Last night it was my turn to lead the evening service at St Clement’s, which was on the theme of the Emmaus road. This story, which you can find in Luke 24:13-25, occurs shortly after the events of the resurrection. In fact, it is the evening of that first Easter Sunday and, while they’ve heard the story that Jesus’ body is missing and rumours that angels have proclaimed him alive, they have not got any firm evidence to convince them of this scenario. All told, they were quite despondent, with their faces described as “long” and, I suspect, a walk that was more of a trudge as they tried to make sense of these broken shards of story.

I wonder if there could be any other passage more appropriate to consider on an Easter Sunday evening? It ends with the two disciples running back to Jerusalem to tell their friends who they have seen. This was not the journey they had planned but that does not matter any more because they bear some beautiful news.