Another 25th Celebration Signpost

This year, our 25th wedding anniversay (yes, we did get married at age 10), we are doing something every month to celebrate. This fine month of March we did a series of dinners out with family and friends.

We went out for a fine meal with my sister, Kit and her husband John at Frankie's restaurant --owned by a friend of ours.

Tonight we went out with our friends, Bob and Sheryl, who joined us for a very good meal and some great conversation. We're having fun with multiple parties!

Snow in nearly April?

We got over an inch of snow this fine Saturday afternoon which is one of the latest snows ever for the area. As much as it was a nice reminder that it is not summer yet, it did make the yard look good. Quite a nasty contrast, however, to the 80+ degrees I had in Florida!

Ethne to Ethne

In Orlando this week for the leadership meetings of the Ethne Unreached Peoples netowrk. This movement is seeking to mobilize more resources (people, prayer, money, etc.) toward the 27% of the world that has no access to the Gospel. "Ethne to Ethne" means peoples to peoples. This is truly a global effort, led this cycle by colleagues in Latin America. Here are two friends, Victor and Jose, who are providing leadership from the region.

Stations of the Cross - Beloved Version

Went to the Church of the Beloved's (COB) experiential stations of the cross tonight with friends. An fresh, artistic expression of the liturgy surrounding the passion of Christ that we presented over three evening. They had thirteen "stations" of reflection and prayer and here are just a few.

A sculture by Ryan Marsh, the leader of COG, of the death of Jesus. His face is covered with a black sheet and there are three round kneeling places.

This is a painting by Scott Erickson of Jesus being taken down from the cross. I was taken by the way the identity of the person is hidden (so it could be any one of us). Also, the fact that there's no way you couldn't get blood on you.



This was the final station -- the burial of Jesus. Each of us who went through the experience were to take a handful of dirt to place it (throw it) on this iconic picture. The whole experience -- accompanied by an audio track of scriptural readings -- made the passsion a more real event for us.

Visit of Zwingli's Church

Took a long walk through much of Zurich today (as the largest city in Switzerland it does not have that big a downtown area). Among other things, I went to Ulrich Zwingli's church. Have always been quite fascinated by Zwingi as one of the so-called big three of the Reformation (along with Calvin and Luther). This church -- the Grossmünster -- has its structural origins in 1100 and became the place where Zwingli was the pastor in 1519 and began his critique on the church.

Fractured

fractured
displaced
disconnected
disintegrated
separated
divided

wholeness . . .
that which we desire
is a mere whisper
on the horizon of the not yet
a dream everyone searches for

but as we stand in the reality
of our fragmentation
we should be searching
not for the elimination of brokenness

but for the shalom
of home

Walking on the Street of Gold

Though you may not see it all that well, this is a corner on the most expensive street in the world -- Bahnhof strasse in Zurich. On left (just for you Paul and Marne) are the main headquarters of UBS; on the right Credit Suisse. They say that underneath the street, which runs for about a mile through the center of the city, there is more money, gold, etc. in the safes than anywhere else. Felt good!

Zurich Adventure

In Zurich, Switzerland this week to facilitate the Religious Liberty Partnership, a gathering of ministries from about a dozen countries focused on the persecuted church around the world. This is a picture of me and my long-time friend, Godfrey Yogarajah from Sri Lanka. As you can see, Calvin and Zwingli over look the scene and are pleased!