Evendays

The woman who bore me and her husband (who happens to be my dad) arrived safely in Zurich on the overnight flight from Dallas. They are doing much better than the last time they came (in 1998). That time, mom’s first words were: I’m never doing that again!

But they did.

On the way back to Lausanne, we stopped at Avenches where there’s a first century Roman amphitheater and ruins of Roman baths. Dad, wearing his Western hat and wandering in the beautiful Swiss countryside, was a "roamin’ cowboy".

We are hanging around Lausanne tomorrow (someone’s turning 48) and then be with the church on Sunday. Monday we are heading to the Normandy beaches.

From Lamin Sanneh’s Whose Religion is Christianity?, pages 64-65:

News of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, did not reach the tribe until a Maasai student returned from the United States to his people with the story some eight months after the fact. Using Maasai narrative form, the student carefully recounted the scale and details of the attacks, including people jumping from windows to escape the fires, and the thousands who perished. This so moved the Maasai that they staged a solemn ceremony in an open field where they blessed fourteen cows as a gift in sympathy to the people of the United States, pledging with their bows and arrows to hunt down the terrorists in question. A bemused senior U.S. embassy official in Nairobi made the trek through the bush to receive the cows. The heart, the sages say, is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands. A public acknowledgment of the gift was subsequently broadcast on National Public Radio (June 8, 2002). It spoke of the gratitude of the American people for the generosity and thoughtfulness of the Maasai. You cannot put a price on such gestures of hands extended in friendship, nor count in number their interpersonal effect.

From Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity?, pages 59-60:

The Maasai of East Africa… speak in their so-named African Creed of believing as a community rather than as individuals, and instead of casting their creed in cognitive abstract terms of the seen and unseen, of Christ as eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, begotten not made, etc., they speak of a journey of faith in a God who out of love created the world and us, of how they once knew the High God in darkness but now know this God in the light. The creed continues with God’s promises in Scripture and momentously in Jesus, “a man in flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God,” until finally he was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed, hands and feet, to a cross, and died. Then the irony of the historical Jesus is clinched with a stunning understatement with the words, “He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day he rose from the grave.” A note of eschatological joy and hope swells to conclude the creed: “We are waiting for Him [Jesus]. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.” 

V. and his wife came over the other evening. I met him about 4 years ago. He had been crying. haunted by things done in the past, wondering if God would forgive him. He started bringing his two children to church though he understands nothing but Spanish, being unable to pick up French because of learning disabilities. He reads most of the Spanish literature in the church library.

The police finally caught up with the two and told them to leave the country They are “illegals”. They have not saved up any money in Switzerland because their boy needs special education. They often work and are not paid, since employers know these workers won’t complain to authorities. Life in Quito does not promise them much if they return.

We will accompany them through this time, legally helping anyway we can. It’s not much. There are thousands in their situation…

Also, R. finally contacted me after several weeks of attending without communicating. He’s going through a difficult period and thinking of pulling away from the Body here so he can just be “anonymous” elsewhere. It breaks my heart.

So we keep on praying even more. Thanks for joining us in that.

This last Christmas, the kids gave us tickets to the Mummenschanz show in Bern. So two days after our wedding anniversary, Wife and I drove to the Swiss capital, found a restaurant that served onion rings and burgers, then slipped into the theater to enjoy the show.

If you’re a Muppet fan, you may be familiar with Mummenschanz. They had a show in New York in the 70’s that ran for 3 years and they also appeared with Kermit in the Muppets’ first season. There is no dialogue, no music, no “people”… Just shapes and hands and eyes and very creative stuff going on. Amazing how a “tube” could show so much expression when it was playing catch with members of the audience.

The show we saw was a review of the first 11 years. The audience was filled with people OUR age, though there were a few 20 somethings lost in the Swiss German crowd (and I think even they enjoyed it).

Check out their web site (and enjoy the samples on the intro page)… Then come see the show!

Greg’s got a post up at the Yancey blog: Prayer, does it make a difference. Please check it out. 

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The trip to Ternopil wasn’t planned. The servants there asked me to come and help them deal with a “power-play” made by one of the lay-preachers. He wanted to become “head” pastor and, with a group of 8 others, accusations and moves were made to take over the church.

To support the faction’s claims, they appealed to “dreams and revelations”. God had revealed certain information to this small group and this knowledge was presented to the church to the harm of the other party.

While thinking through their strategy, I ran across the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.6: I refrain from [boasting of visions] so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me.

Paul would not bolster his authority by playing the vision card. In fact, he did not want people to think too highly of him at all. Rather, his authority rested on his actions and his words. On life and Gospel.

While visions cannot be verified and dreams cannot be experienced by third parties, actions and words can be clearly seen, and heard, by all. They become the calling card of veritable Christian servants.

Just back from a week in Ternopil, Ukraine, spending time with the church there. And I’m home in time for Daughter’s 17th birthday. She was born on a Sunday and has brightened up our home ever since.

So, Happy Birthday, Daughter. We love you!

(BTW, 1990 was an exceptional year for daughters and for French clarets…)

 

A couple of weeks ago, my mountaineering buddy Philippe and I took a group of 5 Pepperdine students (picture) snow-shoeing in the Valais Alps in the region above Sierre called Vercorin.

Unfortunately, I told the students they needed to be in good shape to do the 10 to 12 kilometers we’d planned.

They finished the hike without any problem and enjoyed their tea and hot chocolate at the lodge while they waited for me to finish…

But, I DID finish…

One day I spied Father-In-Law (FIL) checking out my monitor, all 17 inches of it. “You can sure read the text easily on that thing”, said he. “Not only that, but you can get more that one page of a document on there,” I replied, sensing an opportunity. “I have a lot of trouble reading the little print on new G3 Powerbook,” said he.

“Hummm,” said I. “Want to switch?”

A month later he bit and I had an absolutely great portable machine $1000.00 over my budget and FIL was able to read his documents.

The Powerbook is now 9 years old, can run OS 10.4 (slowly) and the latest version of Microsoft Office. I’ve been able to do most of the repairs myself, though one time I took it to replace the power source and the Wizard changed the screen too. Go figure. But, the whole family will miss PB when he’s gone.

BTW, a few months after the exchange, FIL made a trip to the USA and bought himself… the same portable with a faster processor. “But you can’t read the screen!” said I.

“Nah… It’s just that you were drooling over the other one,” said he.

They did a great job, that Marseilles chorus. On Friday afternoon they sang at the Bethany Home where 50 of the residents deeply appreciated the time of worship. And the Home laid out a great spread for the travelers. Wonderful!

The nearby Protestant church loaned us their “temple” on Friday night and between 50 and 60 listened to a beautiful concert of hymns, with a good selection of “Gospels” in the second half. The local parish was deeply blessed. And we appreciated their generosity.

I’m listening to a CD Son 2 picked up on Saturday evening from the Acappella concert in Montreux. (Think: Smoke on the Water by… some group with a color in their title.) Over 1000 folks were there and Daughter, a friend and Son 2 had a great time. A very “musical weekend”.