MandJ French sojourn

There’s not as much to report on our time in Versailles as there was during our time in Izmir. (One of the joys of social media and the internet, is that we are kept in touch with the news from St John’s Church, and able to share in the joys of a birth to a refugee couple, and sadness at the death of a faithful retired minister, who had kept the worship going for some time.) However, we continue to be blessed by our time here at St Mark’s. There have not been any big events. The return from holidays has begun; the congregation on Sunday was much larger than in previous weeks, and we look forward to quite a few more on our final Sunday. We’re working on planning that service, which is going to be full – the resumption of the children’s work, an adult baptism, farewells to some young people setting off for university, praying for the church members as the new year begins – and our own leave-taking! The last year or so have been quite difficult for the church here, with financial pro...

Another week has passed since we arrived. It’s been busy in different ways. We had the pleasure of entertaining Nathanael for a few days. We went to Paris, and walked him into the ground; it’s a great city to wander round, but there is such a lot to see. It’s been more than 50 years since my previous visit to Les Invalides, and Napoleon’s tomb. It’s still a shock to realise that he was, and in many ways remains, a great hero to the French. But so much of the nation’s legal system, transport and education derives from his energetic transformation of post-Revolutionary France. We also visited the Chateau at Versailles; the interior is splendid– the Hall of Mirrors is stunning – and we enjoyed seeing many of the fountains gushing forth, with musical accompaniment; this only happens on certain days. We’ve just passed the ‘First 100 Days’ of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. They’ve been much less tumultuous and controversial than President Trump’s were; but neither man has a high populari...

We are a week into our time in Versailles, taking care of St Mark’s International Church. This is a shorter locum period than usual – just five weeks, as we have been quite busy already this year. So we are particularly aware of our status as ‘sojourners’ – just passing through. Though for the time we are here we shall be engaged with the worshipping community and its needs, as well as enjoying being part of that community for a short time. I suppose that is a kind of parable of our life as Christians. As the writer to Hebrews puts it, “Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Heb 13:14) We are always something of a stranger in a foreign land, for “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20). Which is not to say that we are to be otherworldly. Christians have to be firmly rooted in the world, concerned to affirm signs of God’s presence and to point to signs of his kingdom – and at the same time, not to allow ourselves to be absorbed by ...