Cock-a-doodle-doooo!

I have a confession...  I am an Emmaus "Junkie".  

My name is Melva Nolan, I was on walk #64 at Hermit Basin in April, 1999.  And I was at the table of Esther.

I met a "New Best Friend" on walk #122 and over the years we have become very close friends.  But because we live two hours away from each other we mostly talk on the phone.  She has been there for me through some very tough and difficult situations and some celebrations, and I have been there for her as well. We are each other's "sounding board".  We offer each other a safe place to vent and should someone ever ask, we can solve all of the problems of the world. LOL!  

This quilt is for my very special friend, Bonnie Johnson.  She is the Lay Director of Emmaus of the Rockies Walk #167.

People not familiar with the Walk to Emmaus movement - a short course (72 hours) in Christianity - would think it more than odd that one of the "symbols" associated with the event is a rooster... let me explain.

"De Colores" was written by a group of Spanish participants called Cursillistas or, what we call pilgrims in Emmaus.  They had been on a Cursillo event.  Cursillo is the Catholic forerunner and the basis of the ecumenical Emmaus movement.

This group was on a bus headed for home.  After having heard the many talks on the colors of God's grace, they were a joyful group indeed!  Suddenly the bus broke down.  Fortunately, there was a barnyard nearby.  The glorious show of spring colors in the fields, the flowers and budding trees inspired them.  The bright iridescent colors of the roosters and chicks and distant rainbow touched them.  so they wrote a song, "De Colores" which means "of the colors."  As they awaited rescue they, with joy in their hearts, wrote verse after verse!  Obviously they waited a long time, because the song has 99 verses! 

So... this quilt, while it is a rooster, also represents so much more!  

• It has every color of the rainbow
• The rooster reminds us of Peter and how quick he was to deny Christ... and how quick the Lord was to forgive Peter on the beach when He returned.
• The tiny pieces of fabric that some would have considered waste and far too small to be useful, come together to make a larger piece - just as each of us come together to make up the Body of Christ 

(1 Corinthians 12:12-14 ~  Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.)

• There are special messages of love quilted in - hearts, De Colores and Walk 167

Bonnie, what a blessing to be your friend and Sister in Christ.  I love you.

De Colores!

Melva