The Next Fredericksburg Emmaus Gathering
Please note the change in format for the gatherings.

	Where:	Hillcrest UMC, Fredericksburg, VA. 	Why:	Worship and Fellowship

	When:	6:00 PM,  October 9, 1993 Social Hour*	6:00 - 7:00 PM
Begin music for the Gathering	Promptly at 7:00 Opening Prayer of Gathering	7:30
	How:	In Grace of Our God
		& the Fellowship of His Holy Spirit
	Devotions:	Albirta Lootens
	Fourth Day Speaker:	Richard Warner
	Child Care Providers	Steve and Sylvia Seiden
*Please bring light refreshments for this time.

Mark your calendars now for the October gathering.
Date:  October 9, 1993
Time:  6:00 PM 
Place:  Peace UMC .

The Fredericksburg Emmaus Community looks forward to seeing each of you at the monthly gatherings. Our gatherings are open to fellowship for all Christians whether you have been to an Emmaus/Chrysalis/Cursillo Walk or not.  Feel free to bring friends or guests from your church to share in the Grace of our God.  For directions, see the map elsewhere in this newsletter.  Child care is ONLY provided for children through fifth grade; older children are expected to sit with their parents during the gathering.

Mark the dates of other upcoming gatherings!

	November 20th	Peace UMC
	December 18th*	Peace UMC
	*(Start at 5PM with a Pot Luck Supper)
	January 8th**	Fredericksburg UMC
	**(Also Day of Deeper Understanding	1-4PM)

Prayer Is Essential!

Hello and praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
My name is Angel Fulkerson and the Lord has called me to operate in the place of prayer vigil coordinator, so I am asking now for the family of Fredericksburg Emmaus to begin praying for the time God has asked them to pray during the upcoming walks.
What times were so special on your walk?  Pray for the team and pilgrims during that time . . 
sign up to pray.
Prayer is Essential!

When the time had drawn near Jesus went to pray (in the garden) but when he returned He found His disciples sleeping and asked -- "Could You Tarry Not One Hour".  All are called to pray, but will you answer the call...

Selah V
DEEP AND WIDE

How deep are my roots in Jesus --
How high do I reach in prayer--
How wide are my love and caring--
How much do I really share?

Does my life reflect understanding
And love for all mankind --
Do I follow in Jesus' teaching
That others this love may find?

I am searching for Truth and guidance- -
Seaching deeper day by day.
I want my life to be a witness
Unto others along the way.

Pearl W. Eastburg

Reunion Groups

Small groups are the backbone of keeping the fires burning.  The weekly challenge to Study, Piety and Action as well as the special fellowship and the power of His presence amongst you are a continuing inspiration.  I encourage all of you to join or start a group.  If you want your group to be open to others, we will periodically list groups in this column of the newsletter.  Some of us group as listed below.  These are open groups and you are welcome to join in.  We'd love to see you!!
 
When
 Place
 Contact
 Address
 
 Saturday @ 7:30 AM
 Roy Rogers
 Steve Seiden
 Route One across from Aquia Town Center
 
 Wednesday @ 8:00 PM
 Sammy T's in rear
 Joe May
 Caroline Street in F'burg

Upcoming Weekends

 Dates

Weekend	Dates
Southside VA Emmaus Men's 5	9-12 September 1993
Nat. Cap. Emmaus TBD 55	9-12 September 1993
Richmond Emmaus Men's 22	9-12 September 1993
Tidewater Chrysalis Young Adult 4	9-12 September 1993
VA Kairos (Prison Min.) Men's 8	16-19 September 1993
West VA Emmaus Men's 31	23-26 September 1993
Maryland Emmaus Men's 30	30 September -3 October 1993
Southside VA Emmaus Women's 6	30 September -3 October 1993
West VA Emmaus Women's 32	7-10 October 1993
Nat. Cap. Emmaus Women's 56	13-17 October 1993
Richmond Emmaus Women's 23	21-24 October 1993
Shenandoah Emmaus Men's 5	21-24 October 1993
Sonshine Emmaus Men's 3	28-31 October 1993
Shenandoah Emmaus Women's 6	28-31 October 1993
Tidewater Emmaus Men's 22	4-7 November 1993
Maryland Emmaus Women's 31 **	4-7 November 1993
Sonshine Emmaus Women's 4	11-14 November 1993
F'burg Emmaus Men's 9	11-14 November 1993
Tidewater Emmaus Women's 23	9-12 December 1993
F'burg Emmaus Women's 10	9-12 December 1993

*  College Age	** Deaf Included

	Recently Mandy and I found ourselves broken down on the side of I-20 in Augusta, Georgia.  As we began to walk on a late July day (and I thought VA was humid!) a very well-dressed man driving a Honda Accord of_fered us a ride.  We eagerly accepted and from the next exit we called my brother Phil who lived nearby.  While I stayed with the car, Phil and Mandy proceded to find someone who could give us a tow.

	As I waited for them to return, I watched the traffic go by, including a county sheriff who didn't even slow down.  After about 10 minutes, a white beat up Chevy pick-up truck slowed down.  As he rolled down his win_dow, I found myself speaking to an individual who seemed to be the typical Georgia redneck.  His clothes, the ladders in the back, and the various tools which were found strewn throughout the truck told me that he was in the construction business.  He was overweight, balding, sweaty and I could almost imagine the cans of Budweiser which I assumed to be on the floor of his truck.  As I sit here I am trying to remember what his voice sounded like, but I'm not sure I really ever gave him the opportunity to say anything.  As he rolled down the window I told him that I was waiting for my family who had already gone to get a tow truck, but that I appreciated him stopping.  He waved to me in compliance--the truck never really coming to a complete stop--and started back up the road.  As he pulled back on the interstate I was able to read one of the bumper stickers that seemed to be holding together his truck.  One of them read "DeColores".  The colors of the sticker seemed as stark as the guilt I was beginning to feel.
	In August of 1963 over 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial.  And while they dreamed with Martin Luther King, Jr. of a place and time when whites and blacks could live together, James Farmer and others cried as they heard those words in a Louisiana jail cell.  They had been arrested for demonstrating and challeng_ing the Jim Crow laws of the state
	Now in 1993, thirty years later, discrimination and prejudice are still a very real part of our lives.  The white sheets and hoods are for the most part gone and the words "colored" and "whites" carved in the granite of a Georgia train station serve only as reminders of days gone by.  But be that as it may, we still discriminate.  We still live in largely segregated neighborhoods and worship in even more segregated churches.  And as with me in Georgia, our prejudices are usually automatic and unconscious.  I judged that man by the way he looked and by assumptions that I have learned in ways both discreet and overt.  I failed to see him for who he was.  I failed to see him as a child of God.
	Part of my guilt on that July day was a product of my experiences with the Emmaus community for I have learned through 3 teaming experiences that our assumptions about people and reality are often very different.  Homogeneity is not necessarily a sign of God's grace.  So while many of you are very different from me and ex_press your faith in ways that I do not, I have seen God's face in this group.  Clarence Jordan once said, "We'll worship the hind legs off Jesus, but never do a thing he says."  Or a thing he did.  May God bless us and prod us as we daily strive to follow the one who accepted tax collectors, prostitutes, smelly fishermen, and even us.

DeColores,

 _
 
Praise, Joys, and Concerns

The list below is taken from last months gathering.  However, I will be glad to list any others I receive from the community through a letter or telephone call..  Submit your praises or needs to the newsletter editor, Mary Ruth Forstall @ 703-659-2461 or mail to P.O. Box 34 Brooke, Va.  22430, by the first Saturday after each Gathering:

Praise and Joys
Praise for God's Grace in my life
Ginny's continued good progress. Praise God!
Praise God for the dear people He has put in my life.
Thank you, God, for 12-step programs and recovery
Pray for everyone in the world! (Praise God!)

Prayers and Concerns
F'burg 9 & 10 - Blessings for new teams forming & Pilgrims to come Matthew Jensen - Aplastic Anemia - Grandson of  Eldon & Yvonne Jensen
Eldon Jensen - waiting for a heart transplant
Pray for unity and Blessings of the Lords Holy Spirit on the Emmaus Community
Ruth Ellis - (mother Mary Ruth Forstall) begins chemotherapy next month
Prayers for safe travel during vacation
Children as they head back to college and other activies
Ron Bennett - safe travel to California with his granddaughter
Those touched and to be touched in Mexico by members of our community
Joy's neuropathy
Carol St. Clair - (sister of Dave Young) depression
Judy & Robert - marriage
Those going thru marital problems and divorce
Al Harper - heart irregularities
Nancy Graver - hospitalized for testing on possible cancerous tumor
Dwight Nicholas - health problems
Bill & Patti Kennedy
Toni Stanley- (sister of Mary Glisson)  health problems to get better
For the Lord to give me clarity and help me get my life organized
Brain Fairbanks - 11 year old with leukemia
Sue Ryan - recovery from surgery for aneurism
Please continue to keep the entire Self family in your prayers
Frank Rice - to make the right decisions
Nicholas Doumlele - 5 year old who will have heart catherization & value repair on 9/10
Sylvia Seiden- surgery on her hand and is in a lot of pain
Kelly Seiden - surgery on her foot
Exalpha May - recovering from stroke
Aunt Mary - passed on, Lord spread your peace to her family
Grant Koontz
Decolores! 
Mary Ruth Forstall

Emmaus Newsletter____Tony Forstall