Evendays

Four of the elderly ladies from the local parish prayer group were gathering their affairs before leaving the prayer corner of the sanctuary. Daniel, the organist, was in a hurry to get to Geneva where he teaches music at the conservatory there. He’d just finished playing several pieces during their meditation time.

Mme Mosimann is a tiny, Swiss-German women, only 94 years old. She caught hold of Daniel’s hand as he was saying his necessary good-byes, throwing in the obligatory “Merry Christmas” and “My best wishes for the New Year”. Extremely polite. But Mme Mosimann would not let go of his hand, clasping it in both of hers.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, “And may you have much joy and peace in the New Year. May God grant you good health and may he protect you and give you much success in all you do.”

I suddenly realized that Mme Mosimann was doing more than being polite to Daniel. She was blessing him. What I had thought was just a cultural tradition to be pronounced to acquaintances are, in truth, words meant to transform. I had just glimpsed a holy moment, where one aged woman took her words, and her God, seriously, and brought blessing upon Daniel.

May God give you a merry Christmas, my friends.

The heating guys came in on Monday morning and turned off the furnace, carried it away, and started welding, cutting, shaping and banging in order to install the new furnace, the new chimney tubing, and the new hot water tank which is not really a hot water tank but rather an insulated hot water holder.

Of course, we have had 5 days in a row with the high just below freezing. But it is (officially) winter. And they brought over electric heaters that worked fine (except when they blew the fuses in the house—about 6 times a day).

Thursday night, the technician and I went through the instructions on the handy, two button controls. He was learning as he went, seeing that our burner is a new model and all. We did such a good job programming the heating that this morning we woke up to a house that was in the low 60’s.

Oh well. We still have each other as well as the electric heaters. And flashlights for finding the fuse box.

What more could you want?

As the days went on, the crowds got smaller. Had I kept on teaching another week, I could have wiped them all out!

The last 3 nights we were 15 people. I used a lot of visuals (picture “white board”) and there were many questions after the 90 minutes of teaching, people staying till late talking over the subjects, sharing sins that they struggle with, looking carefully at the New Testament texts, wanting to understand more clearly how God has revealed himself.

We were supposed to finish early the last night, but it didn’t happen. We were all invited to “a turkey party” as Volodya called it, and we sat down to pickled cabbage and tomatoes and cucumbers and more pickled cabbage (this is Ukraine) and potatoes and dead bird (picture 6 pounds, all the weight in the bones, but still tasty). The communion was sweet.

The late-night snow started falling as I caught the train. A lumbering diesel that would tower over our Swiss engines pulled us to Kiev. I enjoy these trips and they do go by quickly, but it’s always nice to be heading home.

Thanks for your prayers.

Welcome from cold and friendly, yet not-cold-enough-to-freeze-the-mud, Ukraine. It’s foggy, already dark, and I’ve just finished a day in fellowship with 40 Christians from Ternopil. I got to preach twice this morning. After about 45 minutes, we stopped for tea and open-faced sandwiches, then they asked me to preach some more. Okay, it’s true that not everybody stayed for the overdose, but a good group did, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I just finished borsht (sp.) and cucumbers and tomatoes and frozen strawberries with melted ice-cream (not mixed together). All was good. I forgot how late people eat lunch here (at either 2 or 3 pm) and how little they eat at night. Of course, I am on my own at night, and can eat as little, or as much, as I like. I have little internet time, but just enough to stay in contact with family (and you). What a blessing! I will catch up on YOUR blogs later. In the meantime, please keep me, and your family in Christ here, in your prayers, as well as the family in Lausanne.

We are traditionalists. And I say that in a good way.

I think.

The Christmas tree has its place. The Christmas books too. The Christmas decorations for the book shelves… The Santas napkin holders that dive onto the dining table bench during the night (long story)… The Christmas wreath on the door… The Christmas films.

Ah yes, the films. The Greatest Christmas Movie of All Time, the Muppet Christmas Carol (still watched on VHS, for the DVD cut one of the songs…) and the annual viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, which continues to connect even though it aged poorly.

Underneath the key message (that most people never see the difference they’ve made in the lives of those around them) there is another theme: standing for right, doing good when your back’s to the wall, and feeling deeply bitter about the whole thing. Despite all the good he did, George Bailey was extremely bitter. And the evil Potter had it right when he said:

You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped frustrated young man?

Ever struggle with that one?

The College church will meet its mission budget this next Sunday. Almost $50,000.00 was given for evangelism work in Kenya, China and here in Europe. That’s very good news.

If you want to see my short message to the church in Fresno, and you have a very fast connection (a must) you can check out this high-quality video (the video, not the content—or the face!!!) that I’ll leave online for a week or so. You may have to pause at the beginning in order to allow some buffer in order to watch it without interruption.)

Last Friday morning, Wife and I accompanied 11 of the students from Pepperdine’s Lausanne program to the nearby retirement home (Bethanie) for a morning of singing and talk. The students, all women, did a remarkable job and the home can’t wait to have them back.

Tomorrow, December 2, the College Church in Fresno will be having their annual Harvest Day when they collect all their mission’s money for the entire year. Since College is our sponsoring church, what it given directly affects our ministry in Lausanne and throughout Europe.

Please keep this church and our work in your prayers.