Road To Emmaus: Building Relationship With My Mother

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”(Luke 24:32)

The Road to Emmaus pericope has become one of my favorites in the biblical canon. The more I read it the more I consider the relational ministry of Jesus, and how relationships play a pivotal role in our socialization and developmental trajectory.

I believe revelatory knowledge takes place when folks decide to be in friendship, sisterhood/brotherhood, and intimate partnership.

Authentic relationships are not absent of struggle, and have the ability to cultivate an honesty that breeds constructive self-reflection. This supports us in being all we are called to be.

My mother’s letter of acceptance brought me back to the story of the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Like the disciples, my heart has burned within with others through relationship building, where God has opened the Scriptures to us.

For my mother and I, our destination is the village called enlightenment, where ideologies and theologies are transformed through the power of the One who heals and restores. 

My story is not so much a story of “coming out” but a story of “inviting in.”

This phrase was coined by contemporary scholar Darnell Moore in his article titled, “Coming Out or Inviting In: Interrogating Our Rhetoric and Rethinking our Pastoral Counseling Approaches with LGBTQ Brothers.”  Mr. Moore opens the article by engaging readers in an exercise of imagination.

The reader imagines they are at home tending to their day-to-day routines and the doorbell rings. You stop what you’re doing to see who rings. Peering through the peephole you recognize a familiar face. Due to this face of familiarity, you feel protected and a sense of kinship, so you open the door, offer your greetings, and “invite” the person into your home. 

The two walking with Jesus to the village of Emmaus felt this sense of connection, and strongly urged Jesus to stay with them, inviting him into their home. Unbeknownst to them, they were inviting in the one they called the Messiah. 

Eight years ago I made the decision to invite my mother and several others into my life as a lesbian because of my sense of connection and our established relationship. My mother and I maintained our commitment to one another in the midst of our struggle to be in relationship during this time.

My mother and I never imagined that Jesus would companion with us through our struggles, transforming our hearts and minds.

On my way to the village of enlightenment like the two who Jesus companioned with, the Creator informed me of how foolish I was. Not because “I was slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken,” but because I believed fundamentalist preachers in the pulpit who told me being lesbian was a sin, and God was not pleased. 

My journey has been one of re-conceptualizing what it means to be Christian and be in relationship with God. My journey has taught me that the Universe has a way of turning what appears to be impossible into the possible. I never fathomed eight years ago my Church of God mother would be able to inscribe the phrase “Letter of Acceptance” and share her story of transformation.

I share my story of “inviting in” realizing that not everyone has experienced the gift of being reconciled to their family after expressing their orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. It is my prayer that Spirit has blessed you richly with a chosen family that loves you to life.

Please be encouraged in knowing that as my mother articulated, “love conquers ALL.”

It is often a process for persons in the LGBT community to find the courage to be who they are; this is also true for the people who love us. It took my mother and me seven years to get to this transforming moment.

Never give up hoping. May we all continue to feel God’s transforming presence on our individual roads to Emmaus, as Spirit opens hearts and minds.