Pleasant Inns

Even though I am hardly living in a settled season, God showing me many blessings along the way, including this most beautiful place as my current home!

"The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."

--C.S Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Decisions, decisions

Each day brings another swing...

first I had my heart set on staying another year

then an unexpected scholarship to Georgetown came in

next I heard that my application to Aix had been lost in the mail

now they've found it again.

After July 8th I should hear back from the school in Aix as to whether or not I've been admitted. If so, I have a tough decision to make! If not, I'll start at Georgetown this fall. Please pray for peace and wisdom in this time, especially with the craziness of two weeks of kid's camp starting on Monday. :)

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; [The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost] Remets ton sort à l'Eternel, et il te soutiendra Il ne laissera jamais chanceler le juste. --Psaume 55,23

To my little brother

...the king of funny faces on Skype, chocolate mustaches at all hours of the day, and improvised weaponry. Two more days until you get to discover my city! :)

Good Friday

This is all our stories. We have those thoughts and those things that weigh so heavily upon us. Whispering to us. Promising things to us. Doubts, sins, addictions, uncertainties, and ambiguities mark more of our lives than the clarity and holiness, do they not? We savor those moments of bliss, freedom, and rest because they are a foretaste of a kingdom that is already “here” but is becoming ever increasingly “here” as we love, live, serve, create, and worship. And this is what Holy Week is all about. We join with all the saints of history in the growing crescendo of time in our struggle with angst and sin. The tension and mourning of this season is building to its highest point this week — to its most feverish pitch as we lose all sight of self-sufficiency until we fall on our faces, exhausted, late on a Friday night; confused, weary, and given up.

And then wait for Sunday to come.

[Via Paul Burkhart]

Waiting for Resurrection - David Sessions - Patrol Magazine Posted using ShareThis

More Balèti and Breton dancing

Some friends of mine play in a folk group (both Provençal and Breton music) and recently helped inaugurate a new bar/tabac across town. A local webchannel filmed the event and put together a great video showcasing some of the music and dancing:

Happy St Patrick's Day!

In honor of today: St Patrick's Breastplate/The Prayer of Saint Patrick

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Balèti!

This week I had the chance to attend my first balèti, a Provençal folk dance, with lots of live music and steps that reminded me very much of contra dancing in the United States. Unlike the contra dances, however, a balèti also includes a lot more couple dances, such as polkas and mazurkas, and several different varities of chain dances, called farandoles. There were also bourrées and waltzes and quadrilles, as well as one dance I had originally learned as "Soldier's Joy." It was fun to recognize so many of the steps! Our musicians included two fiddlers, a bagpipe player, several recorders or flutes, a clarinet, a guitar and several accordions. Often the musicians would take turns swapping out so they could dance, too, and would occasionally remind the other dancers that it was generally well thought of to buy the musicians drinks... :) The dance itself was free, hosted in a brasserie in Aix, but the owner did good business at the bar with thirsty dancers. When the weather warms up the dances will take place in the open air--it will almost be like the Renoir painting!

You know you're in Marseille when...

Even the santons are supporting OM!

For those of you on Facebook, I posted the rest of my pictures there. :)

Bits and Pieces

It's been a very full past three weeks (somehow I don't think this will surprise my readers...). :) Here are a few highlights:

*Vacances de Toussaint, or All Saints' vacation, is the equivalent of fall break in France and gave me a chance to get some administrative paperwork started. I say started, not done, because after three trips to the social security office I still don't have all the documents I need. *sigh* At least I don't live very far from their office!

*Kid's Club at my French church meets every other week for an hour and a half of music, crafts and Bible stories. It's been fun remembering all the songs I grew up with and learning some new ones too. :)

Some songs we sing in both English and French (like the one we're singing in the picture--My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do! Mon Dieu est si grand, si fort et si puissant, rien n'est impossible

à mon Dieu!)

*Spending time with ICCM friends has been great fun. During break, we met up twice for restaurant outings (my first times eating out since moving to Marseille!). Finding out good but inexpensive spots to eat in a city is a great part of getting to know a place. If anyone is looking to try Algerian or Afghan food, let me know... :)

*Garbage strikes stink (literally). For nearly a week the waste processing plants were blocked by strikers and no bins could be cleared from the street. Thankfully the weather was cool enough that the stench was not as bad as a summer strike would have been, but the sidewalks were often covered by the overflowing mess. (View from my window at the end of the week on the right--some neighborhoods had it far worse.) The plus side of this event is that I am now grateful for all the basic services which have not gone on strike since my arrival...

*Veteran's Day (Armistice Day). France-USA, an association ICCM has worked with here in

Marseille, hosted a Veteran's day celebration at

Park Borély in honor of American soldiers who died in France. Dan gave the invocation and several city officials spoke or (in the case of the mayor) had representatives speak in their place. Each also presented a wreath at the memorial.

They were beautiful, but after the ceremony I accidentally backed into one such wreath and nearly knocked it over--glad this didn't cause a diplomatic incident . ;)

*Armistice Day hike. Through an English meet-up group in Marseille I learned about a hiking expedition through the Calanques, something I'd been wanting to do since my arrival. So instead of sleeping in on my day off last week, I joined six other hikers bright and early to trek through the mountains between Marseille and Cassis--the trip was definitely worth it.

*Thanksgiving. Pictures from the celebration itself are posted over on ICCM's website so I won't repeat the show here, but suffice to say that it was a wonderful celebration and we were very warmly welcomed by the Lacordaire school, which hosted us. At the end of the meal Dan brought a plate of dessert to the director's office and saw a framed collage of pictures marked "Thanksgiving November 2009" hanging on his wall--sure enough, the prints were from the beginning of our dinner! Next year we will probably need to move to one of their larger cafeterias, but everything else suited the celebration perfectly, so we hope to return. Thank you to all who were praying for us!

Preparing a meal to feed nearly 80 people naturally included quite a lot of work, but it all came together beautifully under Nancy's expert direction. Another student and I had a blast rolling pie dough and making cookies on Thursday before our celebration, all while listening to Christmas music that seemed to defy the warming temperatures. Nancy also kindly saved a can of pumpkin for me so I could make my traditional pumpkin bread the next day. One other ingredient--ground cloves--was missing, however, and I couldn't find any in stores. Finally, the open air market saved me and I was able to buy some from the spice stall. Definitely a new experience for me! In addition to pumpkin bread, the list of baked goods included pumpkin, apple, blueberry and pecan pies, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, brownies, muffins, and spice cake (apple tarte exhibited at left). One of the apple pies actually got left behind on the day of, but we made short work of it at dinner after Sunday's service. :)

*Marhaban. As I've mentioned in my letters, the court date is this coming Friday, the 20th, so please be praying for favor and provision for classes should we need to move in the coming weeks (there are back-up locations already planned, but getting everyone moved will be a logistical challenge). Otherwise, the classes are going well and I'm really enjoying getting to know my students. Tutoring has been especially fun as I try to help two lively 6-year old boys. It's immensly gratifying to see them understand a concept that escaped them until that moment!

Seeking a homeland

From Bible study this evening:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

--Hebrews 11:13-16

And a few pictures of the city my pilgrimage is passing through at the moment:

Doesn't the sky make you want to wander? Autumn seems to reinforce the feeling of only passing through...of longing for a home that I've never actually seen before, but I know is my destination.

Herbert on prayer

PRAYER. (I)
PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age, Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner's towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood.

--George Herbert

HT: KFG

A Less Busy Heart

"The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn't offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love...and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure." - Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life

A few pictures from this week

Cooking Day 5: ratatouille, gratin dauphinois and roast chicken

Outreach day at the Salvation Army:
Praise songs in French (and one in Farsi!)

An Algerian woman shared part of her testimony and beautiful praise songs in Arabic

During the longer part of the afternoon (a testimony by the son of an imam), I watched the kids in a room nearby. Most of them knew me already, either from Marhaban or Saturday kids' club. We had a great time singing, drawing and playing games, all while trying to keep our noise level to a dull roar since the walls were far from sound proof...

Don't you love their smiles? :-)

On hospitality

Practice hospitality.

--Romans 12:13

Thank you to those praying for the conference this week! Today I had a lot more energy to work, plus another set of hands during part of my prep time, which made the day a lot less stressful than yesterday.

With all my meal-making this week, I've been thinking of Mary and Martha again--especially since my tendency is to focus more on tasks, like Martha, rather than people. In contrast to Martha, though, I don't like asking for help. :P Particularly this week, when it meant taking someone away from conference meetings. Part of the problem is also my reluctance to acknowledge my limits, in this case where I'm attempting complicated meals for a large group of people. :) Thankfully, my wonderful office manager saw past my attempts to handle everything on my own and volunteered to help this morning. The companionship while cooking was wonderful--she gave me all sorts of tips on cooking for groups and estimating how much to buy for large quantities of food. She also properly chided me for attempting complicated dishes for the first time at a conference like this... I couldn't help it--all the recipes in Nancy Painter's famous Gourmet cookbook looked so good! :-) The best result of the time was the ability to sit down and have lunch with everyone else and enjoy conversation with our guests. (I had even been able to make myself soup on the side as I'm still recovering from my cold.)

As important as making guests comfortable and seeing that they are well fed may be, conversation and plain old building-of-relationships are also vital parts of hospitality. I'm reminded of this thanks to the family I tutor for--the dad is Italian and a chef at a restaurant here and the mom makes wonderful desserts from her native Dominican Republic. Both of them talk with me all during their preparations and give advice and suggestions as they go: where to find the best coconut in Marseille (the African market), how to properly cook risotto (add the bouillon a little at at time, stir in waves), the best way to eat mozzarella (warm, not cold--you get more of the flavor). Each time I come to help Sarah with her homework, Ana has some new sweet or savory for me to try, and every other week or so Matteo makes it back from the restaurant before I leave and invites me to stay for dinner. In between attempting to read Italian children's books to Beatrice, their youngest, I hear the details of preparation for each dish, along with where to get the best ingredients. This family has a sort of reckless hospitality that I want to emulate--without reckoning, a generous giving without expecting anything in return. Isn't that the example Christ set for us?

A few prayer requests

• --For strength: The past week was incredibly busy, and this current week is just as much so, if not more. Please pray for strength to make it through the rest of this week, which includes a big conference in which I am cooking for 15+ people each day.
• --For health: It may be allergies or just a cold, but I've been fighting something since last Friday that makes life especially difficult when there is a lot to do. Pray that I get enough rest to heal in the midst of this busyness.

And a praise:

• --I have a ticket home for Christmas! :-D Lord willing, I'll be back December 21st to January 3rd.

A Pilgrim's Homecoming

As my alma mater celebrated homecoming this weekend, I attended a very different such celebration in Marseille.

The funeral was for a young man I'd never met, but his story was a testimony of God's grace, touching all those who knew him or his family. Last Saturday, after a ten year battle with cancer, he went home to heaven at the age of 17. He had been in home hospital care since March, waiting for the end of the sickness that had plagued his body since the age of 7. In those last few months, his visitors were struck by the peace with which he and his family faced their situation. I am told that his French teacher, an atheist, visited every week, drawn by the incredible sense of peace he felt there and nowhere else.

It was a privilege to commemorate his life today alongside the rest of his community. Nearly 400 people attended the memorial service and burial, hearing the words of truth and hope that he professed. Church family, friends from scouts, from school, from English camp, parents of other children at the hospital where he was treated--all came together to celebrate his arrival home.

Requiescet in pace, David

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

[1 Corinthians]

Pictures from the Cévennes

Highlights from the ICCM retreat

--watching the stars over the mountains after living in the city for a month
--discovering a stash of magazines from the 1890s and 1900s, including articles on the Russian royal family and British MPs I remember studying in history
--Dan's croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast
--my very patient audience going through the Musée du Désert
--lunch at La Rocaille under a gorgeous blue sky
--hiking up to the cave in record time, with a new youngest climber ever, Miss Furaha M., age 3!
--wading in the Gardon river after the hike
--a chocolate run at the Anduze Super-U
--stories from Craig and Leeanne about growing up in Zimbabwe
--praise songs in Chinese sung by Liu and Cynthia
--needing 5 laptops to play a single DVD
--watching Traitor and being able to identify where the Marseille scenes were filmed (a good counterterrorism film if you haven't seen it yet)
--a new hike up to Sainte Croix and the overlook
--signs of fall--leaves and chesnuts scattered all over the forest
--group pictures with the tradional 15 cameras
--a wonderful Sunday evening service and farewell party for Courtney
--surprise birthday party for Nicodemus.

All's well that ends well--I returned from the retreat probably more tired than when I left, but it was worth every minute. :) Pictures to come, probably on ICCM's FB account or the website (marseillechurch.info)

Notes on a musical evening

No pun intended. :-)

Tonight I visited a neighborhood choir as part of my attempt to become more connected with the local community. Pro Musica has been around since 1981 and happens to meet within walking distance of where I live, so I decided to give it a try. While the director was away this evening (which means that I will return next week to witness a more usual rehearsal), I was struck by the sheer lopsidedness of the choir: 15 altos, 9 sopranos, 3 tenors, and 2 basses. Ouch. I'm told that usually there are a few more men present, but it's still pretty bad odds.

On the plus side, tonight re-introduced me to all the French terms in music, especially random words we use in choir practice like "off" or "pick up to..." It's all words I know already, just not in the musical context, in the same way that a non-singer would get used to musical lingo after joining a chorale. The terms for notes are quite intuitive: black notes, white notes, round notes and pointed notes. You do lose the advantage of labeling each note with its relative value (quarter, half, etc.), but it's easy to learn quickly. And to think I went through this process backwards 12 years ago! I particularly remember wondering why "do" wasn't called "A" instead of "C," since that was the "first" note. Now I almost have to translate from "mi" to "E" and back again.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to sing Mendelssohn again tonight, but we'll see if they really need another soprano or not in the coming weeks...

Multilingual adventures

This week marked the beginning of English classes at Marhaban. Since the other teachers are all British, we had a few humorous differences of pronunciation--anywhere from how to say the letter "z" to whether the last syllable of Moscow sounds like "ow" or "oh." The students enjoyed hearing the differences in our language, especially since many of them have different accents in French, too!

We have three classes of students, and I teach the middle, or intermediary, class. Each session opens with time for tea, biscuits and discussion before everyone splits into their groups. This week one of the ladies brought sesame cakes to share, a traditional sweet from her native Syria. A few of the students are French, but most are expats from any number of countries--Germany, Algeria, Argentina, and Madagascar were all present in my class as well.

This afternoon the family I tutor for held a birthday party for their younger daughter at Marseille's beautiful "Park of the 26th Century." (Not many cites are 2600 years old!) Almost all of the other families there spoke Italian, so I had fun trying to follow the conversation between the bits of Italian my sister has taught me and the commonalites of all Romance languages.

Next weekend will be back to English again as ICCM and friends head to the Cévennes mountains for a time of fellowship and refreshment. Many on the trip are new to France or Marseille and some have never been to an ICCM event before, so please pray for growth and edification in relationships. It's amazing to see how God brings people together from so many different backgrounds to form his Church!