lenten poem nine

Pau, France, 2016.


Carême 9: Repentance, or Truth + Grace

"Steadfast love surrounds
those who trust in you, O Lord."
God is soft with us.

----Je suis reconnaissante.
Merci, Seigneur.

*Translation of French: I am grateful. Thank you, Lord.

("Grace and Graciousness" sermon by Scott Patty @ GCC Nashville; Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross, p. 146; Psalm 32)

lenten poems: a note

Pau, France, 2016.

An increasingly beautiful aspect of this Lenten poems discipline has been the decision to follow where the Spirit leads in this season. Which means the poems are not always a direct response to Scripture or to some specifically-defined Lenten reading. Sometimes they are instead inspired by a sermon I've heard, by a conversation with a friend, by a shadowed scene that played out for only seconds on the wall across the street from the window I look through while seated at my desk. All of life is the Lord's. Lent is offering a chance to learn to be especially present to the Holy Spirit's whispers in all of life's moments, not just the ones overtly deemed to be spiritual.

I did not expect all of this when I settled on this discipline for this season. But by freeing myself from responding only to my "devotions" (to what I read), the discipline has plunged me more deeply into a posture of listening all throughout the day: What will today's inspiration be? And yet, by interacting deeply with Scripture throughout these days, all of the listening is yet rooted there.

Whisper, Lord, whisper. Let there be life. And may it be good.

lenten poem eight

Frioul Islands, France, 2015.

Carême 8: La joie

Help me not fear, Lord,

to ask for joy--grande et profonde.

Let the fresh wind blow.

*Translation of French: joy; big and deep

lenten poem seven

Togo, 2014.

Carême 7: Glory

Keep fervent in your love.

        How, Lord?

        I alone am not enough.

Be ready, sois prêt.

        How, Lord?

        Ready for what?

Serve others, as a good steward.

        How, Lord?

        What is my gift?

(Live for the will of God, that God may be glorified.)

*Translation of French: be ready

(1 Peter 4:1-11)

lenten poem six

Southwestern France, 2014.

Carême 6: Sur Scène, the Neighbor's Wall

Unseen bird performed

a shadow play near noontime,

flew away. Encore!

(Sometimes life beautiful

 is found in shadows.)

*Translation of French: On Stage

lenten poem five

Southeastern France, 2013.



Carême 5: A Sprinkle of Clean Water


Silence frees, c'est ça?
In warm silence, I await
your word, water, breath.

*Translation of French: right? (Silence frees, right?)

(A Guide to Prayer for All God's People; The Lent Project - Biola U. Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts; Genesis 3; Ezekiel 36:24-28)

lenten poem four

Oudhna (Uthina) Archeological Site, Tunisia, 2015.

Carême 4: Battle Cry

Resist temptation!

     (I will help you.)

C'est quoi la tentation?

     (I will save you.)

Penser à faire ce qui n'appartient pas à Dieu.

     (Be holy, for I am holy.)

     -----And you will be a tree flourishing beside running water.

             (Grace reigns forevermore. My gift to you.)

*Translation of French: What is temptation? Thinking of doing things that do not not belong to God.

(First Sunday of Lent (Prayer) - InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Blog; The Lent Project - Biola U. Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts; Psalm 1; Leviticus 20:26; 1 Peter 1:16; Romans 5:20-21; Revelation 22:1-5)

lenten poem three

Sarajevo, Bosnia, 2014.

Carême 3: I Go

"Rend hearts not garments,"

says slow-to-anger Lord God.

Now

"get up and go."

------Ok, j'y vais

(même si ce n'est pas logique)

*Translation of French: Ok, I'll go. (Even if it doesn't really make sense.)

(Joel 2:12-13; Acts 9:10-17)

lenten poem two

Albania, 2014.

Carême 2: Hard Choices

Two paths before me,

"Avoid suffering," friends urge.

No---

I choose the Cross.

lenten poem one

Eglise Saint Martin - Pau, France - Mercredi des Cendres

Carême 1: Mercredi des Cendres

Among many I

heard tendresse. I saw your lap

before fire's warm light------

------holding me.

*Translation of French: Lent 1: Ash Wednesday; tenderness

carnival: béarnais style!!

Check out my most recent Blue Dot article all about Carnival celebrations in my new town!

Carnival: Béarnais Style

And just because you deserve an extra special gift for visiting my blog, here's a bit of video from the Carnival festivities.

fala português?

When my travel companion and I began scheming about a little road trip from southwestern France across Spain to Portugal, a country neither of us had been to before, he kept talking about going to Porto. I'd never heard this word before and assumed it was the French word for Portugal or something. So then I asked which city we should go to, and he's like, "Porto." 

Ohhhhh, that's a city?! 

How had I never heard of Portugal's second largest city (after Lisbon) before?

And this, my friends, is how travel helps me learn things.

We spent a lovely New Year's weekend in Porto and enjoyed it all, despite one of our two full days being graced by a daylong total downpour. A city that's good in the rain is a city to be marked with a gold star. Um, or something cheesy like that.

tunisia is treasured

Oudhna (Uthina) archeological site, Tunisia

I reported on my recent trip to Tunisia for Blue Dot. Check it out to read about some of Tunisia's treasures.

marseille responds

Tonight at the Vieux Port in Marseille people gathered together in solidarity in response to the November 13 attacks in Paris. It was an informal gathering, no speakers, no one seemed to be in charge, no obvious extra security. Just citizens together. I learned about the gathering via Instagram late in the day. A friend told me she heard about it on the Arabic radio station on her way home from work.

By 6:30 pm a large crowd of all ages had already gathered, at least 1000 people I think. They sang "The Marseillaise," which is a rousing fight-song of a national anthem, and another song. Soon there was a defiant round of applause. Then the crowd dispersed into smaller clusters of 4-5 people, groups of family and friends. There were three to four stations of candles and a few flowers. I didn't know where the candles were coming from, but then a woman handed me a tea light after lighting hers at one of the candle stations. Later I saw a young woman walking through the crowd with a multi-pack of tea candles offering them to people. Someone strung up clothesline where people attached mostly hand-written notes. The mood was serious but not particularly sad. Defiant-ish but not really angry. 

Three scenes in particular caught my attention: an older man in a wheelchair being slowly pushed by an older woman through the thick of the crowd. A mother with a young son and a young daughter winding their way toward one of the candle-flower sites; the son carried a single rose, the daughter a small bunch of three gerber daisies. Finally, a young girl of six or seven years old stood with the couple who appeared to be her parents; she was gazing for a while at the candles and then began to cry; the woman put her arms around her from behind, and the girl used the woman's sleeve to wipe her eyes.

The crowd reflected in the mirrored canopy overhead.

The candles spell "paix" (peace) in the mirrored canopy's reflection.

"Love. Peace. Rest in peace all the victims of the WORLD."

"From Kurdistan to Paris to Ankara the assassins are the same."

"The Kurds stand against the barbarism of ISIS. Be united!"