Reading is an adventure

"A novel is a mirror that one takes for a walk along the pathway." Stendhal

"Un roman, c'est un miroir qu'on promène le long du chemin." Stendhal

We are having trouble getting our kids off the TV, easy entertainment diet, and into reading. I have always loved reading and this year joined a Book Club with 4 other women. I read a lot for the ministry, but have to have a diet of novels as well. It's been a lovely experience so far sharing books that have meant something to these women. It's not always easy reading either! Their choices can be quite intellectual and require a high level of Western and Greek Antique culture.

The books I appreciate the most are the ones which use words in original ways and which describe with insightful imagery experiences or feelings or ideas that I have had. I'm quite blown away by some of them! And these moments of empathy illustrate perfectly Stendhal's quote. The novels we get the most out of do reflect something of ourselves and what we have lived or hope to experience. They mirror the way we understand life and the world. They reinforce our connection with each other and with our humanity. Our shared humanity.

I'm grateful for Christian authors who write real novels and write about real faith questions and dilemmas.

Pithy sayings 3

"Toute ascension vers un endroit merveilleux se fait par un escalier en spirale." Francis Bacon

"All goings-up towards a wonderful place pass by a spiral staircase." 

When we talk about getting somewhere, reaching goals, putting something into place, there's always that sense of climbing up and reaching for the heights. We often use mountain images, the sky, the heavens...

When we are young we usually think it's a matter of just getting on to it and getting there pretty directly. We older ones now realize that life is really full of spirals!

'Two steps forward; one step back' is the optimistic version.

'One step forward; two steps back' is the pessimistic version!

I think spirals are pretty. And, honestly, when you have heaps of stairs to climb, spirals are less taxing; the steps are often smaller and you can't see the end so you live in perpetual hope of arriving at the top just around the next bend! In France there are millions of spiral staircases. I can speak of the real ones in high fortified towers and gracious castles. Or I could speak of the metaphorical ones, which are hard work and difficult to be motivated for.

France is a difficult country when it comes to achieving anything from education to job creation to changing attitudes and developing productive relationships. It's not impossible, but it takes a lot of energy.

In our church union, we are introducing a new process which we hope will bring maturity and growth to those churches that decide to commit to this pathway. It's called Vitality. We have already talked about spirals and how to encourage them to advance rather that to go backwards. I'll let you know how we get on when the process really gets underway. Please pray for optimism and energy. We are aiming high on this one!

Pithy sayings 2

"L'amitié est l'amour sans ailes." Lord Byron

"Friendship is love without wings."

Often we think of love as being a feeling we don't control. We fall in love, we are struck by love (as in 'lightning'), love at first sight and so on. It happens with potential partners; it happens when we first set eyes on our newborn baby; it can happen for places as well.

A deeper form of love, however, is something we choose to feel and to put into practice. And it can be, and SHOULD BE, the most wonderful feeling in the world: love has wings.

But it's also a hard road to choose because our decision to love doesn't depend on how we feel, but on how much we want the other, the object of our love, to be in a good place, and on what we really appreciate of the essence of that person. Real, deep love is less about us than about the other. But it is rewarding for us as well.

Friendship allows us to choose whom we love. We recognise our affinities, our common interests, a shared sense of values, humour, tastes .... In a normal, healthy friendship, we get back as much as we give. With love, we take the risk that the other doesn't return our love, or not at the same level.

One of the hard aspects of my life as a pastor's wife, a missionary, a foreigner is not being able to develop friendships over a longer period of time. When I'm in Australia, I'm always having to move on and to say goodbye to potential friendships with the most wonderful women I meet as I travel around.

Modern means of communication can allow me to keep in touch, but it's not the same as being together physically and sharing life experiences even in the banality of everyday life.

In France, the problem is more because of my 'status' as co-leader in the church. It's often said that leadership is a lonely position to hold. Some advice to future pastors includes the idea of not becoming too friendly with any parishioners because that can cause problems with the rest of the congregation. I find that difficult to maintain, because it's a fact of life that you feel more at ease with certain people than with others. It also goes against my idea of what church community should be: each one has their rightful place in the community and should be appreciated for whom he/she is regardless of the rôle he/she plays in the structure of the community. Australians are good at that side of things - much more egalitarian ;)

It's also true that leaders have to be careful about what they can share with friends within the same community.

The nature of our work/calling means we know we have to move on as well.

So friendship is an enormous blessing, not to be taken for granted. I'm learning to accept the friendships I have for the time I can have them, but it's not easy...

I discovered that for one of my children it has also been hard. Please pray for them as we face another move in 2015.

In another vein of thought:

This comes from the pastor of Hamilton Baps: