Category: Family life

A baptismal service (3)

I must also thank God for his help with the children today. Both Esther and myself were afraid that they would be disruptive. I was leading the service, and she was playing the piano. But it went amazingly well. Maxime sat with Maria Hartiel to start with, and eventually fell asleep. Jean-Baptiste sat with a boy from the church. He did start to get bored and play around with his car after a while. He was also singing a discretely. But Maria Hartiel went to get him and he sat with her and another lady from the church. He kept quiet for the rest of the service, and seemed to comply when they were telling him something. We thank God for these ladies, and for his help. We’ve thanked the children as well.

Sunday guest

Our guest this Sunday lunch time was Pastor Claude Broux. This gentleman started in the ministry in 1949. He has ministered in various places in Brittany before settling down in Guingamp in the early seventies where he planted the church we are now in. He is now 86 and lost his wife last June, after over 60 years of marriage. She was 19 when they met, and he was probably about the same age, or a little older. He is also one of the founding members of France mission in the fifties, and he knew Caradoc Jones who was still in Paimpol when he came to Brittany. He described him as very old school Englishman. Probably true although Caradoc Jones was a Welshman.

It was humbling to talk with this elderly brother who has got so much experience. We talked about many different things: his youth, the beginnings of the church, his children (he has got 8), his Grandchildren (33 of them), and great-grandchildren (8 altogether). He shared about his conversion, his time in a children home in Ferney-Voltaire (we lived there)… He doesn’t preach anymore, but attends faithfully the meetings of the church, seating on the front row every Sunday. He was glad of Esther’s arrival as until we came he was the only person who could play the piano, and did not feel very confident about it.

It is a great privilege to have him as an Elder in our church.

Singing Psalms

In our family worship, we’ve started learning some Psalms from the Huguenot Psalter. It is a great exercise, and a real help to grasp the message of these Psalms, and a tool to meditate on them later. The tunes are easy to remember, and can be sung without accompaniment (which is a change from modern tunes). Here is the first Psalm in modern French.

1. L’homme qui fuit le conseil des trompeurs
Sans s’arrêter au chemin des pécheurs
Ni sur le banc où les moqueurs s’asseyent
Mais que la Loi du Seigneur émerveille
(Loi dont il est jour et nuit désireux),
Certainement, celui-là est heureux!
2. Il semblera un arbre grand et beau,
Planté le long d’un clair courant ruisseau;
En sa saison, on voit le fruit qu’il porte
Sans que jamais sa feuille tombe morte.
Le vrai croyant et tout ce qu’il fera
A l’avenir toujours prospérera.
3. Mais les pervers n’auront pas ces vertus;
Ils deviendront semblables aux fétus,
A la poussière au gré du ven chassée…
Aussi leur cause sera renversée
Au Jugement, quand tous ces réprouvés
Au rang des bons ne seront pas trouvés.
4. Car l’Eternel connaît les hommes droits,
Prenant soin d’eux sur le chemin étroit;
Ils recevront le vrai bonheur qui dure.
Une autre voie aux pécheurs semble sûre,
Mais les voilà dans la direction
Où, avec leurs projets, ils périront.

You can listen to the tune here.

Classical TV series

The advantage with digital television is that you get to see some classical television series. When I was growing up, I was quite a fan of tv series like the A-team (l’agence tout risque), Macgyver… These two are everyday on one of the television channels so we’ve been having some great time watching them.

I also used to like Magnum, but no haven’t seen it yet. The best of all was the Avengers, a British TV series in Black and white.