When I went back to my residence last night (Saturday), I finished reading the letters I had received from the brothers and sisters of Kairos. I came across one which asked the questions, “Have you seen the face of Jesus yet?” Immediately, my mind began to wander. Does he mean that literally or figuratively?
    We can all go to the pictures on the walls from our Kairos Brothers and Sister from around the world and see pictures of Jesus on a few of them. But, then I began to really think about and ponder that question. I along with a lot of you have seen many depictions of Christ. I’ve seen the European version with the beard and long wavy brown hair, such as the one in which he was attending the last supper with the disciples.
    That is the picture my great grandmother hung on her wall for so long. I’ve seen the picture of the African – American Jesus also in which he has an Afro, no beard and a crown of thrones. I said to myself, the images we are presented of Jesus are each artist’s visual image or understanding of how Jesus Christ looked. So thinking on the question, I made an attempt to visualize Jesus and see if I could answer with complete honesty if I had seen his face in our Kairos time.
    Guess What? I have. I must first start by saying that Jesus/God is an infinite spirit with no features or contours now as He was in the beginning. When He chose to manifest himself into man, then, he took on a unique look of his own. Now, how have I seen the face of Jesus? I’m sure you want to know.
    Every time I’ve looked into one of the lay people or clergy’s face, I’ve seen Jesus.
    Every time I’ve seen the love and compassion in their eyes and actions, I’ve seen Jesus.
    Every time I’ve seen them in an act of kindness or giving words and prays of encouragement, I’ve seen Jesus.
    Every time I’ve eaten a meal or desert or snack prepared by the outside team, who has labored joyously, without asking anything in return, I’ve seen Jesus.
    Every time I look at the ever growing links of prayers and posters – words of love and encouragement from our brothers and sisters of Kairos from around the world, on whom I can’t begin to put a face with each name, I see Jesus.
    No, I’m not saying that these people are Jesus or even look like Jesus, whatever He may look like. I’m saying that every time I look at them who are here, every time I look at a line of prayer commitment or a poster with words of encouragement, I see Jesus because I see everything Jesus represents – love, charity, peace, hope, compassion, non- judgment, understanding and so many more beautiful qualities that would take an entire book to describe.
    Before I come to Kairos I was at my lowest point in life. I was so low that someone could easily walk right over me and not even realize that what they had done. In fact, many had, whether knowingly or unknowingly. I was at a point where I just knew that if I was down, someone was going to put their foot on my neck so I couldn’t get up. I had grown to expect that and I had grown to accept that. But, when I walked through that gym door Thursday night and saw all those smiling faces filled with happiness and love and when Jim, someone I didn’t know, greeted me with a smile, a handshake and a name tag, instantly wanting to make me comfortable, I felt I was being lifted up from the bottom, that someone finally noticed a human being was lying in their path and not a piece of trash to walk over.
    I felt his hand on my shoulder telling me everything is going to be OK. Stand up; no one is going to walk over you again. When I turned over to accept that hand, I saw Jesus.
    Yes Brother, to the question that was asked, I have seen Jesus’ face and still do, every time I look into the face of a believer who represents what He represents. I hope to see Jesus’ face every time I look into each and every one of your faces and most important, I hope one day you can see Jesus when you look into mine.

Agape Reminders

There are only two weeks before an Albemarle Chrysalis Flight weekend followed by an Emmaus Walk weekend in mid-January. Now is the time to begin praying now for both weekends. Pray for the team, each Caterpillar or Pilgrim, their sponsors, Spiritual Directors, the weekend and etc.

Here are a few reminders:

• Sponsors take care of getting personal letters for each Caterpillar/Pilgrim. Keep in mind the quantity of letters is not important — what is important is that you know them well enough to get letters on their behalf that will be most meaningful for them.
• It is very important that anyone providing letter agape include only the Pilgrim’s first and last name on the outside of each envelope. After all, there could be 25 other “momma” or “daddy” pilgrims on any given Emmaus weekend.
  
• We do our best to get names listed correctly in the newsletter and on the web. It also helps the Agape Servants to sort letters if you take the time to see that all are labeled correctly.
  
• Please remember to sort all Agape
  A L P H A B E T I C A L L Y.   The community has grown so much and been so generous with Agape that an Agape Servant’s work can be very hard just filling bags. Having to alphabetize Agape prior to filling bags can be costly for them time wise.
• And don't forget that as community we are not to touch or hug pilgrims or team.

We are truly blessed with such a loving and caring community — let’s remember that these guidelines are in place to aid in the logistics of the weekends thus making the most of the individual Pilgrim’s experience.