Refreshing weekend

It's been a good weekend in Alsace.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had lunch with Randy & Jan. In the early 1990s, we were with the same group in France, but both have moved on greener pastures. It's been good to see their curent world and ministry in this area. They are in a beautiful house, the rent of which is less than our Paris apartment's. We profited from their gift of hospitality yesterday.

This morning we visited their church. It was an interesting service. Last Sunday they conducted surveys of members in different age groups: 0-14, 15-25, 25-40 (or 45), 41 (or 46)-60, 60+. They wanted to know how members of each age group perceived themselves, as well as how they preceived they were being perceived by each other group. The goal is to better develop themselves as an intergenerational congregation.

It brought back to mind some of my Sunday school teachers from my childhood. A number of them were senior citizens, like Adam Thompson, who gave me a silver dollar for memorizing the books of the Bible when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. We have been involved in a church that had the motto "a church for all the nations." From what we've seen, this part of Alsace is by far less miixed ethnically than Paris. But the church does have lots of kids.

One moving part of the service was when a person representing his or her age group washed the feet of a person representing her or her age group. While it wasn't scheduled to be done reciprocally, it ended up that each of the people washed another's feet, then had his/her feet washed.

Yesterday and today we visited Colmar, a beautiful city with a good Christmas markets. We had fun getting hot chocolate, eating tarte flambée and pizza, Today we visited with Daniel & Anne-Sylvie the manger trail in Berkheim. While Colmar was crowded, this village wasn't.

It's definitely been a nice change of scenery so far. Lots of beauty and calm. But now it's time to go to bed, as my eyes keep closing here.