Albert Camus

i'm reading The Monk Who Sold His Farrari by Robin Sharma -

came across a quote from Albert Camus ( of all people):

"Real generosity towards the future consists of giving all to what is present"...

a spiritual principle; living and abiding in the present; in the present Presence...

and not pining for the past (good old days) or constantly projecting into the future...

both are forms of escapism from the reality of the present...

Outing at Canterbury

had a great day out yesterday in England...with all the family all

our 5 kids...it's rare that we do anything 'en famille' as our older

two are 20 & 19 and it's not always 'cool' or 'interesting' to be

with their parents! (ça se comprend, n'est-ce pas?)

Anyway shopping in England is up their street...

and a delicious pub grub...

got some bargains! Thanks to Mad House & charity shops...

Christmas day walk

a photo a took with my christmas present on xmas day...

the quality isn't super because it's a phone...

not a camera...

but i like the photo

GOD WITH US

here's a christmas meditation from Richard rohr COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US! Saturday, December 25, 2010

On the Christmas Day let me begin with a quote from the 20th Century writer G.K Chesterton: "When a person has found something which he prefers to life itself, he (sic) for the first time has begun to live". Jesus in his proclamation of the Kingdom told us what we could prefer to life itself. The Bible ends by telling us that we are a people called to say 'Come Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20), who could welcome something more than business as usual and live in God's Big Picture. We all have to ask for the grace to prefer something than our small life, because we have been offered, the Shared Life, the One Life,the Eternal Life, God's life that became visible to us in this world as Jesus. What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, Something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves. The irony is that we actually and finally find ourselves, but now in a whole new and much larger filed of meaning.

POOR OLD JOSEPH

here's a bill-board in New Zealand aimed at 'challenging stereotypes' about the birth of Jesus...

SNOW ON LAKE

SNOW MELTING

a photo i took yesterday at le Parc du Héron (near Lille)...

Russian Bungee Jumping

I'd need a few beers to attempt such madness!

David Le Fleming

Here's a piece by David Le Fleming that I saw at 'FROM L'. - interestingly painted on a car bonnet!

FROM L

There's an interesting expo taking place at Galerie Nomade (4 Parvis Saint Maurice) Lille.

It's theme is London - showing paintings from both British & French contemporary artists.

I went last night and really enjoyed it. Some weird and wonderful original pieces. Some frightening and dark; some mysterious portrays and some great 'classic' British punk:new wave soundtracks.

I was accompanied by the Nick (head of language dept. at ISA) and some of my staff students.

They were given a worksheet and afterwards enjoyed a beer in the '3 Brasseurs'

Great time...

Worth a visit...

Carols & Cakes

had a great evening last night with our 'Carols & cakes' event.

friends from Templemars, house group & english club came together

to sing carols & savour the delights of 'vin chaud' and an assortment

of delicious cakes and tarts (yum yum)...

I was accompanied by Aurélien on bass guitar...we sang both english &

french xmas carols...a challenging text by Guy Gilbert (concerning the

over-commercialized xmas), a reading about the history of the xmas tree

& a hope inspiring testimony of a mother whose 2 daughters were left

handicapped after a car accident...her faith and trust in God through

the hard times...

A great evening!

The Kingdom

here are some wise words from Richard Rohr concerning the Kingdom:

If we try to make the church into the kingdom of God, we create a false idol that will disappoint us. If we try to make the world itself into the kingdom, we will always be resentful when it does not come through. If we make a later heaven into the kingdom, we miss most of its transformative message for now. We are not waiting for the coming of an ideal church or any perfect world here and now, or even for the next world. The kingdom is more than all of these. It is always here and not here. It is always now and not yet. No institution can encompass it. That is rather clear in the texts where Jesus describes the kingdom.

All false religion proceeds in a certain sense from one illusion. When people say piously, “Thy kingdom come” out of one side of their mouth, they need also to say, “My kingdom go!” out of the other side. The kingdom of God supersedes and far surpasses all kingdoms of self and society or personal reward.

A NOBLE VISION

It's the advent period - looking forward - to a noble vision

Here's the following words from Isaiah's prophecy ( see my last post 28 Nov):

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion will feed together;
and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

This is a vision of peace and non-violence; where once hostile forces now live in harmony; where the vulnerable take their place with the strong...

Where God is known and experienced in the whole earth...

This is a noble vision...

The Jesus vision...

Come Lord Jesus