Aline in front of the mairie (city hall) d’Aix-en-Provence where we were married in 1978
- St. Mary Magdelene,
St. Mary Magdelene, “sister of Martha and Lazarus” according to stained glass window of Plan de Cuques church
In the summers of 2006 and 2007, 2008, Aline and Marc were privileged to return to France to help in the church-planting effort amongst the folks of Marseille. As in much of post-Christian Western Europe where the spiritual temperatures have descended to arctic levels, the ministry in metropolitan France involves as much evangelism as edification of the few believers.
Unlike the work in the Antilles amongst a generally simpler, spiritually receptive folk, the ministry on the continent often involves more apologetic-type discussions with more sophisticated folk who remain tragically ignorant of even the basic truths of the Gospel. One has to have thick skin (like Jeremiah) to work amongst the often cynical, critical French where visible results are meager.
Still, we detected a slightly greater spiritual receptiveness this past summer (2007). Was it just a series of providential encounters? Or could the time of the harvest be at hand?
