One of the commitments we’ve made recently is to learn to be led more by the Spirit than by our diaries, and when it comes to “ministry”, trying to get better at identifying those doors that God is opening, rather than being carried along by activity for activity’s sake. Well of course we have believed for a long time that this is what we are supposed to do, but when you’re a “ministry professional” there can be quite a gap between theory and practice.
One answer to our prayer, “God lead us to the right people” came in the form of a phone call from Camille*. Last time we had news from her she was very ill, but she is doing a lot better and wanted to see us. In the middle of the conversation she ventured that she couldn’t see how going to a church on a Sunday morning would ever work with her schedule, but that she would be very interested to find out more about what being a Christian is all about. She brought it up, not us! Open door! “Lets get together for a meal!”
The meal happened today, with Camille and her children. It just so happened that it was typically busy weekend with JCrois, a Christian youth gathering that happens each year in Nantes, so Sunday lunch was definitely not the most convenient. But we went for it, and we’re so glad we did.
We really wanted to do some “Acts 2:42 stuff” with our friends, to kind of model what Christians do (should do?) when they get together. Well, we didn’t do very well in the prayer department, mainly because we lost track of time. But we did manage to “break bread”, have fellowship and read through the first chapter of Mark together around the table – a first for our friend and her kids. Led to some interesting discussion on healing, and answered prayer. Not super in-depth, but probably just right for where our friend is at.
Was this church? Not quite, because we missed out the prayer bit. Definitely a step in the right direction though. We will it lead? We don’t know, but we’re really looking forward to finding out. Camille would like it to be at her place next time.
*You guessed it, that’s not her real name.
One of the most striking things about our return to France is what a different place we are in compared to August 2004 when we last came back from New Zealand. Last time we landed in the middle of a visit from the ship Doulos to Saint Nazaire (near Nantes), new interns joining us in our project to assist a church in the north of Nantes, various projects with Christian youth, and a whole bunch of meetings and conferences in the diary. We hit the ground running and didn’t stop to draw breath for several months.
This time we have arrived in a more typical French August: eerily quiet. If you didn’t know that everyone has head for the beach or the mountains, you would wonder whether you’d stumbled onto the set of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
But even so, many of the people we have most wanted to catch up with have been around, and the most meaningful things that have happened since our return 2 weeks ago has been renewing contact with friends. We’ve had a more or less constant stream of visitors, which has been both surprising and encouraging, and has really helped in dealing with the odd coup de blues* over leaving New Zealand.
We have not come back with a stack of new projects to launch into, but already we see the few ideas we have beginning to take shape. Some of them are not quite cooked enough to talk about them here, but we are really enjoying having the space to step off the ministry “roundabout”, and actually ask the question, “Lord, what do you have for us to do?”, and sensing the freedom to wait for him to answer before forging ahead.
Not sure that we’ve ever been in this place before.
*coup de blues – you can probably guess: a time of feeling down.
Some blog housekeeping: if you are a past commenter on this blog you may have noticed that your comments are now missing your name and link.
It’s not that we don’t love you! I installed an update for WordPress (my favourite blog software), and unfortunately it has a few issues with my blog. This has affected the comments, and I have no idea how to fix it.
So don’t stop commenting! I think that all new comments should appear correctly.
Today we have been back in France for 2 weeks. About time I got back to the blog. But before getting into anything more consequential, I just have to share this photo with you. We spent two days in Hong Kong on our way back to France, and, wanting to give the children as authentic an experience as possible, we ate one of the meals in a local noodle bar. Very little English was spoken. The facial expressions speak volumes about how our children deal with culture shock. 
Needless to say, the other patrons found us very entertaining.
You may have noticed that this blog looks a little different to usual. I’m using some long awaited free time with a good Internet connection to do some housekeeping.
It might look a bit funny for a bit. Thanks for bearing with me. Things should be back to normal soon.
I just approved a comment on some thoughts I posted a while ago under the heading Reinterpreting Traditions. It’s an article by our friend Cor the artist touching on the story of the Samaritan woman, and I thought it was too useful to hide away in the comments section of an old post. Hope you get as much out of it as I did…
Like many of you, I’ve heard and read it countless times! I know this story already for more than fifty years! Then one day as by a divine touch, the real meaning of this rich deep story hit home, at least it shook up my life.
This divine touch can leave you potentially confused, excited, reassured or, as in my case, with a glorious revelation experience! I am talking about the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of John 4.
By many preachers, she has always been painted as the lady with a questionable past, who went through five husbands, and the one she was living with was not her husband either, according to a very reliable source: Jesus! Surprisingly, Jesus does not turn away from her in horror and disgust, but He choses to do the opposite…to teach her! She becomes one of the first human beings to be taught the miracle and principle of the Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »
Something really odd happens to you when you return home after a few months travelling. There is a very short window of opportunity, where for a few brief days you have the objectivity of an outsider, which enables you to notice things in a fresh way, before familiarity obscures them again.
We just got back to France yesterday after over 4 months away (I might do a post about our eventful voyage home once the jet lag subsides and the memory of the anguish of missing not one but three of our connections becomes a little less raw)!
People often ask us “what are the differences between New Zealand and France”, and I never know what to say. So now that I still have a bit of that “just-flew-in” objectivity left before it fades into the familiar, I’ll record some of those things that have left us in no doubt that we really are back in France. Read the rest of this entry »
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