Evendays

I’m off to the French Ascension (yes, Thursday is Ascension) Retreat in the Ardèche region. I’ve only got a teen class and a pre-teen class to prepare, along with KP and other duties. 

The teen class is on The Body of Christ, which leads me to John Michael Talbot’s melody of Teresa of Avila’s prayer:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Last weekend the Geneva church had their annual retreat here in Lausanne. Extra special because son 2 came up from Marseilles, making the family complete. The theme was “Living life here while heading towards heaven”. My almost-only regret is that the Lausanne church didn’t take full advantage of the weekend of teaching, sharing and fellowship, though we did cancel our Sunday morning meeting to worship with the retreat group.

Traditionally, after every lesson, we have small group discussions, often with questions that the lesson giver has written up. Of all traditions, except maybe for circumcision and “going forward”, this one is my least favorite. I mean, if we’ve just sat through a 30 minute lesson, why, during the small group, do we have to pretend that we were listening attentively? I have sat in on discussion groups that were reacting to my intensely interesting and inspired 30 minute lesson only to realize that not a one of the listeners got it. Not one. Very humbling.

My group struggled valiantly through the questions. While waiting for the next meeting to begin, A., a member of said discussion group, came to me – a huge smile on her face – and commented: You know, that group showed me how amazing God is to bring together people who are so vastly different. Don’t you see it?

Yes. Now I see it. Thanks to the small group discussion.

We canceled our Sunday morning worship here at Av. de France and gathered at the women’s retreat at the nearby conference center. 70 plus Christian women were together for a weekend of worship and Bible study. They asked me to speak on PEACE on Sunday morning, which I did.

Everyone should have the experience of speaking at a women’s retreat on the last day, after God has been at work through Spirit and word, love and patience in a group of people who have come together for praise and sharing. Heads nodded, laughter erupted, tears flowed and “yes-es” could be heard throughout our worship.

Wife was in charge of sign-ups as well as working on cooking coordination and purchasing for the kitchen. She worked hard. It was wonderful seeing two ladies from church as well as one of the Pepperdine students pitching in all along the way. Daughter was a BIG help, doing more than was ever asked. The Geneva women made a great team for logistics while the women from Lille, France prepared the program.

After several trips to the train station and a time of waiting/fellowship, two of the Parisians camped at our place for the night. We also met up with two Pepperdine girls for a day-late Groundhog Day film party (in French: Day without end).

How ‘bout you? See your shadow on Saturday?

Daughter, Wife and I got back home from the Annual 4 day Teen Retreat last night after a 5 hour drive. It’s something I organize each year, a retreat I inherited from two great, older guys who were looking for a naïve "young" man who would carry on the tradition. 12 years ago I had lots of ideas and about 35 kids. Today I have a lot less ideas, but still about 35 kids (though their places of origin have very much changed). It’s amazing what God can do with a few Bibles and some new songs, ping pong, soccer and basket balls, especially if He sends some good weather your way. Add pizza and pasta and hamburgers and fries, ice cream and popcorn, campfires and evenings of crazy games, late nights and a full moon, mix well, and see what happens.

Long live youth ministry. 

I have enjoyed reading your comments from the last few posts and am thankful for this way of keeping in touch with you. It makes me feel “connected”.
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As usual, we attended the annual retreat in Ardeche, France during the Ascension weekend. This year, all of the speakers were “amateurs”, that is, they were not paid ministers, and boy did they do a good job. Three of the speakers were 20 or younger, (one of them was Son 1), and they all spoke true words without hypocrisy that went right to the heart.

It was late to bed and “early” to rise for the three day stay… Lots of fellowship, sport, study, praise and prayer. Way too much time spent at the table. All in all, a time of renewal.