Category: France

Thoughts on preaching

Reading through Stuart Olyott’s book: “Preaching pure and simple” (Bryntition Press), I came accross this quote: “Just as preaching is the chief means by which sinners are convinced of gospel truth and are converted, in the same way it is God’s chief way of building up his people in holiness, of comforting them, and of keeping them believing until the end of their lives. No Christian can grow as he should without listening to lots of preaching. It is an impossibility.”

In France, people get one sermon on the Sunday, and if they go to the Bible study in the week, they will have a bit more input. That’s if they make it to the meetings.

Talking with my fellow MPEF missionaries in Bordeaux recently, we agreed that French Christians get very little preaching in the week. The challenge for us is: How can they grow in holiness and knowledge of our Lord then? Thank you for your prayers.

La chasse/ Hunting

Today, the hunting season is starting. It is a big thing in rural France, and hunters have been preparing this opening day for weeks. It also means you may want to wear bright colours when you go for a walk, and you need to talk loudly.

The father of a little girl in Jean-Baptiste’s class loves hunting and was talking about it two weeks ago. Who knows, we may get to eat some game in the coming weeks?

Greeting protocols

In her book “Watching the English”, Kate Fox describes British greeting protocol in the following way:

As it is, our introductions and greetings tend to be uncomfortable, clumsy and inelegant. Among established friends, there is less awkwardness, although we are often still not quite sure what to do with our hands, or whether to hug or kiss.

We often feel the same here. French people are usually less awkward, and know what to do whether shake hands or kiss. Men shake hands with men, give la bise to ladies (when they know them already of course). Ladies give la bise to each other, and will shake a man’s hand if it is the first time they meet. Of course their are exceptions, and many subtleties. You have to be a native to know them all.

The best way to know what to do is to follow the flow and to let the others take the initiative.

Today, Jean-Baptiste was invited to have a snack at a friend’s house after school. We call this snack “goûter”. We were invited to come along. So, we arrived. I shook the husband’s hand, gave la bise to the mum (I hesitated at first, but we’ve met a couple of times already, and she clearly was going to). Esther gave la bise to both. Everything was fine. The husband left for work, so again, we shook hands and Esther gave la bise.

Everything was going well until we had to leave. What were we supposed to do? Do la bise, or just say thank you and go? The two little girls came to do la bise. But what about the mum? We opted for the very British, awkward kind of greeting, not knowing too much what to do. I suppose we should have done la bise, but who knows?

That’s what happen when you adapt to a new culture, learning new ways of doing things. The most embarrassing is that I am a Frenchman, and that I should know.