Salvogesis

May 15 th  and May 16 th  of this year, I walked along the beaches of Dieppe. I looked out across a beautiful beach covered with large smooth rocks that gave way under your feet drawing you back, in towards the sea, and I looked up steep, steep cliffs to see even ancient fortifications, in the evening beautifully lit up by an amazing sunset. August 19 th , 1944, almost 80 years ago, over 6000 infantry, primarily Canadian infantry arrived at this same beach. The same rocks that gave way under my feet gave way under their feet. Only they were wearing heavy packs and carrying their weapons and supplies; just trying to survive. Balance must have been near impossible. They would have been so heavy, soaking wet as the sea wanted to claim them for her own. As they looked up at the sheer cliffs, I am sure it was not the beauty of the moment that captured their imagination but rather the sheer horror of having to find a way to scale those cliffs, while sopping wet, heavy with gear, and...

    On May 17 th  of this year, I walked the short walk from a parking lot to the memorial atop a small ridge, overlooking a small town in France. There were sheep everywhere. I did not see a shepherd. One little lamb had escaped a fence and become separated from the flock; she desperately ran back and forth along the ridge looking, searching, hoping for someway to break through the fence before it is too late; hoping to join her flock, looking for someway to be reunited; looking for safety she bleated, she cried as she looked out terrified over the ridge. This ridge on which she was lost and bleating has a name. It is Vimmy Ridge. As I stood atop Vimmy Ridge by the memorial to our Canadian soldiers, the symbolism of this bleating lamb running back and forth, looking for someway through the fence was not lost on me. April 9 th  to April 12 th , 1917, a brutal battle was fought as our Canadian soldiers desperately looked for a way to break through the fences and trenc...

We saw a Salvador Dali museum in Paris. I have always liked his work – though one may need a book or a tour guide to understand it fully: the melting clocks and other items that typify surrealism.      We were also able to go the Giverny and see Monet’s gardens. I have seen Monet’s paintings before and I admit that I have never been that much of a fan. I once, in university, for a class had to review some of his work. I ran through everything I knew about the techniques he used and everything else. My professor was really impressed and was starting to comment on my analysis before I had spoken the concluding words of my presentation which were, “and I don’t like that”.     But then I saw up front and in person the objects Monet was painting and I understood. French Impressionism made sense to me in an instant. That which I never used to even understand, let alone appreciate, when I saw the reality it was representing with my own eyes, when I was a...

One oil painting we saw at the Louvre was an oil painting of the 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David of his colleague, the murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat, entitled ‘Death of Marat’.     Oil paintings are amazing. You can see them today, centuries later, and they look as vibrant as if they were painted just yesterday.     What struck me about the death of Marat however was not the art as much as the subject matter. Now, I am not a fan of Marat. It really is not a surprise that he was murdered, in my opinion: he was really quite a nasty fellow. He was a propagandist for the French revolutionaries; much like Milton was for England’s Cromwell, only nastier, I think.     Marat is often held responsible for the September Massacre s in which between 1,176 and 1,614 defenceless people were taken prisoner and then murdered. And then after earning these murderous credentials, Marat went on to sit on the Committee of General Se...

When we were in Paris and the rest of France, we were able to see the Louvre, other museums, art galleries, and many famous works of Art. We saw the Mona Lisa and other great oil paintings. One thing that struck me as I looked upon the original works of art of which I have seen reproductions dozens or even hundreds of times before in my life, is that the reproductions are never as good as the original. They can be like the cloud of witnesses in our text but they are not anywhere near the value and power of the original! A picture of a painting is not the painting itself: not nearly as vibrant and alive!      This reminds me of our faith and a temptation for some Christians who maybe even grew up in the churches. I have met some people – even in seminary - who hadn’t ever read through their entire Bible even once! There are people who identify as Christians who look to or through others instead of to God directly for their faith. They rely on preachers, teach...

                                Nimes – we found The Salvation Army right next to the Roman Arena and near the Temple to Augustus. I wish it was open when we went there. It would be great to see the kind of outreach that The Army does there. It did certainly strike me that the large cities we have seen in France, England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden do not have the same in-your-face homelessness and addiction that we have in Canada. I have my ideas why that is the case but we won’t go into that here today. Nimes is an ancient city. In Nimes we saw a temple dedicated to the sons of Caesar Augustus. Do we remember who he was in the Bible? Yes – he was the Roman Emperor when Jesus was born – ruler of Rome; Nimes, Gaul; Jerusalem, Judea; and many other places. We also read references to Herod who was responsible for Caesar’s navy. We know who that was? Herod the Great was ‘King of the Jews’ when Jesus...

                                    We walked around  Carcassone.  This is an amazing city in wine country. You can see the vineyards. It was beautiful. It was massive; It seemed impregnable. We also stopped in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux for lunch. It was a great lunch! There was wine sold everywhere in many of the shops. We obviously didn’t try any but we tried lots of great food. I believe I had shrimp here. I had lots of duck while we were visiting France. The exciting thing about Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, for me was the church there. Like many places it had been a pilgrimage stop. Like many places it had been attached by the revolutionaries during the French revolution – the French revolutionaries robbed, looted, destroyed, vandalized, attacked many churches. In this amazing church that was very old there were many remarkable things. One was a chair. We were all invited into the church an...

We visited La Rochelle on France. La Rochelle had a very nice harbour. We walked around the downtown. Their city hall was a castle in the middle of town – we thought about talking to Mayor Sharie Minions about maybe making something like that here! It would be great for tourism! La Rochelle: Do you know what the significance of La Rochelle is from a Canadian point-of-view? It the city from which Canada was founded! The Chamber of Commerce in La Rochelle funded the voyages of Cartier and Champlain. Cartier was the first person to map the St. Lawrence, including what would become Montreal and Quebec and he is the one who named Canada, Canada. We actually saw his house (from the outside) when we were in Saint-Malo in Brittany. It was neat because you could actually see Britain just across the water – I went swimming there – it was not swimming weather! But it was nice. Back to La Rochelle who funded Cartier and Champlain; we know who Champlain was? He established Quebec City in 1608, thre...

We spent a couple of weeks this May in France. I wrote to you here last week about some of the things the Lord taught me in Lourdes, France. Today I am going to chat about some of the things He showed me through some of the other places we visited. We visited a lot of places! One place we visited was Mont Saint-Michel. This was an amazing place to visit. This is a city on a tidal island in Normandy that for years and years, if you did not know your tides well, you took your life in your hands to visit; if the tides came in while you were walking out, you would be swept away to sea; they come in so fast and so powerfully!! The city fills the entire island. Walls are around the outside. The city then goes straight up a hill – door to door – small roads, no spaces between the buildings up to a giant church, an Abbey. Mont Saint-Michel was one of the few places to remain unconquered in the 100 Years War. Louis XI of France founded the  Order of Saint Michael  in1469 and he intende...