Happy Birthday, Luc!

18 years ago the Lord gave us this gorgeous baby boy. His first 6 weeks were spent in Australia in the bosom of his Australian family. His Aussie identity is still very much a part of him inspite of growing up in France. Today we celebrate his coming of age, and we are so proud of him. He first started being more independent when he had to live in at his senior high school at the age of 14, returning each weekend to play sport, to eat, catch up on TV and video games with his brother, and to stir up his sister!

Now he is in his own little flat at Roanne, at an Institute of Technology for 2 years. He's come of age alright and he's doing well. We are glad he comes home nearly every weekend - our family is not complete without him. We try and keep some family time around meals and we listen to his stories, his commentaries, his blow-by-blow descriptions of sports events he's appreciated ! We listen as he recounts what he has learned about the world we live in through his course work. I look at his lovely brown eyes and see the soul of a sensitive, loving, intelligent person. And I thank God for this young man - our young man.

Go the Blues!!

Where does this road lead ?

Today I went to visit Murielle to buy half a lamb (organic and locally grown!)

She gave me fairly precise directions to find her - she lives out in the country. But I forgot to ask how many metres, no, kilometres, before each section. My mobile phone stopped working. Here I was in a city car winding my way around unknown country!

I arrived at a field and saw another car parked there. Was it Murielle's car with a note on it ? I went to look... and heard someone calling out. I looked around and across the small valley saw three figures watching me. Obviously, it was their car and not Murielle's.

Nothing for it - I had to follow the dirt road and try and find her house. The road looked too rough for my car, so I pulled out the cooler and prepared to walk the next section. A smallish white-haired man was walking towards me "Can I help you ? I'm from the Forestry office."

I explained my mission. "I'm looking for the house called 'le Pouzat'." "You mean the hippy types ? It's another 800 metres from here, but you can't get to it by car - the road is too rough. You will see a grey car parked in a bay. Stop there and continue on foot another 800 m."

Mmm, I'm dubious about getting through. Already I have to turn around and the wheels skid on the wet grass. The other 2 men have joined us by now and push me out of the soggy ground. I turn the car then bump my way through the ruts and over tree roots, find the parking bay with the other car, lock up, grab the cooler and head down the last part of the unmade road. A four-wheel drive powers up toward me. Yay! it's Murielle. She has rung home and discovered I was on my way and has come to meet me. We get to her house in one piece and I get my lamb and a nice cup of coffee.

I'll go back there - not by the same route though. But Murielle wants another visit. She has chosen to live there with her companion and has raised 3 daughters. She is into alternative living. Lives off her pottery and vegetable garden. Her partner is the local pot grower and seller. I will go back, because Murielle is a new Christian and has this incredible thirst for the Word of God.

Statistics and public opinion

A missionary colleague working in the South West has published this on her Facebook :

For those wondering about the 'real' statistics in France, at the Lourdes conference the Catholics say France is 5% (not 60%) practicing Catholics (church at least once a month) and 500 000 ( less than 1%) evangelicals (which, I have concluded, pretty much means 'practicing Protestant' here).

We have been using other statistics - but that's not the point. As in many Western countries now, those who are Christians (culturally or in reality) are very much in the minority. What's changing however, is their ability to organize themselves and to have a voice in the public arena. 

The latest example is the motivation within the Protestant organisations and the Catholic Church to speak out in the debate on "Marriage for All" which is the bill which is being debated now in Parliament. This bill is to allow same-sex marriage and open the way for adoption. It's hard to get people motivated for this sort of moral debate because we (I associate myself with the French in this case) have not got the experience and the impetus to speak out about our biblical understanding that homosexuality is not part of God's plan for his creatures. But the urgency of this situation and the realization of the consequences are pushing the usually timorous Christians to manifest their point of view. The challenge is to do it in a non-judgmental way.

Our advantage is that more scientific and psychological findings support our point of view. They need to be made known as well because we can't just argue on moral and religious grounds in our multi-norms society where most are allowed their own version of truth. There haven't been common moral values for a long time. We can state what we believe based on our Theology (as can the Muslims and Jews and other religious groups), but we no longer have the upper moral ground.

Please pray with us as we gather our courage to stand up and be different to what seems to be general agreement on the 'rights' of homosexuals to marriage and children. Latest opinion polls do indicate that there aren't as many French as that who agree.

Pray also that the Lord raises up those who have the ability to speak on His behalf to an increasingly non-believing society.

Two events in the same evening

A truly country girls' effort

Friday night - we don't often go out because we are being taxi-parents and just too tired at the end of the week! But this time I had 2 events to attend.

The first was the official launch of a great initiative in our little country town. A group of women started a magazine; women with no previous journalistic training, most of whom are looking for regular work and who decided to launch this magazine to gain professional experience. They have done a great job! Their goal is to reveal all the richness of the human stories in our Ardèche region and to prove that country women are not backward, but vital and creative.

Their effort has brought acclaim already through 2 national TV stations running a brief story about them and the magazine Elle awarding them a prize from its foundation which will help them run the magazine for a year. WELL DONE, LADIES!

It's the sort of energy, vitality and peps that I would love to see more of in our churches. Openness to the variety and charm of the world around us; the preciousness of the people we live by. Appreciating each other and being full of life.

The second event was the showing of the film "Luther". The other Protestant Church was showing it as part of the 500 year anniversary celebrations, and acknowledging the union now confirmed between the Reformed and Lutheran churches.

In the small audience were : the Reformed pastor and his wife, us with 2 of our kids, the local parish priest and all the nuns from a local convent! We wondered just how much of this amazing story was known by the Catholic contingent. But more to the point, how did they feel seeing the obvious criticism of the Catholic Church ? This year also marks 50 years since Vatican 2 took place and the changes advocated then are well and truly in place in the Catholic Church today. So the face of the Catholic Church has changed, but the things Luther wanted to see changed 500 years ago are only now in place - including the Bible accessible to all in their own language, mass in their own language ...

Authenticity

This marks my first month back in France after a very intense time in Australia. I've spent most of this month feeling unfocussed and like I was living in another dimension. Why? Partly because I was totally myself again in Australia. I couldn't take any of my family with me this time. I was able to do everything I wanted to do and needed to do in the 2 months I had. I was very busy, but felt I was 'home' in my own environment. I really miss the Aussie mentality and realize how tired I often feel, not just because of family and ministry responsibilities, but because, even after 22 years in France, I do not completely belong. I still struggle with the way things are done here, with certain attitudes, the hardness of human relationships even within the church family. I know it's not exclusive to France, but I do find living here hard work sometimes.

An interesting experience helped throw some light on myself. I had a personality profile done for mission purposes and the psychologist suggested I fill out a form in English and the same in French. It revealed differing personality traits! I'm not schizophrenic, but I change according to which country or culture I'm fitting in ! Some of the tensions I feel and the lower energy levels come from having to adapt my 'real Aussie' personality into the French Christian leadership context. I'm sometimes in conflict with myself.

Which leads me to the idea of authenticity.

I've always believed we should develop authenticity - show our real selves - particularly in Christian circles. It's not right to wear a mask. Christian community is about accepting and being accepted just as we are. Seeing others as Jesus sees them. It can be hard, because we don't like to be vulnerable and we certainly are afraid of being criticized or judged. We are also very sensitive to being disappointed by others or disappointing others by our real selves. I find it very rewarding to see genuine relationships develop in our groups. Recognizing our fragility is very good for us since it helps us turn completely to God. In God we trust (where have I seen that ???) Of course we will be disappointed by others, of course we will let others down, but we are only human and Jesus loves us completely anyway; to the extreme of giving up his own life for us.

My friend Susie has also written about authenticity : see her blog article. It's another angle on the subject with which I totally agree.

http://7mouths2feed.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-search-for-authenticity.html