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 ....

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)

"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)."

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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. 

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

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

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 ;) )

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.

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.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11335174/Charlie-Hebdo-secularism-is-not-the-solution-but-the-problem.html

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html

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.

Your right hand upholds me : Psalm 18:36

"My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me." Psalm 63:8

HELD

She's 3 years old, strong-minded and with independent spirit. The trail is rough, broken up by stones and roots.  Her father wants to help her avoid falling and hurting herself and suggests she holds his hand. Categorical refusal! The inevitable happens: she falls, gets up and rubs her knees. When she receives the same invitation from her Dad, she gives the same clear reply: "No!"

Her foot gets caught under a tree root. She falls flat on her face. Scratches on hands and knees; eyes fill with tears. Her Dad, worried for her, lovingly says: "Let me hold your hand." Her reply is different this time: "No, but let me hold yours". She knows she needs help, but wants to keep control. It's not all that convincing, but "OK, you can."

Of course she trips over again, lets go of her Dad's hand to protect herself as she falls. This time she's really bleeding and calls out while crying: "Daddy, please hold my hand!" They walk on. She trips up again over and over, but each time her Dad grips her wrist and stops her from falling. He is fully able to protect her from further pain.

And what about us? Do we think we are so strong that we can face the future in our own strength and independently of all others? Or will we let the Lord take us by the hand and thus avoid many of the traps and disasters that life can bring?

"Father, I know that, without you, I couldn't get through this year. Take me by the hand and I will have nothing to fear!"

Recommended reading: Psalm 18: 32-37

Sylvano Perrotti

Thursday 3rd January 2013

Daily Readings Calendar.

French version.

TENU

Elle a 3 ans, le caractère fort et l'esprit indépendant. Le chemin est accidenté, jonché de pierres, et de racines. Son père, désireux de lui éviter chutes et blessures, propose de lui tenir la main. Refus catégorique.

L'inévitable se produit: elle tombe, se relève, se frotte les genoux. A la même proposition, nouvelle réponse claire: Non !

Son pied se coince sous une racine: elle s'affale. Egratignures aux mains et aux genoux: les yeux se remplissent de larmes. Papa, soucieux, dit avec amour: "Laisse-moi te tenir la main." La réponse a changé: "Non, mais laisse-moi tenir la tienne." Elle sait qu'elle a besoin d'aide, mais veut garder le contrôle. Ce ne sera pas concluant, mais "OK. Tu peux!"

Bien sûr, elle trébuche à nouveau, lâche la main du papa pour se protéger dans sa chute. Cette fois, elle saigne abondamment et dit en pleurant: "Papa, s'il te plaît, tiens ma main." Ils se remettent en route. Elle trébuche souvent, mais, chaque fois, lui serrant la poigne, il l'empêche de tomber, la protégeant efficacement.

Et nous? Nous croyons-nous assez forts pour affronter l'année nouvelle par nos propres moyens, ou bien laisserons-nous le Seigneur nous tenir fermement face aux pièges et écueils que nous ne manquerons pas de rencontrer?

"Père, je sais que, sans toi, je ne pourrai m'en sortir tout au long de l'année qui vient de s'ouvrir. Mais prends ma main. Alors, je n'aurai rien à craindre."

Lecture recommandée: Psaume 18: 32-37

Silvano Perotti
Jeudi 3 janvier 2013
Méditations Quotidiennes 2013
Eds CAEF

Last quote for a while ... I've run out.

"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 sufficiently big dreams so as not to lose sight of them as we are pursuing those dreams." Oscar Wilde.

I think God has sufficiently big dreams ... He just has trouble with convincing us to go along with them!

Big visions always begin with the small first steps.

In every human group there is at least one visionary who understands the big picture and who inspires the others to look toward the horizon. But each group also needs those who put their nose to the grindstone, those who pay attention to detail, who anticipate problems/difficulties. We need those who are creative, communicative, positive and those who are prudent, thoughtful, scientific.

Vitality is a very big vision for our Union of Churches and we are starting with a group of motivated leaders in the Evangelism Sub-committee taking small steps (in their very busy schedules) to transmit this vision. We are convinced that it is the right Pathway for our churches. We can only go further with this vision as the Holy Spirit leads and empowers us and the members of our churches.

There will be times where we have our nose so close to the grindstone that we lose sight of the vision, but it's God's job to keep us going on this and to use all our talents to bring our churches into a more vital way of living out our faith in an amazing God.

May your Kingdom come ...

Here comes another one !!!

"L'âge auquel on partage tout est généralement l'âge où on n'a rien." Alphonse Daudet

"The age at which we share all things is generally the age at which we have nothing." Alphonse Daudet

Ever noticed how often those who have less are more willing to share?

There are a number of videos on Youtube or Facebook which illustrate this: a young guy asks several people to share their pizza because he's hungry. They refuse. He asks a homeless guy who has received some pizza from someone else and the homeless guy shares with him.

There are many similar stories from missionaries working in Asia, Africa and South America. It's the testimony of Soeur Emmanuelle who worked amongst the poorest Egyptian people living off the rubbish heaps.

When you know what it's like to not have much, you can sympathise more with others in the same predicament. Or you can choose to keep the little you have for yourself and refuse the other person's request or stay blind to his/her need.

Jesus gives a few examples of the right attitude:

1.  The poor widow who gives of her livelihood.  Luke 21:1

'As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." '

2. The parable of the talents.   Matthew 25: 14-30

' "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." ' (v.29)

3.  Kingdom values which turn traditional values upside down. Matthew 5:38-42

' "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." ' (v.42)

 May God inspire change and motivate commitment to justice and honesty during the G20 in Brisbane this week.

Thank you to all those who are actively seeking to promote Kingdom values in this context.

More pithy quotes !

My method is to transfer them onto the blog so I don't have to keep them on my notice board or desk!

"Dis-toi d'abord ce que tu veux être, puis fais ce qu'il faut pour le devenir." Epictète

"First tell yourself what you want to be, then do what is necessary to become what you want to be."

I grew up with this idea: expounded in our chic private girls' school, learned through models of successful women following the feminist era, absorbed as motivational life principles through an extensive study of literature (if only as a counter-example of being in control of one's life against the pressures of particular societies or social groups). This idea undergirds all Positive Thinking type seminars and teaching.

I think it can be applied to our Christian walk as well. Faith in Christ is a choice we make. When we first make a commitment to following Him it's a choice we make, or a positive response to an invitation we have received from God. Fairly soon after that commitment, we realise that we want to be as Christ-like as possible so we study up on Jesus and read the Scriptures (and other books!) to get the right ideas! But what is essentiel for a Christian in 'doing what is necessary to become what you want to be' is his/her understanding of the work and the role of the Holy Spirit. He's the one who interprets, teaches, enlightens, corrects, empowers, leads, whispers.... He the master of dealing with one-off situations, in applying faith principles to unexpected circumstances, and in the banality of everyday life ! 

So let's do what is necessary to become more and more Christ-like: open up to the Holy Spirit!

Please keep praying for our churches as we follow the Vitality Pathway.

Cultural differences: Encouragement

I thought of another difference which showed up during our Vitality Training session in Paris.

The French approach to encouragement and learning styles versus the American way.

Our enthusiastic American friend with such a heart for France would punctuate our comments and questions with "Excellent question !" and "Thank you for that comment. I'm going to use it straight away." "What a great answer!"

Our highly intellectual pastors present, trained in being unemotional and logical, looked at him sideways wondering if he was taking the mickey out of them! Over the week, they realised he was genuine and that it was part of his way of encouraging. We are simply not used to being encouraged by each other. And we certainly don't practise it in our everyday lives nor in our churches. French people are more likely to find fault: they are trained to do it in their quest for perfection. That's why it's hard for them to accept criticism - they put so much effort into getting it right.

But while there's life, there's hope! One of our pastors reported back last week that his wife pointed out the number of times he said "Excellent, thank you!" while explaining Vitality to his church council. Mind you, he's Belgian and she's American so maybe that doesn't count ... Of course it does!!! Change is in the air.

Church camps ... gotta love 'em!

Here they are doing a sketch on what they
understand to be 'Vitality: before and after!'

Do you remember the Vitality Pathway I wrote about in the previous entry ?

Well, we did the first workshop with 2 of our more fragile churches from the Lyon area over a church camp weekend.

Two very different communities combined : one of their options is to become one single community, so getting to know each other was an important step.

At the end of the weekend, a very moving time of prayer and praise. We have a long road ahead, but we are open to the Spirit's leading and prepared to take one step at a time.

Here is the Vitality team who will get started on the different tasks needed to get a real picture of their spiritual health. A time of prayer for them

Vitally yours!

Sorry about the gap in entries ... been busy!

I've invented a new French word to end my emails and letters to colleagues! It's 'vitally yours'. No-one has told me it's daggy (Australian term for stupid)

or wrong, so I'm confident it will stick.

The French are very quick to point out mistakes in their beloved language ... and they are right to because it's an amazing language to use. Such precision in the terms. Complicated ideas can be expressed with finesse. Diplomacy was built on French language and mentality. Even swearing and insulting sounds more picturesque in French ! (Mind you, that can be just as hurtful as in any other language).

These are the reasons why anything translated in French takes more print space than in English.

This was recently proved, yet again, by our week-long training session for the Vitality Pathway, a process that we are introducing to our churches in the Free Evangelical Church of France. Shock! Horror! it's an American idea from the Covenant Church in the US of A (American readers, this is a tongue-in-cheek statement; please do not take offense). But, it must be said that the French are very suspicious of foreign ideas and don't believe these ideas can work for them. On the other hand, they are envious of the way things work successfully in the States, but that's part of the contradictory nature of the French (French readers, please don't be offended by this: it's true and you say it yourselves!!)

Anyway, to get back to my story, our week together in Paris was fantastic! An enthusiastic, loud, hugely organized American Director of Vitality Pathway from the Covenant Church came to take us through the process and won us all over. I helped translate the material with another hard-working French lady and we both found our sentences going on and on and on. We had 3 interpreters working with us as well as me to translate the exchanges between us. And our American friend peppered his speeches with punchy, memorable sayings often with assonance : "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail," John Wooden; "Prior planning prevents poor performance," John Foxjohn. How do you translate that in a punchy way in French???

Do you know what won us over ? Not his structured ppts, nor his '10 steps to ...', nor his anecdotes, but his Bible references and the way he interpreted several of Jesus' parables and ... when he cried. Yes, at times when talking about his own Federation of Churches, and when talking of the lukewarmness of Christians and their indifference to the eternal fate of the unsaved, he cried. His heart was so full of compassion for them that all his energy has gone into helping churches understand their real state of spiritual health, so that they could repent of it and turn back to the Lord and let the Spirit take his rightful place in the life of the church in order to put energy into reaching out to those who are lost.

And he made us cry; and we realised that, before God, we were not fulfilling our Christ-ordained mission. So this Vitality pathway is going to bring change. And we are going to make it relevant to French Churches because it's not a question of language, but of compassion and God's love for humankind.

Holiday snapshots!

Just because I'm proud of the result, here are two of our completed holiday family projects. Each one of us had a part to play - could extend this to an image of the Body of Christ .... but I won't ;)

Sanded down and repainted front and back doors. 

Colour now matches the stairs inside. Curtains clean, cobwebs gone; bit like spring-cleaning really!

In English: travel shapes youth: instead of buying heaps of souvenirs and being encumbered by too many things, we buy fridge magnets to remember the places we have visited. Used to use them to put notices on the fridge, but since we have an inbuilt one now we had to make our own memory board.  Claire painted the border and the leaves. We made it a blackboard.

There are a lot of Aussie magnets of course, then French ones, England and Scotland, Italy (just went there for one day a few years ago) and Spain (the kids' school trips when they were learning Spanish.) All three have been to England for school trips as well. The advantage of living in Europe!