Month: September 2015

Lecturing in Church History

I am on my way back from the second session of lectures on Church History in Brussels Bible Institute. It has gone well so far. The first session was a fortnight ago. I gave an Introduction on why study church History and the New Testament World, followed by a Survey of the first church in Jerusalem in the Book of Acts. Today, we finished looking at the first church and talked about Persecution in the early church.

I had asked the students to read Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Romans and Polycarp’s Martyr. We had a lively discussion on Ignatius’ understanding of his martyrdom. It led to a lively discussion on self-denial and what Jesus meant when he said we should take up our cross. It was great and it seems that everyone enjoyed taking part and reflecting on Ignatius’s thoughts and understanding of his own martyrdom.

I wassn’t able to cover all the ground I wanted. I had planned to look at the Apologetes and the letter to Diognete but it will have to wait until next time, in a fortnight.

When you are 80 km away from the nearest hospital…

We spent the weekend in the family chalet. It is located in a remote valley at the heart of the Massif des Ecrins. It is a beautiful, wild setting, facing the Ecrins and it is a good place to rest and meditate. There is no electricity, but running water and gas to heat the water and cook. The weather forecast was good. We had planned a walk on Saturday and drove up on Friday afternoon, after school. But early in the night, one of the boys hurt himself. He fell in the dark and hurt his left arm.

I sent him back to bed but he was still hurting after several hours and couldn’t sleep. His elbow was swollen so I thought I needed to take him to the nearest hospital. Except the nearest hospital was in Grenoble, over 80 km away, the first 30 km of the journey being on a narrow, dark mountain road, with impressive drops at places. But there was no choice. It was about 3 am. We drove down and saw plenty of wild life: deers, foxes and badgers. 2 of each.

We got to the hospital at 4:30 am and checked in the Emergency Unit. It seemed quiet. the staff was quick and efficient. We were able to leave at 7. We were back in the chalet at 8:30 am. Not bad. We spent more time on the road than in the hospital.

Maxime now has a plaster on his left arm. We are not sure what the problem is. The doctor couldn’t see any broken bones on the x-rays. But we will check in a week time in the hospital in Chambéry. He is fine. Thanks to those who showed concern.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. We weren’t able to walk much on Saturday but we made the most of the mountains. On Sunday I went for a quick walk with Jean-Baptiste before packing up and driving back. It was sunny and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

Trains are funny places

Those of you who never travel by public transport are missing out on something. Flying doesn’t count. You must travel by train or by bus. As I am writing, I am sitting in a TGV on my way home from Brussels.

The guy sitting accross from me has been looking at me suspiciously over his smartphone for part of the journey. I am not sure what bothers him. Is it my beret or the long beard? Or is it both? 

There is also a guy sitting on the other side of the alley. He is sleeping peacefully, listening very loudly to some meditation recording. I can’t hear every thing but it is hilarious.

Earlier today, from Brussels to Paris, and English lad was speaking loudly with a french girl about his adventures in China and Russia.

Yesterday, I travelled in a cramped train from Lyon to Brussels. There were people everywhere. I had reserved my seat so I was fine, but some were sitting on the floor in the corridor. Two ladies were speaking loudly about their travels also.

I love it. If you only ever drive rather than use public transport, you are missing out on something. You are missing out on many weird, funny, interesting people. You are missing out on life.

 Get out of your car. Take time to travel and get on that train or bus.

My ancestors migrated too

There is so much talk about migrants these days. No one can pretend they didn’t know. I don’t know what we can do about it. It would be easy to fall into xenophobia. This is part of our sinful inclination. But I remind myself that my ancestors also migrated to escape war and persecution.

On my father side, my grandmother escaped the spanish civil war when she was a teenager. Her father was a republican. He took his family to safety and went back to fight. He never saw his family again and died later in a refugee camp in the south of France near Carcassone.

On my mother side, our ancestors left France for Switzerland. I am not sure when exactly but sometime at the beginning of the 18th Century. We believe they escaped persecution some years after the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

It helps me to keep the balance.

There’s nothing new about migrations because of war and economic trouble. I am convinced many of us have an ancestor who migrated at some point in their lives and had to find safety in a foreign land.

There will be an extra class on Monday

The children went back to school on Monday. It went well. They were happy to go back. In the primary school, we learned that there was 140 children in 5 classes. That would make it a bit tight, and more difficult to work, with an average of 28 kids per classroom. The headmistress told us that there was still a possibility for an extra teacher to be nominated on wednesday.

It happened. An extra class will be opened and the new teacher is arriving tomorrow to prepare his/her classroom. That’s good news. It is France, and some of the parents and teachers would have been very unhappy. You regularly hear of demonstrations in schools at this time of the year.