Just got back from a 45 minute trip to Romainmôtier, an abbey in a monastic village at the base of the Jura mountains. It’s a little below freezing but as clear as can be. Alps are across the lake, though they seem much closer, while the Jura mountains ring our side of the water.
There was a church on the Romainmôtier site sometime in the 5th century. You can still see the foundation outline from the 7th century constructions. It seems the abbey was, at times, deserted for years because of enemies in the area who had come down from Germany in the 8th century. But now it has all been restored. I’ve sung in it before. Weddings are celebrated there (reservations are years in advance).
The style is the fortress like Romanesque from the end of the first millennium. Son 2 told us about the Cluny monks that built the place. Their motto was "No work and all pray makes Jack a Cluny monk". (I’m still working on what that means.) Some say that these places are permeated with prayer. I don’t know. But finding the balance between prayer and work has always been a challenge, one I will try to do better at this next year.
We’ll be with about 40 Christians tonight to pray in the New Year. Sounds like a great way to bring in 2010.
2009? Well, although I loved certain days, there were some pretty rough times right in the middle of it. Bad news and sad news seemed to fill up the Spring and Summer, and I may never get over that. But I have faith.
BTW, I was comparing faith in the New Testament, checking out ways the inspired writers use the word… "Past" faith looks at all that Jesus did to bring redemption and Kingdom. "Future" faith is that God will keep his promises (think of the encouragement given to the Hebrew Christians). And "present" faith? It’s persevering from day to day.
I know you’ve welcomed Christ in as Savior and Lord and that you firmly believe in the promises our God has offered us. My prayer is that you persevere in faith, hope and love, and that God’s goodness will truly shine on you in 2010.
There are at least two "church" sentences that tend to scare me. The first is: "Jesus spoke to me." That one always gets me, not because I don’t think that Jesus can speak to folks, I’m just not sure that he does. An older man from church told me he is writing a letter he wants to read to the assembly saying that Jesus had talked to him so he wants to share the message. I told him I’d think it over, but would love to read the message beforehand. (Actually, I’m just hoping he will forget about it, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.)
The second sentence is "I have grown so much this last year" or its sister phrase: "I have really matured as a Christian…" I hear this often, especially when said person wants to tell me what I’m doing wrong. Now I know I do a lot of stuff wrong (see my Evendays_confession_just_kidding.org), but it seems obvious that if someone has grown in Christ significantly the last few months, that they wouldn’t have to tell me how much they’d grown. Rather, I would see it and tell them how radically they’d changed.
It gets even more interesting when someone comes to you and tells that Jesus told them how much they’d grown.
Be humble my friends. Do listen to Jesus. But be discreet about all the stuff. At least try to be discreet.
These last two days, I have been working in a company that is laying off employees. It’s the first time they’ve taken these kinds of measures in their 100 year history and it has been painful for their whole "family".
I’m amazed: People are tough and have resources that go deep. The HR people have been extremely caring and "un"-professional: sharing tears and hugs. By the time the laid-off folks get to the team I’m with, where we talk about the future and processes we’ve set up to help them get a new job, they are worn out but still able to look to the future and see something other than black.
Of the 8 employees I saw yesterday, one had been there 33 years. Another 25 and another 23. They were doing their best even though the foundations got rocked. When our time finished together, I would open the door and there would be standing another of their colleagues ready to take them to their car, or call a taxi, or spend some time talking. It all helped, even if it gave the opportunity for even more tears.
Switzerland voted yesterday not to allow the construction of any more
minarets on its territory. Here are my observations:
The polls before the vote showed
that only 37% of the voters were for the ban. Someone had to be lying, for 57.5%
ended up voting yes.
The media had declared that the initiative would be
beaten. Were they ever surprised! Seconds after unveiling the results, they suddenly
understood why everyone had voted the way they did. They had become experts
again.
Unfounded fear was one reason given for the population voting against
the construction of minarets. The experts said there was no reason to be
frightened by the growth of Islam. Then one of them suggested that the
political leaders who were for the initiative “hire bodyguards” for protection
in case of reprisals. No reason to be frightened, yet they need bodyguards?
Sounds like someone tipped his hand.
There are but 4 minarets in Switzerland
and all are mute. There are thousands of bell towers and some of them ring, and
ring loud, at 6 AM.
I do not want to live close to either if they disturb the
peace. Yet taking away expressions of worship does no one any good. Those who expressed negative opinions
about the minarets were called bigots. Others of the same opinion just shut up,
ending any possible dialogue, and taking away the possibility to convince. So
Switzerland has awakened with a hangover, and it doesn’t look like it’s going
away.
First, 26 miles is a long way to run, walk or crawl.
Second, the first 13 miles are much easier than the second 13.
Third, no matter how long it takes, getting to the finish feels very, very good.
It was a hilly course (the publicity said it was "mostly flat") but the weather was perfect, the little villages welcoming, and the runners encouraging. We were sad that a 24 hour bug kept Wife from running. I think she would have beat my 4 hour 8 minute finish.
I have still to "run" a marathon. My Beaujolais experience included some walking. But with legs like iron and cramps that wouldn’t quit, walking took me, though quite slowly, in the right direction.
Thanks for dropping by. And keep heading for the finish line.
My kids told me that, yes, it is true. The guy who ran from Marathon to tell the king his troops had won the battle died after delivering his message.
Tomorrow, wife and I are attempting the same feat, but at a different place and, we hope, with a different result. It’s called the Beaujolais Marathon. We’ll run from Fleurie to Villefranche-sur-Soane through some of the beautiful wine country of France. Refreshments and tasting are provided every 5 kilometers.
26 miles and a bit more is what 1000 of us will be tackling. The weather should be very nice with a small wind in our faces. I will let you know on Monday if we were victorious or not.
It has been a busy fall for Son 1. He is doing his mandatory military service, the "boot camp" part, and that will last till next March. That’s what he gets for having two nationalities. He is making the best of it.
He spent a month working for a Christian from the Geneva church who has a painting business. Every morning, Son 1 was up before 6 AM to make a little extra money, probably for a trip somewhere.
Last Friday was his graduation ceremony where he received his BS in Forensic Science. It was a reunion time for him and the other 25 students who survived the three year program (220 started…)
We are proud of him. He did great. And he’s looking forward to the start of his Masters program in 2010.
Yes, as you have heard, 20 years ago today the guards opened the passage ways and allowed free access to West Berlin to those who were under communist rule.
My cousin was in Berlin that day with a group of Pepperdine Heidelberg students. The timing was right. They danced on the wall and got their picture in the paper.
She brought us back a bit of stone, concrete knocked off the wall. A whisper of graffiti on it. Genuine, 100%, Berlin cement.
In 1989, Wife’s dad’s ministry to Ukraine, Slavic World for Christ, received over 4000 letters, 3000 asking for Bibles. 5 years before, he received about 150 letters a year. Almost none from Ukraine.
3 months later he’d find himself in Kiev. He’d meet with family and folks he hadn’t seen in 47 years. Brothers and sisters who were now grandparents.
Walls fall. Sometimes it leads to freedom. Other times not so much. But I thought all day Sunday about freedom, and the words of Paul:
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by
abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus
making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
