This is what many of us remember. It may not be quite what it was. Several years ago I visited the parsonage in which I spent most of the first eight years of my life. I remembered it as enormous, with a cavernous central hall on the second floor. Visiting it as an adult I was astounded by how much it had shrunk.
Memories are deceptive.
Nonetheless, however the church was in the post-WWII decades, it was different then than it is now. I suspect that the church's mood over the past 2-3 decades has had a lot in common with that of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. There is something to be learned from this story. Luke's story is told in two books, Luke and Acts, the story of the Christ and the story of the church. And nowhere is this connection between Jesus' story and the church's story more evident than in this narrative.