"La sagesse, c'est d'avoir des rêves suffisamment grands pour ne pas les perdre de vue lorsqu'on les poursuit." Oscar Wilde.
"Wisdom is having dreams that are sufficiently big so as not to lose sight of them as we are pursuing them." My own translation because I can't find the original.
This fits in nicely with ONE - the last Vitality Workshop to help churches put their Strategic Ministry Planning projects into place as a healthy, missional church should.
Another piece of wisdom to help Vitality in our churches; goes with "...if your memories are bigger thn your dreams, you have already begun to die", Howard Hendricks. and "those who neglect the past are doomed to repeat it". (Vitality Team Field Guide p 12)
And because I was browsing to find the original quotes, I note these for fun, all from Oscar Wilde :
"Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.”
“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time
to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
The Wisdom of Others 2
"Bien-être : état d'esprit produit par la contemplation des ennuis d'autrui." Ambrose Bierce
“Happiness: an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.”
This is from the man who said: "“You don't have to be stupid to be a Christian, ... but it probably helps.”
Actually starting to like the man as I read on ....
“Mayonnaise: One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.”
Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.”
Go look for yourselves on this site : Ambrose Bierce quotes
It's always a challenge to me when I read intelligent criticism of Christianity, because I feel that we are partly responsible for the bad image Christianity has. If we were truly representative of God's Kingdom values, there would be much less legalism, hypocrisy, laziness, spiritual misery.
Or am I too much of an idealist ???
“Happiness: an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.”
This is from the man who said: "“You don't have to be stupid to be a Christian, ... but it probably helps.”
Actually starting to like the man as I read on ....
“Mayonnaise: One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.”
Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.”
Go look for yourselves on this site : Ambrose Bierce quotes
It's always a challenge to me when I read intelligent criticism of Christianity, because I feel that we are partly responsible for the bad image Christianity has. If we were truly representative of God's Kingdom values, there would be much less legalism, hypocrisy, laziness, spiritual misery.
Or am I too much of an idealist ???
The Wisdom of others 1
"La bouche garde le silence pour écouter parler le coeur." Alfred de Musset
"The mouth keeps silent in order to hear the heart speak."
French poet who started with the Romantics but was part of a literary group that didn't want to be categorized.
He became a member of the famous, prestigious Académie Française. Died youngish having led an increasingly dissolute life which sapped his creative energy.
I don't know the context of this saying, so I will just explain why I like this phrase.
I am a talker. I always seem to have something to say. And I love knowing things and finding things out. However, I have realized that it doesn't really matter if others don't know what I know. I don't have to inflict all my fascinating thoughts on others!
From a psychological/emotional point of view, my need to talk and to share comes from a need to be recognized and appreciated. But also comes from an innate desire to share with others and to bond through common experience and knowledge. So if I stop talking long enough, I can hear what my heart (our way of describing the seat of our emotions) is really saying.
Having heard, and defined my real need, I can tailor my response so as to be more considerate of the people around me.
But, more importantly, I can let my silence be an invitation to the Holy Spirit to minister to me and to help me in my need. In this way I can develop my dependance on God the Father instead of being yet another needy person others have to deal with.
In Christian Counselling, in any form of therapy in fact, we aim to help the client/patient understand what his/her psyche is really expressing in order to find a way to be more balanced and to find a certain freedom in well-being. So silence and reflection are vital to the process of listening to one's heart. Yet after that, we encourage words because they are therapeutic.
"Be still and know that I am God" is one of the most healing phrases I know.
(Psalm 46:10)
"The mouth keeps silent in order to hear the heart speak."
French poet who started with the Romantics but was part of a literary group that didn't want to be categorized.
He became a member of the famous, prestigious Académie Française. Died youngish having led an increasingly dissolute life which sapped his creative energy.
I don't know the context of this saying, so I will just explain why I like this phrase.
I am a talker. I always seem to have something to say. And I love knowing things and finding things out. However, I have realized that it doesn't really matter if others don't know what I know. I don't have to inflict all my fascinating thoughts on others!
From a psychological/emotional point of view, my need to talk and to share comes from a need to be recognized and appreciated. But also comes from an innate desire to share with others and to bond through common experience and knowledge. So if I stop talking long enough, I can hear what my heart (our way of describing the seat of our emotions) is really saying.
Having heard, and defined my real need, I can tailor my response so as to be more considerate of the people around me.
But, more importantly, I can let my silence be an invitation to the Holy Spirit to minister to me and to help me in my need. In this way I can develop my dependance on God the Father instead of being yet another needy person others have to deal with.
In Christian Counselling, in any form of therapy in fact, we aim to help the client/patient understand what his/her psyche is really expressing in order to find a way to be more balanced and to find a certain freedom in well-being. So silence and reflection are vital to the process of listening to one's heart. Yet after that, we encourage words because they are therapeutic.
"Be still and know that I am God" is one of the most healing phrases I know.
(Psalm 46:10)
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
We have to talk about sin ....
Here is a link to an article by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Don't really know him or follow him, but given he started off on the Paris terrorist attacks, I kept reading. And I appreciate the way he talks about sin ... we mustn't forget that recognising what it is is a key to understanding faith in Jesus Christ. We need to find new ways in which to present it so we don't get blasé or too tolerant of things which are really wrong.
Paris, God and the Garbage Disposal
I just read an extract of a book about compassion. (Etienne Séguier : a French author). He is also on a bit of a campaign to revive real compassion in a world where we are fast becoming immune to all the evil and tragedy reported to us.
Pratiquer la miséricorde
Amazing phenomenon : the #prayforparis
Do you realize what this means ? The French are grateful for our prayers, thankful for the solidarity we are showing and prepared to turn to God for comfort.
Some are reporting that many have rejected prayers because they've had a gut-full of religion.
Others are pointing out the prayers which come from Buddhist philosophy and are not the same as Christian prayers.
But isn't it interesting that this time around, the slogans are not "We are Paris" like it was "Je suis Charlie" in January ? The slogans are looking upward and outward.
And, as one of our pastors pointed out in our Regional pastoral meeting yesterday, people haven't necessarily rejected God, but they have definitely learned to mistrust organised religion and that has been over many CENTURIES, not just recently.
More agnostic than atheist then ?
What is our Christian response ???
Paris, God and the Garbage Disposal
I just read an extract of a book about compassion. (Etienne Séguier : a French author). He is also on a bit of a campaign to revive real compassion in a world where we are fast becoming immune to all the evil and tragedy reported to us.
Pratiquer la miséricorde
Amazing phenomenon : the #prayforparis
Do you realize what this means ? The French are grateful for our prayers, thankful for the solidarity we are showing and prepared to turn to God for comfort.
Some are reporting that many have rejected prayers because they've had a gut-full of religion.
Others are pointing out the prayers which come from Buddhist philosophy and are not the same as Christian prayers.
But isn't it interesting that this time around, the slogans are not "We are Paris" like it was "Je suis Charlie" in January ? The slogans are looking upward and outward.
And, as one of our pastors pointed out in our Regional pastoral meeting yesterday, people haven't necessarily rejected God, but they have definitely learned to mistrust organised religion and that has been over many CENTURIES, not just recently.
More agnostic than atheist then ?
What is our Christian response ???
Monday, November 16, 2015
An accurate analysis from my point of view.
This is a big extract fromThe Guardian, Sunday 15th November 2015
"So how do we account for the way that terrorism has been nurtured in assimilationist France too? And how different are French assimilationist and British multicultural policies?
Many of the French criticisms of multiculturalism were valid. British policy-makers welcomed diversity, but tried to manage it by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes, defining individual needs and rights by virtue of the boxes into which people are put, and using those boxes to shape public policy. They treated minority communities as if each were a distinct, homogenous whole, each composed of people all speaking with a single voice, each defined by a singular view of culture and faith. The consequence has been the creation of a more fragmented, tribal society, which has nurtured Islamism. The irony, though, is that the French policies, from a very different starting point, have ended up at much the same place.
There are, it is often claimed, some five million Muslims in France, making it the largest Muslim community in western Europe. In fact, there are five million people of North African origin in France. Most are secular. A growing number have, in recent years, become attracted to Islam. But even today, according to a 2011 poll by the l’Institut Français d’Opinion Publique (Ifop), only 40% call themselves “observant Muslims” – and only 25% attend Friday prayers.
First-generation postwar immigrants to France faced, just like their counterparts in Britain, considerable racism. The second generation, again as in Britain, was far less willing than their parents had been to accept passively social discrimination and police brutality. They organised, largely through secular movements, and took to the streets, often in violent protest. In autumn 2005, riots swept through French banlieues and cities as youth and police fought pitched battles, much as they had in Britain two decades earlier.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the French authorities had taken a relatively laid-back stance on multiculturalism, generally tolerating cultural and religious differences, at a time when few within minority communities expressed their identity in cultural or religious terms. The then president François Mitterrand even coined the slogan “droit à la differénce” – the right to be different.
As tensions within North African communities became more open, and as the far-right Front National emerged as a political force, so the “droit à la differénce” was abandoned for a more hardline assimilationist approach, with the problems of North African communities presented in terms of their “difference”. Few of the youth who rioted in 2005 saw themselves as Muslim. But the authorities portrayed the riots and the disaffection they expressed less as a response to racism than as an expression of a growing threat to France – that of Islam. In principle, the French authorities rejected the multiculturalist approach that Britain had adopted. In practice, however, they treated North African migrants and their descendants, in a very “multicultural” way – as a single community, and primarily as a “Muslim” community. Islam became symbolic of the anxieties about values and identity that now beset France.
A much-discussed 2013 poll conducted by Ipsos and the Centre for Political Studies Sciences (Cevipof) found that 50% of the population believed “the decline of France”, both economic and cultural, to be “inevitable”. Under a third thought that democracy worked well, while 62% considered most politicians to be corrupt. The report described a “fractured France”, divided into tribal groups, alienated from mainstream politics, distrustful of their leaders and resentful of Muslims. The main sentiment driving French society, the report concluded, was fear.
Faced with a distrustful and disengaged public, politicians have attempted to reassert the notion of a common French identity. But unable to define clearly the ideas and values that characterise the nation, they have done so primarily by creating hostility against symbols of alien-ness, the most visible of which is Islam.
The irony is that not only is France’s North African population predominantly secular, but even practising Muslims are relatively liberal in their views. According to the Ifop poll, 68% of observant women never wear the hijab. Fewer than a third of practising Muslims would forbid their daughters from marrying a non-Muslim. Eighty-one per cent accept that women should have equal rights in divorce; 44% have no problem with the issue of co-habitation; 38% support the right to abortion; and 31% approve of sex before marriage. Only on homosexuality is there a deeply conservative stance: 77% of practising Muslims disapprove.
Yet, far from including North Africans as full citizens, French policy has tended to ignore the racism and discrimination they have faced and institutionalised their marginalisation. Many in France look upon its citizens of North African origins not as French but as “Arab” or as “Muslim”. But the second generation within North African communities are often as estranged from their parents’ cultures and mores, and from mainstream Islam, as they are from wider French society.
Consider, for instance, the Kouachi brothers,. They were raised in Gennevilliers, a northern suburb of Paris. Cherif Kouachi, who appeared to mastermind the operation, only rarely attended mosque and appeared not to be particularly religious, but was driven by a sense of social estrangement. He was, according to Mohammed Benali, president of the local mosque, of a ‘‘generation that felt excluded, discriminated against and, most of all, humiliated. They spoke and felt French, but were regarded as Arabic; they were culturally confused.”
According to Benali, Kouachi was most affronted by the imam’s insistence on the importance of political engagement. “When the imam told everyone to enrol on the register of electors so they could take part in elections, and play their part in society, he refused. He said he wasn’t a French citizen and wanted nothing to do with the democratic process. He then walked out of the mosque.”
Kouachi’s story is not that different from that of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 bombings in London. They are of a milieu caught not between two cultures, as it is often claimed, but between no cultures. As a consequence, some of them have turned to Islamism and a few have expressed their rage through jihadi-style violence.
There are aspects of both the multiculturalist and assimilationist approaches that are valuable. The multicultural acceptance of diversity and the assimilationist resolve to treat everyone as citizens, not as bearers of specific racial or cultural histories, are both welcome. And there are aspects of both that are damaging – the multiculturalist tendency to place minorities into ethnic and cultural boxes, the assimilationist attempt to create a common identity by institutionalising the differences of groups deemed not to belong.
An ideal policy would marry the beneficial aspects of the two approaches – celebrating diversity while treating everyone as citizens, rather than as simply belonging to particular communities. In practice, though, Britain and France have both institutionalised the more damaging features – Britain placing minorities into ethnic and cultural boxes, France attempting to create a common identity by treating those of North African origin as the Other. The consequence has been that in both Britain and France societies have become more fractured and tribal. And in both nations a space has been opened up for Islamism to grow."
Kenan Malik
"So how do we account for the way that terrorism has been nurtured in assimilationist France too? And how different are French assimilationist and British multicultural policies?
Many of the French criticisms of multiculturalism were valid. British policy-makers welcomed diversity, but tried to manage it by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes, defining individual needs and rights by virtue of the boxes into which people are put, and using those boxes to shape public policy. They treated minority communities as if each were a distinct, homogenous whole, each composed of people all speaking with a single voice, each defined by a singular view of culture and faith. The consequence has been the creation of a more fragmented, tribal society, which has nurtured Islamism. The irony, though, is that the French policies, from a very different starting point, have ended up at much the same place.
There are, it is often claimed, some five million Muslims in France, making it the largest Muslim community in western Europe. In fact, there are five million people of North African origin in France. Most are secular. A growing number have, in recent years, become attracted to Islam. But even today, according to a 2011 poll by the l’Institut Français d’Opinion Publique (Ifop), only 40% call themselves “observant Muslims” – and only 25% attend Friday prayers.
First-generation postwar immigrants to France faced, just like their counterparts in Britain, considerable racism. The second generation, again as in Britain, was far less willing than their parents had been to accept passively social discrimination and police brutality. They organised, largely through secular movements, and took to the streets, often in violent protest. In autumn 2005, riots swept through French banlieues and cities as youth and police fought pitched battles, much as they had in Britain two decades earlier.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the French authorities had taken a relatively laid-back stance on multiculturalism, generally tolerating cultural and religious differences, at a time when few within minority communities expressed their identity in cultural or religious terms. The then president François Mitterrand even coined the slogan “droit à la differénce” – the right to be different.
As tensions within North African communities became more open, and as the far-right Front National emerged as a political force, so the “droit à la differénce” was abandoned for a more hardline assimilationist approach, with the problems of North African communities presented in terms of their “difference”. Few of the youth who rioted in 2005 saw themselves as Muslim. But the authorities portrayed the riots and the disaffection they expressed less as a response to racism than as an expression of a growing threat to France – that of Islam. In principle, the French authorities rejected the multiculturalist approach that Britain had adopted. In practice, however, they treated North African migrants and their descendants, in a very “multicultural” way – as a single community, and primarily as a “Muslim” community. Islam became symbolic of the anxieties about values and identity that now beset France.
A much-discussed 2013 poll conducted by Ipsos and the Centre for Political Studies Sciences (Cevipof) found that 50% of the population believed “the decline of France”, both economic and cultural, to be “inevitable”. Under a third thought that democracy worked well, while 62% considered most politicians to be corrupt. The report described a “fractured France”, divided into tribal groups, alienated from mainstream politics, distrustful of their leaders and resentful of Muslims. The main sentiment driving French society, the report concluded, was fear.
Faced with a distrustful and disengaged public, politicians have attempted to reassert the notion of a common French identity. But unable to define clearly the ideas and values that characterise the nation, they have done so primarily by creating hostility against symbols of alien-ness, the most visible of which is Islam.
The irony is that not only is France’s North African population predominantly secular, but even practising Muslims are relatively liberal in their views. According to the Ifop poll, 68% of observant women never wear the hijab. Fewer than a third of practising Muslims would forbid their daughters from marrying a non-Muslim. Eighty-one per cent accept that women should have equal rights in divorce; 44% have no problem with the issue of co-habitation; 38% support the right to abortion; and 31% approve of sex before marriage. Only on homosexuality is there a deeply conservative stance: 77% of practising Muslims disapprove.
Yet, far from including North Africans as full citizens, French policy has tended to ignore the racism and discrimination they have faced and institutionalised their marginalisation. Many in France look upon its citizens of North African origins not as French but as “Arab” or as “Muslim”. But the second generation within North African communities are often as estranged from their parents’ cultures and mores, and from mainstream Islam, as they are from wider French society.
Consider, for instance, the Kouachi brothers,. They were raised in Gennevilliers, a northern suburb of Paris. Cherif Kouachi, who appeared to mastermind the operation, only rarely attended mosque and appeared not to be particularly religious, but was driven by a sense of social estrangement. He was, according to Mohammed Benali, president of the local mosque, of a ‘‘generation that felt excluded, discriminated against and, most of all, humiliated. They spoke and felt French, but were regarded as Arabic; they were culturally confused.”
According to Benali, Kouachi was most affronted by the imam’s insistence on the importance of political engagement. “When the imam told everyone to enrol on the register of electors so they could take part in elections, and play their part in society, he refused. He said he wasn’t a French citizen and wanted nothing to do with the democratic process. He then walked out of the mosque.”
Kouachi’s story is not that different from that of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 bombings in London. They are of a milieu caught not between two cultures, as it is often claimed, but between no cultures. As a consequence, some of them have turned to Islamism and a few have expressed their rage through jihadi-style violence.
There are aspects of both the multiculturalist and assimilationist approaches that are valuable. The multicultural acceptance of diversity and the assimilationist resolve to treat everyone as citizens, not as bearers of specific racial or cultural histories, are both welcome. And there are aspects of both that are damaging – the multiculturalist tendency to place minorities into ethnic and cultural boxes, the assimilationist attempt to create a common identity by institutionalising the differences of groups deemed not to belong.
An ideal policy would marry the beneficial aspects of the two approaches – celebrating diversity while treating everyone as citizens, rather than as simply belonging to particular communities. In practice, though, Britain and France have both institutionalised the more damaging features – Britain placing minorities into ethnic and cultural boxes, France attempting to create a common identity by treating those of North African origin as the Other. The consequence has been that in both Britain and France societies have become more fractured and tribal. And in both nations a space has been opened up for Islamism to grow."
Kenan Malik
How do we cope with recent tragic events ?
Australian Christian friends sent the following message of support to us who are ministering in the Lord's name here in France. We are far away from the Parisian epi-centre of these tragic, violent events and physically safe. However, along with the whole population, we are trying to understand why, and what should our Christian reaction be.
These friends expressed some of what I would have liked to have put into words. After their words, you have my reply.
You have said exactly what I have been trying to put into words. Our prayer, Pascal's and mine, is that people will fall on their knees and worship God. Many of our parishioners are on a different level of understanding and are talking against the refugees arriving, the North African population from former colonies.... not really questioning the moral position France has maintained since the Revolution ! as well as the militant secularism. So the verse we had at our women's retreat last week was very apt :
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Thank you for upholding us in France.
Be blessed,
Jennie
.
These friends expressed some of what I would have liked to have put into words. After their words, you have my reply.
"Bonjour Jennie and family,
Everyone is grieving here. Turn by turn, the evil
one is bent on destroying as many people
as possible....but God is still in control and
promised to work all things together for good.
Perhaps
for France it means a return to God. We pray it
will be so. One young lady from Hobart is still
in hospital with gunshot wounds, and a Melbourne
woman escaped by pretending to be dead.
We pray for all who are in a critical condition
there. May the Lord heal them all.
When tragedy hit Job - he knelt and worshipped
God. This must have been a very hard decision
for him to make....but it was the right one. Your
people will need to do the same...with His grace"You have said exactly what I have been trying to put into words. Our prayer, Pascal's and mine, is that people will fall on their knees and worship God. Many of our parishioners are on a different level of understanding and are talking against the refugees arriving, the North African population from former colonies.... not really questioning the moral position France has maintained since the Revolution ! as well as the militant secularism. So the verse we had at our women's retreat last week was very apt :
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Thank you for upholding us in France.
Be blessed,
Jennie
Thursday, August 20, 2015
How do YOU define success?
I am currently on a 3 month Home Assignment trip in my homeland. Having many opportunities to speak about life in France, life as a Christian in France and life as a Christian missionary in France !
The definition of success is a recurring theme. When you look back over that 3-year term of service; when you go from living in your homeland for the longest to living in your country of service for the longest period (25 years now); when your parents have aged and they start reminiscing and evaluating their lives .... you check out your definition of success.
Appreciated the following article : what do you think ?
http://byfaithonline.com/the-biblical-meaning-of-success/
The definition of success is a recurring theme. When you look back over that 3-year term of service; when you go from living in your homeland for the longest to living in your country of service for the longest period (25 years now); when your parents have aged and they start reminiscing and evaluating their lives .... you check out your definition of success.
Appreciated the following article : what do you think ?
http://byfaithonline.com/the-biblical-meaning-of-success/
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Busy, busy, busy
No time to write - too busy being busy !!
May - our Church Union's Synod. Lots of talk on the Vitality Pathway which I'm helping to put into place.
- organising the translation of the Vitality material
- preparation for my home assignment in Australia
- Vitality work in our church
- Christian counselling big time with a particularly difficult situation to accompany
- did manage to finish some spring-cleaning tasks :)
June - Next training session for the Evangelism Sub-Committee of the Union.
- as much of the material possible to be translated and the powerpoint presentations to be re-worked
- preparation for my home assignment in Australia
- all my kids have final exams for this last stage of their particular level in education
- and the garden ? No way ... although a couple of friends have given a helping hand.
In all of this, prayer is undergirding the activism so that it's not just activism. There is a purpose in this work. Praying for an open mind and spirit to be lead by the Spirit. May Your Kingdom come ....
May - our Church Union's Synod. Lots of talk on the Vitality Pathway which I'm helping to put into place.
- organising the translation of the Vitality material
- preparation for my home assignment in Australia
- Vitality work in our church
- Christian counselling big time with a particularly difficult situation to accompany
- did manage to finish some spring-cleaning tasks :)
June - Next training session for the Evangelism Sub-Committee of the Union.
- as much of the material possible to be translated and the powerpoint presentations to be re-worked
- preparation for my home assignment in Australia
- all my kids have final exams for this last stage of their particular level in education
- and the garden ? No way ... although a couple of friends have given a helping hand.
In all of this, prayer is undergirding the activism so that it's not just activism. There is a purpose in this work. Praying for an open mind and spirit to be lead by the Spirit. May Your Kingdom come ....
Thursday, April 23, 2015
New Year - New Quotes!
Just when you thought it was safe to read my blog .... I have another set of quotes from the chocolates we received at Christmas time!
Here goes:
"Le passé est un phare, non un port." Proverbe russe
"The past is a lighthouse, not a port." Russian proverb. This is a very important distinction to make, especially as we continue on the Vitality Pathway in our churches. One of the tasks the temporary Vitality team will accomplish is looking at the history of the local church in order to discern the key times, positive and negative, of the life of this church. It also helps discern patterns of behaviour and gives an idea of the culture of the church. When brought before the Lord, these things can lead to the necessary changes to become a healthy missional church. (see below also)
"The past is a lighthouse, not a port." Russian proverb. This is a very important distinction to make, especially as we continue on the Vitality Pathway in our churches. One of the tasks the temporary Vitality team will accomplish is looking at the history of the local church in order to discern the key times, positive and negative, of the life of this church. It also helps discern patterns of behaviour and gives an idea of the culture of the church. When brought before the Lord, these things can lead to the necessary changes to become a healthy missional church. (see below also)
"Ne fais rien dans ta vie, qui te fasse redouter que ton voisin en prenne connaissance." Epicure
"Don't do anything in your life about which you would not want your neighbour to find out." Epicure.
Mmmm. How very moral of him. But how very appropriate. This helps justify rules ! Common values to be lived out in society. If you don't adhere to Christian values, this type of morality would do very well to make sure we live together in relative harmony, once those common values and ensuing rules were defined.
But for Christians it is different. "Don't do anything that you would not want God to see ..." is a negative, legalistic version for Christians. Many of us grew up with this approach. But freedom in Christ, being identified with Christ, takes away the legalistic side. "Because Jesus loved me enough to die in my place, I have been saved. I live in grace. My gratitude, and the freedom I have (but did not earn myself!), plus the fact that the Holy Spirit is an intimate part of my life, means that I strive to live out my life based on Kingdom values and in the strength of God, not on my own strength. So I don't want to do anything in my life which contradicts the freedom I have in Christ, nor which is not in line with God's morality (which is perfect)."
Mmmm. How very moral of him. But how very appropriate. This helps justify rules ! Common values to be lived out in society. If you don't adhere to Christian values, this type of morality would do very well to make sure we live together in relative harmony, once those common values and ensuing rules were defined.
But for Christians it is different. "Don't do anything that you would not want God to see ..." is a negative, legalistic version for Christians. Many of us grew up with this approach. But freedom in Christ, being identified with Christ, takes away the legalistic side. "Because Jesus loved me enough to die in my place, I have been saved. I live in grace. My gratitude, and the freedom I have (but did not earn myself!), plus the fact that the Holy Spirit is an intimate part of my life, means that I strive to live out my life based on Kingdom values and in the strength of God, not on my own strength. So I don't want to do anything in my life which contradicts the freedom I have in Christ, nor which is not in line with God's morality (which is perfect)."
"Qu'on me donne six heures pour couper un arbre, j'en passerai quatre à préparer ma hache." Abraham Lincoln.
"If you give me six hours to cut down a tree, I will spend four of those hours preparing my axe."
Such an appropriate quote for the Vitality Pathway ! Our first major workshop 'Veritas', uses the PARABLE OF THE SOWER to explain how we need to prepare the soil in order to gain the best results once the grain is planted. Before making necessary changes, before understanding what God wants from our church given who we are and the context in which we are placed, we need to do a lot of investigating, preparation and, especially, prayer. Good preparation will facilitate (but not necessarily guarantee) success.
Such an appropriate quote for the Vitality Pathway ! Our first major workshop 'Veritas', uses the PARABLE OF THE SOWER to explain how we need to prepare the soil in order to gain the best results once the grain is planted. Before making necessary changes, before understanding what God wants from our church given who we are and the context in which we are placed, we need to do a lot of investigating, preparation and, especially, prayer. Good preparation will facilitate (but not necessarily guarantee) success.
"La beauté touche les sens et le beau touche l'âme." Joseph Joubert
"Beauty touches the senses and the beautiful (the lovely, the fine) touches the soul."
The French language can be so beautiful and can express beautiful ideas so beautifully.
Studying, meditating, reflecting on passages of the Bible is such a beautiful exercise and touches the soul.
Contemplating Jesus is so sweet - his beauty touches the soul and invites us to see so much beauty in the world and in others.
The French language can be so beautiful and can express beautiful ideas so beautifully.
Studying, meditating, reflecting on passages of the Bible is such a beautiful exercise and touches the soul.
Contemplating Jesus is so sweet - his beauty touches the soul and invites us to see so much beauty in the world and in others.
"Les plus beaux mots du monde ne sont que des sons inutiles si vous ne pouvez pas les comprendre." Anatole France
"The most beautiful words in the world are just useless sounds if you can't understand them."
Sends me back to all we ever learn about the importance of communication, real communication. Non-violent communication. Although some poets would disagree ...
In the Vitality Pathway we are encouraged to choose 3 ideas after each meeting that we are going to communicate to the wider church community. And we start each session with a word from The Word - which puts everything into perspective and which is nourishment to our soul. Understanding God's Word is vital and revitalizing.
Sends me back to all we ever learn about the importance of communication, real communication. Non-violent communication. Although some poets would disagree ...
In the Vitality Pathway we are encouraged to choose 3 ideas after each meeting that we are going to communicate to the wider church community. And we start each session with a word from The Word - which puts everything into perspective and which is nourishment to our soul. Understanding God's Word is vital and revitalizing.
"Une lecture amusante est aussi utile à la santé que l'exercice du corps". Emmanuel Kant
"An enteraining read is as useful to our health as exercising our bodies."
Healthy mind, healthy body !
We are what we read ???
We are what we eat, apparently.
"An enteraining read is as useful to our health as exercising our bodies."
Healthy mind, healthy body !
We are what we read ???
We are what we eat, apparently.
Monday, April 6, 2015
At last an intelligent interviewer ...
I've known about Nick Vujicic for a number of years, not least because people mention him to me since we are both Aussies. I've always appreciated his positive attitude, his choices to be positive and to trust in God in much deeper ways than we usually mean when we are Christians, his humour and his great way of connecting to teenage crowds in particular. He's a very public example of how God can use us when we make ourselves available and even vulnerable enough to be used by Him. It takes courage and obedience to go that road.
I particularly appreciated the intelligent questions of the interviewer. Didn't know this programme so am interested in looking it up.
Anyway, here is the link for you to enjoy as well. It's currently circulating on F/book.
Nick Vujicic in Moscow
Thursday, April 2, 2015
And this is for my children
Dad sends me Nikki Gemmell articles. I've come to love her literary style and especially appreciate her point of view on our common concerns. She wrote a great piece about a nun once.
This is for posterity - for my kids.
PUBERTY BLUES by Nikki Gemmell (The Weekend Australian Magazine, Feb 2015)
T0 my child starting high school: .
Now is the beginning of the letting
go. When you start the walking
away, and already 1can feel the
reins of attachment loosening, you tugging at
the bit. 1 can't control your world anymore
- your destiny, happiness, bedtime or screen
time (as much as 1want to) - nor can 1 shape
your sense of discipline, hunger and drive, who
you hang out with and what foods you eat
beyond this, your always-home. It's up to you
now to seize the world, or not, without my close
guidance; all the vividness and variety around
you. It's up to you to have discipline and drive,
or not, but you won't get far without either. It's
up to you to risk, fail, pick yourself up, try again,
sornething different. There'll be an endless
moving away from the known now, a shutting
out. Of your parents most of all. It's what it
takes to become adult.
A recent study confirms what l'm learning
fast - that a majority of parents think its harder
coping with a teenager than a newborn.
Thirteen, according to the parents surveyed by
Netmums, is the most gruelling age. Company
founder Siobhan Freegard says, "It is almost like
a rebirth of your children when puberty kicks
in ... The change can seem it has occurred
almost overnight, and the child you thought you
knew has suddenly turned into somebody you
don't recognise." Its about control, most of all.
We parents no longer have as tight a command
and you're kicking out strong, bucking off so
much; the hovering, judgment, nagging, the
attempts at shaping, the domestic
claustrophobia. You need release, to find your
own way. But it's hard for
us to let go. We've held
on tighr for so long.
You'll build fences
around yourself,
barricades. There'll be
swearing, no doubt;
maybe even slammed doors, stormings off-:
declarations, possibly, that family members are
hated. So be it. It's all in the mix of what it takes
to become an adult, Anger will roar at you, a
sense that no one understands, no one gets it.
And at times you'll feel lost. That you don't
know who you are. That you're isolated and
friendless and that no one else, ever, has felt
more alone than you. Oh we have. It's hard,
being a teenager; the great churn of it. We know,
we've been rhere. lt's hard, feeling too much.
May you one day understand why Lynx (or its
equivalent) is a good, regular thing - apparently
this finally happens when the opposite sex comes
into your life (or the same sex, if you're that way
inclined: we're leaving that all up to you). Open
wide your bedroom window, let in the light.
Seize high school. Not just the narrowly academic
side of it, which is only part of the unfolding
wonder of these years. There's so much variety
now in secondary school - your parents could
only dream of it fabulous clubs and obscure
sports and all manner of creative activities. Try
something fresh, often; it's all about finding your
passion, what these years are really about, to me,
not sorne number on a piece of paper at the end
of it, One of the saddest things 1ever heard was
from a 40-year-old mate: "1 have no passion in
life." Now is the time to glean it.
Beware social media - what is written in a
careless second will leave an electronic imprint
that could one day be traced by a potential
employer, or a fellow studenr's mother. Gulp
the world. Don't bury your head in a screen.
And don't entirely lose
the ludic, that little boy
still bubbling up, so close
under your skin. It breaks
your mother's heart to see
it - with happiness. Be
courageously kind, and
reckless with your exuberance. You are radiant
and beautiful and don't even know it.
Everything about you feels forceful and fragile.
This is a time of self-doubt and hesitation,
bravery and bluff and 1 carry your vivid
mortifications, your hurts and pain like iron in
my chest. Because 1 am a mother. Never forget
you can talk to me. 1 might understand.
Words and ideas of others ...
I said the same thing on my last post: it's a connecting experience reading the words and ideas of others. I love finding phrases which describe thoughts or experiences I can so relate to.
Here are two quotes from extremely different sources, but which coincide for me :
Albert Camus: Le Désert (Les Noces) Sorry, it's in French
"Le matérialisme le plus répugnant n'est pas celui qu'on croit, mais bien celui qui veut nous faire passer des idées mortes pour des réalités vivantes et détourner sur des mythes stériles l'attention obstinée et lucide que nous portons à ce qui en nous doit mourir pour toujours."
OK - it's a bit heavy and the sentence is unusually long for a French text. Translation ? Here goes:
"The most repugnant form of materialism is not the one we think of generally, but the form which wants us to believe dead ideas are in fact living realities and the form which distracts our obstinant and clear-sighted attention on what we carry in us which is destined to die forever, which distracts this attention towards sterile myths."
On a much lighter philosophical note, but which deals in materialism and sterile myths: this article from Natasha Robinson in her column 'Plus Life' (The Weekend Australian, Feb 2015)
"COOKING CULT THAT LEAVES ME COLD
THERE is a target on my back. 1 unwittingly have become
an apron-wearing whistleblower and the strings
of that apron may one day be found around my throat.
The devotees of the cult 1 have blown wide open
number in their tens of thousands, They are organised,
they are rich and they will go to any length to defend
their master, They are steadily taking over the means of
production and inserting it into every kitchen in the
country. If you can come up with $2000, that is, Or even
if you can't, don't worry. You can pay it off.
Yes, 1 am speaking of the Thermomix. You may have
heard of it referred to as the Thermy. It's essentially a
glorified food processor, It chops, it steams, it grinds, it
whirrs and it cooks at the touch of a button. It's a lovable-
sounding name, but let me assure you it's not a lovable
machine. It gives you no love at aIl. It's noisy, and
it's clinical. And did 1 mention it's TWO THOUSAND
DOLLARS?
Now 1 don't want to be unfair, If you can't cook to
save your life, the Thermomix may be your best friend,
If you have special dietary requirements to cater for and
must cook from scratch it's useful, If you're an activated
almonds kind of type you also may worship the Thermy
as you pump out cold-pressed almond milk and churn-your-
own butter, aIl while engaging in a headstand .
1 may be the only busy mum in the inner-city cirde of
Sydney who does not love the Thermomix. People, 1
tried, 1 attended a demonstration night. We made the
risotto; we made the custard. Heck, we even made the
pizza dough, l've gotta say, aIl of it was average.
Undeterred, 1 borrowed my neighbour's Thermomix
for three weeks. l gave it a really good go. 1 know
that plenty of hatted chefs have a Thermy in their kitchens
for knocking up ganache, but let me tell you, for ordinary
mortals, using a Thermomix is not cooking.
For aIl its wizardry, you are still left with the worst
parts of cooking (peeling onion skin, washing up) without
aIl the best bits.
1 don't want to boast but 1 make a mean risotto.
Creamy, with just the right amount of cream. How do 1
know? Because 1 taste. A lot. 1 mix. For 40 minutes. And
I love it.
Yes, 1 couId be doing the mopping while Thermy
makes stodgy risotto, but guess what? Mopping can
wait. So can the bath. Because my kids are right up there
at the stove with me, adding chunks of butter, mixing
flour and water in their own little ceramic pots and feeding
their version of risotto to their dolls.
This is what 1 love about cooking. It's labour-intensive,
it's hypnotic, it's creative, it's messy, and it's a grand
excuse for licking spoons of chocolate batter. What
cornes out when the oven is opened is always unique.
And properly homemade."
__________________________________________
Natasha Robinson didn't really write this column. She is
merely the conduit for a brave Thermowhistleblower
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Death is not Dying and grief ...
Follow this link for a wonderful piece on grief.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/memento-mori/?smid=fb-share&_r=0
and the link on my blog page to Death is not Dying for another testimony of someone's journey.
Thank God for people who know how to share their part of the journey, who face reality and interpret it for us, who share with much love.
Smart !!
“Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.” –Laurence J. Peter
This quote caught my eye from a post about the Wicked Which's of the West forum to be held in Hamilton, Western Victoria, Australia 18, 19 March - check out their website:
http://www.wickedwhichs.com.au/about-us/
Love the play on words, by the way.
Living in Europe, in France, as a Christian in ministry, in a small country town where the people would like to stay out of it and just let the rest of the world get on with its crazy stupidity, I measure the truth of the above quote.
Being an accompanier, mother, wife, counsellor, pastor, missionary, and generally ordinary person, I measure the complexity of the world in which we live and in which we are asking our children to fit and to prepare to shape.
Being involved in the Vitality Pathway proposed to our Union of Churches means I'm part of a (great) team of people using their wonderful intelligence and knowledge to help the Holy Spirit bring back life in our churches.
So I take the above quote very personnally and feel flattered .... (tongue-in-cheek ;) )
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Life Continues ...
Life continues after the terrorist activities of early January.
The 3 'shepherds' : the priest, the Protestant lay pastor and the Evangelical pastor celebrated Christmas on the day we usually celebrate the Wise Men's visit to baby Jesus at the local Elderly People's home.
 | |
| Pascal reads the Bible text at the Aged Care Residence Christmas Celebration |
 |
| I am always pleased to see 'my colleagues': 2 nuns from 2 different congregations who work in this area. |
Last Sunday we had the Ecumenical Church service in the local (renovated at the State's and local council's cost) Catholic church. A significant celebration based around the text describing the Samaritan woman's meeting with Jesus around the well. The symbolism of water was very present and we were invited to transmit hand to hand water drawn from a well next to the church found during the renovations.
 |
| Transferring water as a symbol of God's spiritual gift to us : we were free to say a blessing or something to the person we passed the water on to. |
Our common prayer time was punctuated by the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The priest, the lay pastor of the Protestant Church and the evangelical pastor (my hubby!) all played their part. This time more members of our churches participated in the celebration. After the Charly Hebdo and Jewish supermarket atrocities, our minds were firmly centred on the meaning of Christian unity and diversity as well as the concept of 'freedom of expression'.
Yesterday we attended the consecration of one of our Union's pastors who has a part time position with the French Army. We were welcomed at the Army base chapel with a mixture of his parishioners (important that they support him in this other aspect of his ministry), Army chaplain personnel from Protestant and Catholic branches (no Muslim or Jewish chaplains there), and the military base hierarchy along with ordinary soldiers, the pastor's friends and family and some of his colleagues (us!).
Interesting context for a Christian service. A real sense of vocation amongst the chaplains. Humility and dependence on God especially the Holy Spirit. A common affirmation of our Christian faith through the Apostles Creed. A stated desire to respect the beliefs of others: Jews, Muslims, Atheists, agnostics and remaining open-minded in a multi-cultural, multi-faith context. A reference to patriotism and upholding the Republican values (I have to admit that I didn't feel all that implicated ;) ) A sense of supporting those who defend our living conditions in a 'free' country.
They mentioned those killed and prayed for the families of those who died in the Airforce plane crash in Spain. One person said "Killed for their country" as if they had perished in war, when they were in training for flying operations."Morts pour leur pays".
The chaplains accompany their units to outside operations in hot spots around the world and, apart from their presence and religious duties, they sometimes have a role in liaising with local populations. One of our colleagues was asked to liaise with the Christians, noted for himself the great needs of the local population and was able to raise a good sum of money through his church contacts in Lyon to directly help the people in need.
 | |
| Laying on of hands for the consecration. |
Life continues, but not always on the same trajectory. Events close to us, and far from us, nudge the paths we think we are on. Life is not a smooth journey, but is certainly meant to be lived to the full.
Australian Christmas Tree
And now for something a bit more light-hearted! Thanks to some Aussie missionary friends who passed this around.
Friday, January 16, 2015
The repercussions of the recent dramas in France
Now the emotion has calmed, radios, televisions, written press are beginning the analyses of why ? how? where lies the fault ? how to explain the radicalisation of young people drawn to Islam ; how to make opposite ideas and ideologies co-habit in a democratic society: is secularism the answer ? etc.
I read an interesting commentary published in The Telegraph, in which the author referred to Pope Benedict XVI 's masterful address to a German University in 2006. It helps us understand the different mentalities between secular, Western Christians and believing Muslims.
Here they are for you to decide for yourselves if these articles help you in your reflections on the subject.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Pascal's message after the massacre at Charlie Hebdo
Declaration
written on the evening of Wednesday 7th January 2015.
Good
Evening to all,
Today
pure violence has come to the fore. We feel its effects even more as
we come to the end of the Season where we celebrate the coming of the
Prince of Peace into this world. What happened in Paris this morning,
as for so many other similar incidents in France and elsewhere in the
world, has only served to show yet again man's incapacity to consider
Life as being the ultimate precious gift that we have, far greater
than any other possession.
We could have hoped that all
would recognize that Life itself is superior to all other things and
that all would agree on the sanctity of life. Unfortunately, that's
not the case for all. The heart of man is evil. In memory of these
stolen lives and taking into consideration of the suffering of a
number of grieving families for whom we can be praying, we should
remind ourselves that we Christians are called to be peacemakers.
Neither revenge, nor vengence belong to a Christian ethic. But we are
not condemned to staying silent. The Lord hears our prayers. As with
Paul : « We are hard pressed on every side, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthiens 4 :
8) ». Paul himself had experienced the horror of the violence
against him and could only trust in his God through his prayers.
Other
representatives of Protestant and Evangelical Christians have made
public declarations and I attach these to my email.
We
have heard of other public demonstrations being organised all over
the place by many different people. Whether in the midst of our
fellow citizens during one of these gatherings or while going about
our daily business, let's show others how we believe and what we
believe through our non-violent behaviour and by our words, both in
our private lives and in public. Let's block all negative thoughts
which could lead to dark stains in our lives.
Let's
ask God for His wisdom and speak out againt evil. Weep with those who
weep. May the Lord help all those who are suffering and may each
person recognize that He is God.
In
Christian love,
Pascal.
Happy New Year ???
As I write, the drama of hostages and Islamic extremists is being followed through TV and social network coverage.
Freedom of expression, liberty to choose one's beliefs and the exhortation to respect other people's choices: these are the big issues of the moment. I would add : how should we define 'blasphemy' ? and the sacredness of life.
God holds life to be sacred. His Son died so we could live. Life and Love. Eternal values.
So what can I wish you for this new year? These events can help us come out of our torpitude, our comfortableness, to emancipate ourselves from relying on other people's interpretations and media summaries. We should be shocked into deciding for ourselves what we believe in and for which values we would stand up for. It is a time in which we Christians can stand firm in our faith in a Sovereign God.
Life is not made of black and white issues, but of a myriad of colours and nuances. We need to be connected to God through the Holy Spirit in order to act, and even think, according to his will.
So may this year be filled with divine responses for each and everyone.
Next post: what Pascal has written for his parishoners after the murders at Charlie Hebdo.
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