A weekend in Marseille

The International Church in Marseille is one of our sister churches, and does a lot of event evangelism. Recently they held a Thanksgiving Feast, with an interview with Governor Bradford, and 111 people present. They buy imported American turkeys, make pumpkin pies and green bean casserole, and hire a chef for the day to get everything ready. Then each year they hold a Carol Service in the Basilique du Sacré Coeur, which is on one of the Boulevards of Marseille near the Protestant church where the international church used to meet.

Although the Marseille church usually has fewer than 30 people attending, there are some wonderful networkers there and so they get a great turnout for their special events. They've invited me to go and be their speaker at Christmas a couple of times over the years, but Marseille is a long way to travel, and the talk lasts about 7 minutes, so I felt I could never accept. Anyway, who would preach at Bordeaux while I was away?

But this year a couple of things persuaded me to accept. Firstly, Pat and I could do with getting away for a moment. Going to Marseille would give us a quick weekend away. Then Sylvain was due to preach here in Bordeaux. So I said I could go.

Usually everything in the Christmas service happens in English, with translations for the welcome, for introductions of the various items, and a translator for the message. However last year the service was too long, so they decided that I should preach in French with no translation. Hmm. I prepared, scripted and honed my message until I could deliver it in under 8 minutes. The target was about 7. I decided that would do.

We were due to fly on the Thursday and we'd booked a hotel room. I can't remember the last time we stayed in a hotel. We'd return on the Monday evening. Unfortunately just as we were due to leave for the airport Pat felt unwell and decided not to come. So I flew alone and ran amok in Marseille alone. (Pat was a little unwell all weekend, but she's fine now.)

On the Friday the Marseille pastor, Richard, and his wife met me for lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant not far from the Basilica. Then I enjoyed walking round the city, visiting the Christmas market and exploring different parts of the city that I'd not visited before. I went to see the Marseille Museum, which is attached to a large shopping centre. I explored the Abbey of Saint Victor, which was hugely impressive. The crypt has various paleo-christian sarcophagi and the remains of the 5th Century church. They abbey also has traditional crèche of santons, a piece of Saint Andrew's true cross and various odds and ends of saints' skeletal remains. I preferred the 5th century part.

I ate in various places that had been recommended by different people. Some were memorable. Others were forgettable. One of the best was a classy roof-top restaurant called Ciel, where I had a really good meal while overlooking the whole of the centre of the city and gazing up at Notre Dame du Gard, the big shiny lady on the hill.

Marseille has several Christmas markets including one for children and one devoted to santons, the little figurines that are traditional in Provence. Marseille is very different from Bordeaux. Much more crowded, much more traffic, including bikes, scooters and electric scooters everywhere. No security at the Christmas Market. Such big crowds you couldn't get near the various food and drink stalls. The weather was really good; Mid-teens and sunny. I enjoyed just wandering round the city and gazing at the reflections in the water of the old port.

The service was on the Sunday afternoon, and was attended by about 600 people. The church folk sing as a choir, to encourage the audience to participate, but all the readings and songs were in English and the audience was mostly French. An International music school provided a violin ensemble. Another church sent their choir. A group fo children played hand-bells. A soprano sang her line of the Hallelujah Chorus, and Jesus, joy of man's desiring. My talk went OK, the sound system was good and I was not too long, though the entire proceedings overran a lot. Afterwards people were welcomed downstairs to the crypt for hot drinks and cookies, 2000 of which had been lovingly baked by Richard's wife.

The church in Marseille is looking for their next pastor. Richard is over 70 and needs to return to the USA. They are inviting pastors who have some time to give to come and serve for some weeks or months as they are able. But the way forward is for someone to come permanently.