resurrection talk.  That means choosing life. Again and again.  It means looking for where God is breaking in. Where the Spirit is calling forth newness. Where love is rising from the ashes.

It means being resurrection people in a world obsessed with death. A world that worships power, clings to fear, hoards wealth, and believes in scarcity.  Resurrection people do the opposite. We choose love over fear.  We choose generosity over hoarding.  We choose justice over indifference.  We choose to believe that what looks like the end may, in fact, be the beginning.

This is not easy. Resurrection is not painless. It comes after loss, after grief, after death. It requires letting go of what was so that something new can emerge.  But this is the way of Jesus.  This is the way of life.

So here is the challenge. How will you practice resurrection?  Will you welcome the stranger? Feed the hungry? Care for the marginalized? Call out injustice?  Will you serve where there is need?  Will you refuse to believe the lie that things will never change?  Will you love without condition, without restraint, without exception?Will you tell your story so others can find hope?

The tomb is empty.  Christ is risen.  And resurrection is ours to live.  May it be so.

Peace to you, Br. Walt

Why Living With Muslims Made Me A Better Christian

Jacqueline Taylor Basker

It took me over twenty years to get my Ph.D. due to multiple problems in my life.  But I persisted after NYU said I took too long, although my advisers loved my dissertation in progress.   However, Oxford University in the UK, through the Graduate Theological Foundation, then accepted me and I received my degree and soon my first full-time college teaching job.  It turned out to be in Amman, Jordan at the NYIT campus there, teaching Art History and Art.  My dissertation had been about the symbol of the cloud as a theophany in early Christian art, with studies of this symbol in Christianity, Judaism and Paganism, but post degree I had begun researching this symbol in Islam.  So, an opportunity to go to a Muslim country was exciting.  I left for Jordan in 2007 and I have never left It; I still maintain a shared apartment there and visit yearly. 

However, when I woke up February 28 to the news of missiles flying over my home and friends in Jordan I was in a panic and shared that with my morning prayer group.  I had come to deeply love and appreciate the people of Jordan.  They helped me become a better Christian.  The Call to Prayer 5 times a day from my local mosque reminded me to pray the Daily Office.  Everyone carried prayer beads and prayed them frequently.  This inspired me to get out my rosary and carry it around praying when I could.  But most of all was the Muslim’s acceptance of the will of Allah.  Almost every sentence ends with Inshallah.  If God wills it.    God’s will is accepted in all things, sorrowful or joyful, since God is in charge.  If things were bad, it was deeply believed that God would one day remedy the injustice, violence, pain and suffering.  This produced a character of both strength and focus in my Muslim friends.  Added to this was the amazing self-discipline of Ramadan, fasting from sunup to sundown for a month.  Even the Christians in Jordan have a much stricter Lenten fast then we do in the Western Church.  Often Christians might fast with the Muslims during Ramadan.  The relationship between Muslims and Christians is inspiring in Jordan.  They marched together for peace when Isis began threatening Christians.  In today’s polarized United States, the anti-Muslim bigotry is horrific and recently displayed itself with a mob attack against my NYC Mayor, Mamdani in his home.  

Living in Jordan was a blessing for me; visiting the Baptism site and the many sacred Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites there is a pilgrimage of hope.   Jordan’s history shows that the three Abrahamic religions can co-exist together.  And our role model, St. Francis, visited the Sultan, al-Malik al-Kāmil, during the war of the Fifth Crusade and emerged pleading for peace.  He got into trouble asking for peace, and his great prayer  “ Lord Make Me An Instrument of your Peace “ is still needed today. 

Picture from my terrace in Amman of the Spire of the Orthodox Christian Church (left) across from King Abdullah Mosque's Minarets (right) 2016.