Author: Emmanuel

Bourgneuf

Bourgneuf is a small village of around 700 people. It is half way between Chambéry and Albertvillle and at the door of the Maurienne Valley, in the heart of the Alps. It is quite rural, and most people commute to Chambéry, Albertville, or even Grenoble for work.

The small evangelical church in Bourgneuf serves a wide area. It is the only one between Chambéry and Albertville. It meets in a small Temple, well located on the road side. But it is struggling. Rural communities in France are very hard to reach. One of the challenges is that although people live there, they work away all day and don’t spend that much time around. Christians also gather from a wide area. They often work late and it is difficult to find time outside Sunday meetings. Our friends and colleagues Richard and Terece help there alongside the pastor and his wife.

I first preached there in December. I was invited again last Sunday. It was good to be there, meet new folks and catch up with the people. After the service, the church had invited the neighbours for an ‘apéritif’. Five came along and chatted happily with the members. After this, we stayed for a fellowship lunch with the church members before heading home later in the afternoon.

Remember Bourgneuf in your prayers. They face a challenging situation. The feel discouraged also. They’ve worked hard at evangelizing, but seem to have had little impact.

 

The Chartreuse

Chambéry is ideally located, at the foot of the prealps. It is surrounded by mountains. They are not very high, but they are an ideal playground for whoever likes the outdoors. My favorite place is the Chartreuse, a mountain range which spreads itself between Chambéry and Grenoble. It is associated with the Carthusian monks who have their original monastery in the heart of those mountains.

The Chartreuse used to be one of my favorite playgrounds when I was younger. It is not very high, but there are difficult walks and impressive sceneries. It is not too far from the city, but still very wild and remote. The best places demand a bit of effort, and an adventurous mind.

I have started exploring it again and intend to get to know it better over the next few months. Here are a few pictures.

  
      

Travelling back and forth to Aix-En-Provence

I love travelling by train. Each time I need to get to Aix-en-Provence I take the train. It’s easy. I hop on the bus in Cognin, walk to the train station, jump on a first train to Lyon. I change trains in Lyon to catch a TGV to the south. Sometimes, I’ll go as far as Marseille and back to Aix. Other times, I’ll stop in Aix-En-Provence TGV station. From there, I get to the town centre and walk to the seminary. Easy.

Today, the SNCF took me on a different route. Rather than going all the way back to Lyon town centre, the train dropped me at Lyon Airport TGV station. It is a spacious, open, modern building. It was purpose built for the TGVs. It avoids trains to go to the town centre, which would waste time.

I am now waiting for another train that will take me back to Chambéry. It is the 16:41 train from Paris to Milan. If I wanted I could go all teh way to Italy under the alps. I love travelling by train.

Nietzsche, its relevance for the 21st Century

I was in Aix-En-Provence for two seminars in John Calvin Seminary. On Friday afternoon, we had four hours lectures on Nietzsche. It was heavy, but not too bad. The most difficult was to do it without coffee. The person who is usually in charge of preparing coffee for the break was away.

I won’t give you more details about what we heard. There’s too much to digest. But it was an encouragement to read Nietzshe and consider his impact on the 21st century, especially in the West.