Archive for December, 2008

Merry Christmas

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Thanks for dropping by all year long to keep up with Life in Lausanne. As my father-in-law would always say at this time of the year: I appreciate your presence.

I pray that this Christmas, who you are with is more important than what you get, and who you are becoming is more significant than what you are accumulating.

I leave you this thought as we turn our hearts towards the "babe of Bethlehem":

In a sense, Revelation 12 presents the other side of Christmas, adding a new set of holographic images to the familiar scenes of manger and shepherds and the Slaughter of the Innocents. What happened on earth, and is recorded in Matthew and Luke, represented ripples on the surface; underneath, massive disruptions were shaking the foundations of the universe. From God’s viewpoint—and Satan’s—Christmas signals far more than the birth of a baby; it was an invasion, the decisive advance in the great struggle for the cosmos (P. Yancey, The Bible Jesus Read).

Live with joy, my blogging family. And Merry Christmas!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Books 2008

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

The books below are some I read during the year and will certainly pick up again. (They are in the order of significance.) I eliminated 30 others from my library that were okay, but that I’ll never read again. Folks picked them up from a stack I set up at the French-speaking workers’ meeting. So, here we go.

The Last Word, by N.T. Wright. Understanding the authority of Scripture and how to communicate its message to folks not like me. Left of where I am now, but Wright knows what he’s talking about.

Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. I used this (in French) with a grad student at the University of Geneva and learned, again, that I have much to learn.

What’s so great about Christianity, by Dinesh D’Souza. Lewis, he’s not, but he presents good apologetics for the existence of God. Too much info in too short a book.

The Power to Be, by Tom Olbricht. He revised this study of Mark, and I delighted to re-read it.

Pilgrim Heart, by Darryl Tippens. About spiritual disciplines, from another angle. The chapter on singing was worth the book.

The Narnian, by Alan Jacobs. About C.S. Lewis’ life as a source for the Chronicles of Narnia. Great books. Terrible films, even though I wanted to like them.

Darkness is my only companion, by Kathryn Greene-McCreight. Subtitled: A Christian response to mental illness. I read several small works on depression. This one was the most moving. She’s an assistant priest in the Episcopal church and puts depression in a context of Christian family.

The Shack, by William Young. I read it on the way back to Switzerland from the US. Was told it would change my life. It didn’t, though one thing it got right about God is that he is fun to be with. And that’s worth the read. But a question: Did you find Papa was portrayed as "nice" more than anything else?

TWO OTHER BOOKS, BOTH NOVELS.

The boy in the striped pajamas, by John Boyne. I can’t say anything about it without ruining it. Just buy it, and make sure you’ve got nothing to do for the next 3 hours.

When Things fall apart, by Chinua Acheba. A Nigerian writing about tribal life before the arrival of the missionaries. Extraordinary.

I’ve read a dozen novels (write if you want to know which) in the last 4 months, so not all is serious. And I’ve enjoyed your writing, checking on (nearly) a daily basis: Stephanie, Kathleen, Randy, Greg, Steve, Cecil, Eyeguy, Sandra, Patrick, Buster… Thanks for the inspiration.


Posted in Blogging, Books | 2 Comments »

What 0 percent interest means

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

The US dollar had gained back in November much of what it had lost during 2008 against the Swiss Franc and the Euro. Then it was announced that the Fed would target 0 to .25 interest rates. Wow. See what happened to the dollar then (thanks Yahoo):

The news is a bit worse even today. That little blue line continues its descent. As I write at this moment, the dollar has slipped to 1.04.

Oh well. We missed the spike. But hey, it’s just money. Hope you were on the winning end of the transactions.

Posted in Current events, Financial support, Missions | 4 Comments »

Public speaking class

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Yesterday and today, I got up early, braved the snow and public transport, and went to all-day classes on public speaking. Yes, after 28 years of getting paid to announce Good News, I finally decided to learn how to do it.

The class is given to civil servants from Lausanne as part of their ongoing training. The gentleman who gives the class, Mr. O, has taught it over 200 times and asked me if I wanted to attend (with the intention that, one day, I would teach it). Why not? Free class, a chance to improve, and outside input would be helpful, right?

Now, let me repeat: I am not a novice at this. Why? I have a degree. Before graduating from ACU with my degree in New Testament, I got to preach, count it, ONE TIME. Let me clarify: I had led a few devos in Fresno; I gave a few Wednesday night talks; I "shared" while with on Western States’ Outreach… But the ONLY time I preached was during a preaching class (I think its title was Preaching 301) and the Professor’s comment was: "I cannot imagine you preaching that same sermon in front of 1500 people at Highland." He was right. Highland never hired me, and I never got to preach that sermon in front of 1500 people. In fact, I never preached it again. I had written it for my fellow preaching students, all 13 of them. But, come to think of it, I think I used a theme I had heard at Highland (where I was one of 1500 people).

Posted in ACU, Preaching | 3 Comments »

Advent worship

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Last Sunday was the second Sunday of Advent. (Only two more left!) We were invited by the nearby retirement home to come and direct a time of afternoon worship. Over 20 members of the Geneva church (and of our little choir) came. They presented 6 songs and later sat among the residents for the congregational singing, Scripture reading and words of encouragement. It was great, as we belted out a couple of well known songs from the Protestant hymnal and then two spiritual songs that we have taught them over the years. 9 of us from the Lausanne church joined in the afternoon with handshakes, greetings, and one on one conversations with the residents, who we outnumbered because of a quarantine of two floors to stop the spread of a stomach flu. Remember, the Geneva folk drove (at least) 40 miles (one way) to be with us, to participate in a service that only lasted 45 minutes, to share with residents, few of whom would remember the event for long. Yet I heard over and over thanks from those Christians because we had given them the opportunity to share their faith. Jesus’ words ring so true: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Posted in Bethanie, Generosity, Geneva, Singing | 3 Comments »

1 John in 8 hours (encore)

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

When teaching 1 John, I normally tell two stories about the Apostle that Dr. Lemoine Lewis shared with us in his Church History back at ACU. Both are well known, both have been adapted, changed, and outright lied about by sincere preachers who were just trying to keep things interesting, I’m sure. The first is found in Irenaeus and deals with John’s love of the truth. Cerinthus is a heretic who has reduced Jesus to a Gnostic shadow of himself. Irenaeus writes: 

There are also those who heard from [Polycarp] that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within" (Against heresies, Book III, chapter III, paragraph 4).

John’s zeal for Christ, and his hate of the lies that diminish the work of Christ and his sacrifice, are revealed in texts like 2 John 7-8:

Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.

The other story, which Greg mentioned in his comment, tells us simply that John never stopped exhorting his "little children" to continue in love:

His constantly repeated words of exhortation at the end of his life [were], "Little children, love one another" (Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, vi, 10).

There are those who elevate love at the expense of truth, and those whose apparent zeal for truth blind them to their own lack of love. In 1 John, we find consecration to both, revealing that love does not exclude orthodoxy, nor should orthodoxy exclude love.

BTW, here are the four students, full of life and joy. Blessings!


Posted in Ministry | 2 Comments »

1 John in 8 hours

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Each year we welcome to Lausanne those who are doing the spiritual internship in Marseilles, France. They normally arrive the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We spend about 5 hours on 1 John on Thanksgiving Day, then they help get the room ready for the big evening meal. This year we were 21, far from a record, but a great group (once again), also Daughter was one of the interns! Friday, we finished up in two more hours, but then there was the test (which they did very well on).

I normally start the study with 3.23.

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

If we can just those two things across, we are in pretty good shape.

 

Posted in Ministry | 3 Comments »