Think chocolate eclairs so filled with soft chocolate and glazed with chocolate that it might as well be a soft chocolate bar. Yum, browsing in any of the many patisseries around Paris can be a spiritual experience. I won’t even mention the pain au chocolat we bought for breakfast.
Palm Sunday at the American Church in Paris was a treat. We were greeted at the church door with (first, a security guard) a man who gave us a piece of boxwood and a cross made of plant fiber. The church is non-denominational. It looks very Parisian built in the 19th century with lovely high, stained glass windows. The organ is enormous and is center-stage with the organist sitting behind the altar and below the pipes. It is LOUD. We sang “All glory laud and honor” led by the organ. This was the associate pastor’s first Sunday in Paris, Timothy Vance from Bellevue, WA, naturally, so they had him preach. Brave man, the place was packed. The choir sang “Kyrie eleison” by Puccini. The hand bell choir did Acclamation. Big Wow.
Deanna and I sat between two persons of interest. To my right was Margaret who is a member of the church and the wife of Zimbabwe’s representative to UNESCO which is one of the UN’s specialized agencies and housed nearby. Since her husband works for Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe, I did not offer my opinion on their government. Expletive deleted. I did tell her that I had taught in Botswana, her neighbor.
To Deanna’s left sat Dietrich a man who said he was born in Germany, has degrees in education and law and travels between Paris, London and New York as a lawyer and consultant. He attends the American church once a month when he is in town. He was sorry that we will miss the Easter service here next Sunday. Actually, the pastor made a point of asking the congregation to attend the Easter service at either 9AM or 1:30 as the 11AM service would be crammed to over-flowing with the “Christmas and Easter Christians.” (Who we love!, he added.)
After the service, Dietrich introduced us to the senior pastor who, of course, has a son attending Lewis and Clark College and many other connections of the “small world ” variety. Fun!
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