Evendays

Happy Birthday, Sister!
Last week we changed our Sunday worship time in Lausanne from morning to late afternoon, starting at 17:00. (That’s 5 PM to you non military types. To figure that out, take the first number, add twelve to it, divide that number in half, then multiply by the difference between your time zone and [...]

This is not about Dillon’s song, "But the times… They are a changin’" (BTW, Dillon gave a concert in Geneva last week, $85 for the cheapest seats in the stadium, and the critics said it was one of the worst concerts they’d ever seen / heard / been exposed to).
One thing the men at church [...]

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 [...]

An influx of visitors from other cities, along with a handful of local members, gave us a wonderful moment of worship and fellowship on Sunday morning. Pancakes were then shared by all, then we drove an hour in the evening for worship in English, a rather rare experience for us, with the church in Geneva. [...]

Having your Sunday worship in a retirement home brings up some very important yes-or-no / black-or-white theological questions. I mean, they are either you do or you don’t. No in-betweens:

Should you wake someone up to give them the Lord’s Supper?
Is it acceptable to say: “Please sit and sing the invitation song”?*
Should you put on [...]

Monday after Easter (Lundi de Pâques) is always a holiday here. It’s just like Good Friday (Vendredi Saint). All the shops are closed. You’re not supposed to work in the yard, for it’s a time for rest, reading, thinking, family, skiing…
Snow fell on Friday, Saturday night, Sunday and Monday. It’s one of the problems of [...]

While on the subject of prayer, many of you know that we in Lausanne have the tradition of reading through  Psalms, one psalm each Sunday, one after the other. I wanted to write praying through the Psalms, but I think some of the psalms just get read-through and not prayed-through. I’m talking about myself, not [...]

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 [...]

When we first got to Switzerland we were young, energetic, and full of good ideas. (Now we are less young, still energetic, yet looking for new ideas!)
Wife went to the nearby retirement home (Bethanie) and asked if she could adopt some residents. Just visits and such, but the organization was very suspicious. After a bit, [...]

Here is a translated, antiphonal prayer from a Reformed Protestant tradition, Crêt-Bernard, that we’ll be using to guide our thoughts on Pentecost Sunday. (Yup, this Sunday!):–Holy Spirit, Creator, who in the beginning hovered over the waters, by your breath every being received life.
     Holy Spirit, come!
Holy Spirit, Counselor, who inspired the prophets as they spoke [...]