All Saints tide
A bit of a delay since my first post; life has been quite busy, and we have had the pleasure of Nathanael's presence for four days in the week.
Since I last wrote, we've experienced another Sunday - with two morning services, a (BCP) Communion and a Service of the Word; respectable numbers at each. We also joined in an online Prayer Meeting one morning. There must have been more than twelve participants, which is encouraging: more than many churches could muster.
On our rest days, we've continued some exploring of the immediate area. We walked beside the Etangs de Commelle, a series of large ponds in a conservation area. We saw a range of fauna - water birds like coots, moorhens, swans, and gulls, some butterflies, and - surprise - a couple of coypus asleep on a nest on the water. Another encounter with nature came when we walked through the Forest of Ermenonville, along part of the 'Sentier des Ecrivains' (Writers' Footpath), so called because Rousseau often stayed in the area, and was followed by other Enlightenment and Romantic writers. There are panels along the toute, with quotations from a variety of sources, from Rousseau to Nerval. The walk ends at Ermenonville in 'Parc Jean-Jacques Rousseau', so called, because its designer was influenced by the writer's philosophy; he gave Rousseau hospitality at the end of his life. He died and was buried on an island on one of the lakes (until his body was transferred to the Panthèon.
We met Nat in Paris on Tuesday - our first use of the travel pass, which gives us half-price tickets - and we had a meal in a creperie in Chantilly. The next day we went into Paris; the first time in five years Jo and I had been there. We went to the lovely Musee d'Orsay, where there was an exhibition of Munch's paintings, as well as all the Impressionist and Post-impressionist paintings of the permanent collection. We followed that with a walk by the Seine to our favourite bookshop, Shakespeare and Company; and we finished the day at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, with its own pantheon of worthies, from Abelard and Heloise to Oscar Wilde.
Thursday we spent at Compiègne, going first to the forest clearing where the 1918 Armistice was signed in Marshal Foch's railway carriage; Hitler demanded that the capitulation of France to the Nazis in 1940 be signed in the same carriage. That was destroyed in Berlin during the war, but a replica is now displayed in an informative little museum on the site. After lunch and a walk in the town, we went to the Memorial of the Internment and Deportation, situated in some former barracks which the Nazis used to detain and process various men and women, most of whom ended up in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. So, a rather sobering day!
We're now preparing to celebrate All Saints Sunday. Toussaint is a public holiday in France, and most Catholic churches will be full for the Mass, as it is often combined with All Souls Day as a time to remember the departed. Cemeteries are visited, and many chrysanthemums placed on graves - you never give chrysanthemums to friends. Hallowe'en has, sadly, infiltrated into French society as into ours; we saw various people dressed for a party in town this afternoon.
We hope to be able to listen to more people at church and learn how we can pray for the healing of past hurts, as the church looks forward to the future. The Archdeacon of France is coming to a council meeting in a couple of weeks, to help them move on, and seek a new chaplain.
For the rest: petrol is available again, so we have a full tank! But there is a real problem with the cost of living increases here, as in the UK (food prices here seem high to us, and most restaurants in Chantilly are beyond our reach.) But much about France is good and positive. There seems to be more of a sense of society and of belonging. Infrastructure is good; the local council are able to clear leaves from the streets (there are a lot of trees around!) on a daily basis. Anyway, we certainly feel at home here - even if my French is not as good as it should be (but it is much better than my Turkish)! Please continue to pray for us.
Thank you for keeping me on the list. I pray and remember a good number of links we had with Chantilly. I much enjoyed your accounts of walks, evoking places familiar to me during the many years (c 50) when our family home was in France. During that time Antony was Reader and not infrequently asked to stand in for a Chaplain at one of the five Chaplaincies in/around Paris: I used to go with him and got to know a good number of those in different gatherings. There may even be some of the present worshippers in Chantilly who remember us. Long ago, before the church buildings were achieved, we owned a caravan and needed a place for it to winter: it was just possible to manoevre it through the gate and park it behind the church, where it served to host the Sunday school for a year or two until better arrangements were achieved! Good to imagine you in France - I trust prayer will be answered and present issues laid to rest.
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