Month: October 2013

A breton funeral

There was a funeral in town yesterday. A well-known local figure was being buried. I was in town when the procession came out of the basilica. Since the roads had been closed for the occasion, I watched the procession walk passed. It was impressive and sobering. The bagad (pipe band) was leading the way, followed by flag bearers, the hearse before the rest of the crowed. The man wasn’t vey old. He was in his sixties I would say. I had seen him around the music school a few times. He was well known for having started the local Bagad as well as the St-loup festival, a well known breton dance competition. There’s an article in Ouest-France: Les adieux au président de la Saint-Loup

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Ordinary – White Horse Inn Podcast

The White Horse Inn podcast recently held a series titled “Ordinary”. I found these both convicting and challenging, especially the first one. See below for links to the various podcasts

I’ve come to the point where I’m not sure anymore just what God counts as radical. And I suspect that for me, getting up and doing the dishes when I’m short on sleep and patience is far more costly and necessitates more of a revolution in my heart than some of the more outwardly risky ways I’ve lived in the past. And so this is what I need now: the courage to face an ordinary day — an afternoon with a colicky baby where I’m probably going to snap at my two-year old and get annoyed with my noisy neighbor — without despair, the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life, and the grace to know that even when I’ve done nothing that is powerful or bold or even interesting that the Lord notices me and is fond of me and that that is enough.

Tish Harrison Warren, Courage in the ordinary

Here are links to each podcast:

1. Courage in the Ordinary 

2. Ordinary Excellence

3. Extraordinary gifts through ordinary means

4. The God of the Ordinary

5. Ordinary life and Vocation

Visiting preacher

We had a visiting preacher this weekend. Dominique Ferret is president of our church denomination (CAEF). He led a meeting on Saturday evening, speaking about the denomination, its history, foundations and ministries. It was very interesting and a good number of church folks turned up. On Sunday, he opened the word from Isaiah 6, urging us to get a right vision of God and of ourselves.

Funny French words: tatillon

Some French words sound great. I thought I’d share a few with you. Today’s funny French word is “tatillon”. According to the online Larousse dictionary it means: “Qui fait preuve d’une minutie excessive, qui s’arrête aux moindres détails : Un esprit tatillon..” It is both an adjective and a noun. In english it would be: fussy, or nit-picker