les Davey de France

Not always all three at once ! This morning 10 till 12 there's a church members' meeting. This afternoon 4 till 6 Chinese Christianity Explored. This evening 8pm Marc l'Expérience. Tomorrow morning I am preaching at Cenon. Tomorrow evening we have to cancel the English Service as there's no public transport tomorrow and everyone who comes, except the Daveys, comes by bus and tram.

At Bellecour there is a shop whose windows are full of Madonnas. This is just one set of shelving - there were at least six like this.

I didn't see much of Lyon. Just Bellecour and the enormous Catholic conference centre up on a hill in a suburb of the city.

I got back last night from the Colloque Biblique Francophone at Lyon. 8 hours of train journey each way ! Here's some photos from the journey and from Lyon. A report from the Colloque will have to wait as this weekend there's LOTS on ! It's not all glamorous here in France, is it !

Ton trône, ô Dieu, subsiste pour toute éternité, le sceptre de ton règne est sceptre d'équité. Tu aimes la justice, tu détestes le mal. Aussi, ô Dieu, ton Dieu a fait de toi un roi, en répandant sur toi une huile d'allégresse, te préférant ainsi à tous tes compagnons

Il est le Bienheureux, L'unique Souverain, Il est le Roi des rois, Le Seigneur des seigneurs. Lui seul est immortel. Sa demeure est bâtie Au sein de la lumière Inaccessible à tous. Nul parmi les humains Ne l'a vu de ses yeux, Aucun ne peut le voir. A lui soient à jamais L'honneur et la puissance !

Tout reprit son calme. In our fridge is the European Mayonnaise Marsh and a substantial pile of cooked sausages. Pat ensured that we had enough chairs by asking everyone each to bring a folding chair from church. Because she didn't actually ask them to take them back we now have the European Folding Chair Forest in the back yard, too. Still we had enough chairs and a vast quantity of meat, including the European Merguez Mountain, some of which departed with the folks who brought it. Whenever we have a barbecue and we ask everyone to bring something to grill we always end up with piles. Barbecues are such a bloke thing. At one point there were six of us around it chipping in our two-pennorth. "C'est trop cuit !" "Tourne-le!" "Vite - les flammes !" "Faut du gros sel, un pulvérisateur d'eau, un barbecue à gaz !" A seventh arrived. "Eh, on a besoin de toi, ya que six experts de barbecue ici, il nous faut un septième !" (The g...