Archive for November, 2008

Giving thanks

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

Y. sat attentively during the entire study (40 minutes long), the only child present. From time to time she would turn to her dad and ask him a question, a definition of a word, a clarification of some idea.

She pulled me aside after the class and said something like this:

You know, I watch my parents as they prepare material to teach Sunday school classes and other events. They rack their brains trying to think of ideas and good things to share. And sometimes it drives them crazy.

So, I just want to thank you for all the teaching you do. It can’t be easy to prepare the lessons and think of all the ideas, but I am thankful for all you teach us.

The little girl can’t be more than 11 years old. And she is very tiny for her age. How can such a small body contain such a big and thankful heart?

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

Posted in Ministry, Thanksgiving | 4 Comments »

Christmas giving

Monday, November 24th, 2008

I was impressed by the Advent Conspiracy site, especially the way they send you on to other sites, thus making giving more direct.

Some of the works we’ve helped with:

Project Aids Orphan : Wife’s brother and sister-in-law head this project. We did the 5k run for them here right here in Lausanne!

Christmas baskets for Ecauador : Very cheesy site, but great “little” work. All the money goes to food. Zero to transport, etc.

Partners in Progress : I’ve worked with these folks in Africa. Amazing.

Of course there is stuff closer to home. Try Central Dallas Ministries or giving to your local food bank. Even better, volunteering a couple hours a month throughout the year. Become someone these ministries depend on.

You can also give to foreign missions. Those strange folks who desire to teach the Gospel to folks in China, Cambodia, Central America, Ukraine, Russia, North Africa and points in between often live on a shoestring budget. (Disclaimer: I am not talking about us, rather some of our fellow workers.)

Just observed: At the shopping center on Saturday, a small table was set up with a couple of volunteers trying to collect money for food baskets for poor families in Ecuador. Just next to them was the booth for the “state” lottery. Guess which stand had a continuous line in from of it?

Posted in Christmas, Generosity | 2 Comments »

Getting dark

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

I actually like the change back to the winter hour. More light in the morning: good thing. Not that I’m a morning person. I have always wanted (sort of) to be a morning person. I have always admired morning people. It’s just that I’m not one (yet) so the hour change makes the AM a bit easier. And that one advantage outweighs the negatives.

During the week at our house, Son 1 is always the first one up (unless my snoring wakens Wife) and I usually catch him a couple of times a week before he’s off, especially just after the hour changes.

On a day like today, when rain is in the air, even our daylight will stay dark. My study, with its one little window six feet off the ground, will resemble a monk’s copy station as he works by candlelight in the depths of some ancient monastery.

Evenings are long here. We are as far north as Seattle, and with our position in the time zone, darkness comes at 5 PM. It’s hard to get used to. Tiredness comes earlier. You start wishing you had a fireplace. It feels like Christmas, even though it isn’t.

I jogged in the dark last night. That was great, because I couldn’t see my watch and felt like a was running FAST. The watch, when I finished, told me otherwise.

Posted in Weather | 3 Comments »

Youth

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Last week we had 11 students for the Thursday night dinner. The meal was fabulous and everybody ate everything but for a few potatoes. The great dessert (brownies, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce) got vaporized in nano-seconds. 

Our question this week was easy, one that a last year’s student sent to me: What’s a Halloween treat that you love? I changed it to "treat or tradition", and off the conversations went… Everything from taking advantage of a younger sibling (trading SIX Tootsie Rolls for FIVE Snickers — such a deal) to pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating for UNESCO… I mean UNICEF.

Later, they started talking about the best stocked pantries (they were PASSIONATE), and that the way to be popular in elementary school was to have a mom with the best possible snack foods in the pantry that eventually ended up in your sack lunch. I was completely lost as the Pepperdine students compared peanut butter snacks to cheese snacks to various other healthy goodies.

(My mom made great lunches: peanut butter and jelly (never tuna), potato chips, a ding-dong or a ho-ho, milk money, something else I could eat during the morning break.)

After they had talked of every possible snack found in COSTCO or SAM’S WAREHOUSE aisles, they then switched to the best films of all time, which seemed (to me) to all have BATMAN somewhere in the title.

A fun night.

Posted in Pepperdine, Youth | 2 Comments »

Sunday’s lesson

Friday, November 14th, 2008

I am finishing Sunday’s sermon on PRIDE. You know, the bad kind, the sin that makes it easy to disdain others and keep God out of the driver’s seat. The pride that C. S. Lewis devotes an entire chapter to in Mere Christianity. The sin to which the Son of God addressed a parable. The pride that Isaac Watts writes about:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

Jerry Rushford, Hymn Historian and Pepperdine Religion Professor, counts the hymn as a favorite. In his New Testament class, while introducing the Apostle Paul, he shared the words with 50 attentive students noting that they conveyed the motivation of Paul’s work.

A hymn site has a note that Charles Wesley would have given up all his other hymns just for this one. Understandable, especially in the light of the following verses:

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Galatians 6.14 reads: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s the verse that moved Watts to write those word at age 33. It’s only that spirit of love and thankfulness that can destroy the power of the Great Sin.

Posted in Preaching, Pride | 4 Comments »

Pepperdine, Lausanne 2008

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Just over 50 students are in this semester’s Pepperdine Lausanne program. We are fortunate to spend time with them every Monday around noon for chapel. Actually, it’s not so much chapel as announcement time, but some of the students are trying to wrestle it away from admin so that more time can be dedicated to devotional. And that’s good.

Wife has 10 students over every Thursday evening. It has made for some fun evenings and chances to know the students in a setting other than the Lausanne campus. Wife has also had a couple of "baking" days: cookies, pies and other healty goodies. She especially likes those days, as do the 5 students who have come, because it reminds them so much of home.

Jerry Rushford and his wife Lori, the visiting faculty, have house church each Sunday evening in the apartment way up on the fifth floor of the Lausanne house (La Croisée). They have included us in each of the worship times. We spend most of the hour singing, but also pray and share the bread and the "wine" together, as well as read scripture.

We miss last year’s students, especially the half dozen who were so active in church. We miss their enthousiasm to learn French and to worship in a different culture. But we have received much. We are stimulated by the thoughts that are shared. We love the hymns and spiritual songs. We are impressed with their attentiveness. And we leave that time together enriched.

Posted in Pepperdine | 1 Comment »

Gotta go to church

Monday, November 10th, 2008

Sunday was a full day. Coffee time. Colossians 3 study. Communion. Sermon. Lunch with fellow Christians. Chorus practice in Geneva then English worship and sermon. House church with Pepperdine Lausanne. A good day.

Eugene Peterson, in one of his many books, writes about meeting a parishioner while in town. The church member explained why she wasn’t at church these days. Peterson said he listened carefully, and made a mental note to pray for her because he had learned long ago there was no way to convince people to come to church.

I wonder.

I know of one Swiss church where the sisters and brothers—many of them, anyway—long to be together. Another one I know, almost any reason suffices for not coming: Friends for lunch… A neighborhood association meeting in the afternoon… Upcoming exam… Going on vacation… Just back from vacation… The only morning to stay in bed… Exam next week… Tired from exam last week… Cat at home… Dog… Too beautiful out… Too rainy… Parking is hard… The pastor… Oh yes, the pastor…

My friend Stanley used to say the only way for people to want to praise the Lord together is if they are deeply in love with the Head of the church.

I don’t know. Any counsel here is welcome. I’ve tried Peterson’s advice. I’ve attempted to present the Savior’s love in a compelling, interesting, life-grabbing way. Without much efficacy.

Posted in Church life, Worship | 3 Comments »

All Saints Retreat 2008

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

27 youth came together in rain-drenched Ardèche, France for a three night and all the days between retreat during the All Saints Weekend. French teens get a couple weeks off at this time of the year, and the Swiss kids ditch a day of school to participate.

The weather was terrible. 6 inches of snow at our arrival, the rain started the next morning and continued pouring for 3 days. Rivers overflowed. Roofs leaked. The garage flooded. The freeway was closed. The kids were stuck inside for the entire time.

I heard no complaints.

 

Wife cooked. 4 of us spoke on “Technology and you”. The discussion groups were open, honest and challenging. The singing was pretty good. The evening activities were a riot.

We got to see daughter because the 4 interns came to give a hand.

Thank God. A great weekend.

Posted in Retreats, Youth | 4 Comments »

Voting 2008

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

I voted a couple of weeks ago. It was the fruit of visiting the Obama site. Just wanted to see what he had to say and saw a place to register, even though I am out of the USA.

I’d tried to do this several times in the past, always by mail, but three times the application came back asking me where I lived in California. Since I didn’t live in California, I would write back and ask them if I was supposed to put in my old California address. The form would come back with the same question underlined, no explanation. And the process continued.

This year, I voted as a Californian. That makes no difference in the presidential election. From what I understand, the state is already decided. Californians: Don’t worry… I did not vote on anything about how you should spend your money. I did vote on who you should or could marry. And I got to vote for your next Senator.

Several Swiss have asked me who I voted for. Today I answered: And if I said I voted for Obama, what would be your response? And if I said I voted for McCain, how would you respond?

Switzerland is an Obama nation, as is France, Germany, Spain… The list goes on. If elected, I pray he’s the best president the USA has ever had.

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments »