MY BELGIAN CHRISTMAS

December 24, 2013

....... I'm thinking of you all.

What's Christmas going to be like for me this year?

Today and tomorrow are rainy, grey days with heavy winds and no sun.  Great beginning!

My little tree is lit and I am touched to see the little parcels underneath it, put there by friends here and family in Canada.  Means a lot when one is alone. 

Colourful and happy Christmas cards line my window ledge and my email box is stuffed full of Christmas letters.  Thank-you so much!  They remind me I'm still part of your lives. 

Tonight, at 11:30, we will meet at St. Andrew's for a watchnight service.  At midnight, I will have the privilege of lighting the 5th Advent candle.  Christ is born!

Tomorrow, in Brit style, we'll have a Christmas Day service at 11 am.  I'll be saying the Prayer for Others.  The church will be packed full - about 300 of us.  Many families have gone away for the holidays but others arrive to fill the pews - children home from school in England, grandparents sharing this special time with family here, visitors to the city and also those for whom only Christmas (and Easter) are their link to the church.  It will be a happy, musical, warm service.

I'll run home from church and Skype my grandchildren who will be in the process of tearing paper off their gifts as fast as possible (morning in eastern Canada) and Grandma wants to sit in and watch!  Caden and Matt will be sharing Christmas with Matt's family in Fort Erie, so I'll want to check in on that too.

And then I'll take the tram up to the Gardners' home for Christmas dinner.  Andrew and Julie and their daughters have lovingly invited me to share this day with them again this year.  All of them are superb cooks and Andrew will have wines to go with each dish!  There will be lots of laughter, and oohs when Karalynn brings in the flaming plum pudding!

Night falls.  Rain patters on my windows.  I light my candle.  I am alone but I know I am surrounded by love and hugs from many friends here and many of you "over there".

"Christians share an odd belief in parallel universes.  One universe consists of glass and steel and wool clothes and leather briefcases and the smell of freshly ground coffee.  The other consists of angels and sinister spiritual forces and somewhere out there places called Heaven and Hell.  We palpably inhabit the material world; it takes faith to consider oneself a citizen of the other, invisible world....At Christmas, the Lord of both worlds descends to live by the rules of the one.  In Bethlehem, the two worlds came together, realigned; what Jesus went on to accomplish on planet Earth made it possible for God someday to resolve all disharmonies in both worlds.  No wonder a choir of angels broke out in spontaneous song, disturbing not only a few shepherds but the entire universe!"  (Ph. Yancey)

CATCHING UP

I just reread the last few posts in my blog and realised it's been awhile since I wrote to you about life here in Brussels.

There are many different facets to my daily life here, and each one sparkles in its own way and together they make most of my days interesting.

I love the outdoor food markets - the colours and textures and variety appeal to my artistic side.  Produce is so fresh and lots of people buy here daily.  And I can hardly pass in front of a bakery without going in!  The windows are filled with so many different shapes and kinds of breads, croissants, brioches, fruit tarts, little cakes and sandwiches, and the aroma of fresh baking fills my nostrils every time the door opens.

To walk along the streets of Brussels is an adventure in itself.  Be careful where you walk or you'll knock over the little paper cup of the beggar who is kneeling in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a sign that says: "S'il vous plaît, aidez-moi, j'ai faim".  Coming towards you is a group of school girls, one black, one Asian, one white and one North African and they're laughing and talking French together.  An older lady is walking along with her dog; the latter stops and poops right in front of you and the lady just waits and then walks on.  The store windows take your breath away: the window-dressing is artsy and the clothes are so fashionable.  Even in cold weather, there are people having coffee or a glass of wine on the outdoor restaurant terraces - people from many countries speaking many languages.


Get into a tram or a bus and in a few minutes, you'll hear an accordion or a guitar playing and a voice singing a well-known song.  It's a Rom (gypsy) who earns his living this way.  When he's finished, he'll come around to you (or send his child) with his little cup, then get off at the next stop.  The driver starts and brakes jerkily (haven't found one yet that doesn't!) so you have to hang on to something or you'll fall over or into the person beside you!  Happens all the time ...  And you discover, if you look closely at the outside of the tram, that it is made by Bombardier, a Quebec firm! 

I love my friends.  Each one is special.  Some are Belgian, a lot are Scottish, two are American, one is Japanese, two are Canadian, three are French, two are Spanish, several are African .... most are my age, some are beautifully young and full of life, some are men, most are women ... and we speak either English or French or Dutch together.  Do you get the picture?  I move around in a multi-cultural world and revel in it.

Look in my apartment window during my "kick back and relax" times and you'll see me emailing home, skyping with family or friends, reading, making albums of my photos on my computer or watching TV.  Or I might be planning my next day out in Brussels or a trip somewhere I haven't been.  I try to go out one day a week to discover something new in Brussels.  As for a trip, I have just come home from Armenia - which will be the subject of my next post.  I am singing in the Brussels Christmas Choir and am the only female tenor!  And I am so grateful for friends who call up and say: Want to go to a show?  Want to go for a walk?  Want to take in a concert?  Want to eat out or have coffee?

And my workplace.  Do you love your workplace as much as I love mine?  It is always a joy (but hard, regular work too) to gather the children around my knees on Sunday morning and give the children's talk, or lead the congregation in prayer for others, or open the service in prayer.  It's a privilege to sit over coffee and listen to someone tell me their needs, their joys or their pain.  It's heartbreaking to hear two friends tell you they have cancer but I can encourage them with prayer and my presence.  It's a challenge but exciting to prepare a Bible study for 12 eager women.  To encourage my 94-year friend Alf to enjoy life, and to take my 91-year-old friend Edith out to tea in a pretty place are monthly goals of mine.  And to see a new group come to life called Caring For One Another is one of my biggest thrills this year.

Andrew and the elders asked me if I would stay .... a third year.  After considerable reflexion and prayer, I said I would compromise and stay until the end of June 2014.  It will be hard to leave but the time has come for me to return to Canada. 

But lots can happen in 6 months and I'm looking forward to the challenge and the fun!

I think this post will serve as my Christmas letter to you all this year.  I will be here in St. Andrew's for Christmas, and will spend the day itself at the family service in the morning (what Brits do) and the rest of the day with the Gardner family at the manse, with other "waifs" they will have gathered in, who will be alone that day.  Always fun and great food and wine.

MY REFLEXION TODAY

Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and unpredictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives.      - Ray Anderson

MY JOY TODAY

I believe in Christianity, as I believe that the sun has risen;

not only because I see it,

but because by it, I see everything else

 

                                                   - C.S. Lewis

MARGARET ATWOOD

Last night, Margaret Atwood was in Brussels, promoting her latest book, so I went to hear the interview with her.  The interviewer was a well-known Belgian author.

 

It was a good interview - typically Atwood - and I felt a kinship with her as she told jokes about a Sasquatch and being Canadian.

However, what blew me away was that there were easily over 800 people there to see and hear her!  I didn't know she was so well-known in Europe.  Her books were available in English, French and Flemish and were selling like hotcakes. 

 

Her interview was in English .... and everyone was understanding.   Yet, as we left the concert hall, I heard many European languages around me, as well as English.  The culture of this city continues to amaze me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !

A friend of mine said: Be happy you've got birthdays!  It means you're still alive!

Love it!  ... and I really am still alive, and loving the life God is giving me.

Since this is my 71st birthday, it is so appropriate for me to quote some of my keystone verses from Psalm 71, as I praise and thank God for his goodness and faithfulness to me:

"Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come ...
 

"You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, from my youth.  Upon you have I leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb ...
 

"I have been as a signpost to many, but you are my strong refuge.  My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

 

 

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not leave me when my strength is spent..

From my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.  So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, and your power to all those to come ...

 

"You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.  You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. ...

 

 

 

I spoiled myself today:  I made a reservation at a lovely Brussels restaurant for lunch, and what a lunch!  The service, the flavours and the décor were impeccable.  I told the waiter it was my birthday and so I was treating myself ... and at the end of the meal, a beautiful silver tray arrived at my table with a framed "Joyeux Anniversaire", flowers and chocolate.  And they took my picture so I'll share it with you.

 

 

And at end of the day, my niece Rebekah who is here teaching this year, took me out for dinner to a traditional little Brussels hideaway restaurant with Belgian food, called 'T Spinnekopke (The Spider's Web).

 

 

 

I have been wrapped around with love in all sorts of forms on this special day.  I am truly blessed.

 



CHANGED BY CONTACT

I conceive of the spiritual life as a capacity built into the human person, but one that can only develop in relationship with God.  "I call you into my soul", said Augustine, "which you prepare to accept, by the longing that you breathe into it."  Although we all have the capacity, our spiritual longing will remain unfulfilled until we make contact, and then develop the skills of spiritual "correspondence."  Considered in this way, Jesus' striking image of being born again makes perfect sense.  Conversion, the process of connecting to spiritual reality, awakens the potential of brand new life.  And as God's children we become who we are through relationship with God and God's people.

I become who I am as a Christian by relating to God.  In ways mysterious and often hard to describe - yet never coercive or manipulative - I have changed over time because of my contact with God.                                                              (P. Yancey)

UN CAFÉ, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT

One of the things I like about Belgium is the way they serve coffee.  You can complain about the eternal grey skies but you cannot possibly fault the way this country presents a cup of coffee.

Here is how it works.  You go into a café.  It will probably be old-fashioned even if it just opened last week.  The style they like in these parts is 1950s modern with a hint of the middle ages.  You sit down, smile at the elderly lady at the next table and take care not to step on her little pampered dog.  Then the waiter arrives.

You just have to ask for a coffee and he will nod, disappear behind the bar, and return with a perfect coffee served on a silver tray with a pot of milk and possibly a little Belgian speculoos biscuit or a square of chocolate on the side.  This is so civilised.  It's as if the Hapsburg Empire had never ended.  It only needs a string quartet and you could be in Vienna.

FUN WITH PILAT

PILAT?  Program in Language Acquisition Techniques

That's the name of the program that I teach each January and July to the new missionaries of the Presbyterian Church of America: in January here in Brussels and in July in New York City.

I don't teach them how to learn a language: I help them see that NOT knowing a language when one arrives, is not a liability but the entrance into the community where they will be working, if they present themselves as a 'learner'.  I give them techniques, projects and tools to help them take advantage of this, using the community and neighbourhood around them to learn culture and language.  I take language learning out of the classroom and into the life of the community.

We always have fun.  The participants don't come prepared to 'play at learning' and they really enjoy the course.  AND, they finish the course with enthusiasm to "get at it"!  That's my reward.

                                                  some of the participants

I have the best group of people to help me with different aspects of the course: they are all on the Mission to the World staff, and former missionaries themselves.  We have the best time together and great laughs, whether it be in New York or in Brussels.

                                  Peter, Minette, Bruce & Susan, Mischa & Jeff

PILAT is part of the final 4-week cross-cultural training for these people.  From here, they head out overseas.

I stayed in an apartment in Queens for my week and had the most breath-taking view of the Manhattan skyline: so different in the morning from the evening!  The temperatures for the first few days were in the 40s (Celcius) and you can 'see' the heat in my morning photos.

After a super week-end with my sister Kathy in Philadelphia, I took the plane back to Brussels, my home away from home .... to be welcomed by a heat wave à la Brussels: 32 to 34o Celcius (95-ish), the highest temperature for this time of year since the 1800s!!  and no air-conditioning :(

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Tomorrow morning, I fly to New York City.

As in the past 5 years, I'll be teaching language acquisition techniques to the new group of missionaries of the Presbyterian Church of America, who are ready to go abroad.  I love teaching this course: it's so practical and a lot of fun for both me and the participants.  Lots of laughs.

I will have this week-end in the city to get over jet lag and then I teach from Monday to Thursday, from 8:30 to 4:30 - long days.  But then I get to go out with my friends on the staff of the training program and have supper in one of the many fun restaurants in New York.

The following week-end, I'll take the train to Philadelphia and visit my sister Kathy for a few days, then fly back home here to Brussels on the 29th, arriving on the morning of the 30th of July.

Want to come with me .....?  If not, I'll post some pictures when I get home so you can have an idea of these 2 weeks away from Brussels.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS SO CANADIAN

O CANADA

"My home and native land" has a birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Canada!

I share this day with two other families in St. Andrew's :

                                                       the Zadows

                                       Penni Clarke Convié, our choir director

                 and of course with Rebekah Klinck, my niece, who is here on a visit

 

Canadians away from home celebrate too and I thought you might like to see how we Canadians over here in Brussels are celebrating Canada's 146th birthday - a fun party!

 

Our flag flies proudly at
NATO where our
celebration was held
 



hotdogs and hamburgers, of course!

best child's costume:
Chris Hatfield
without guitar!



the "eh" team

 

 

Enjoy your day as it begins!

Happy Canada Day, wherever you are!

 

(And of course we'll share the celebrations with Croatia who became the 28th country to join the European Union yesterday!)

ROOTS

You have been so patient as I sorted through, and put captions on all my pictures from Scotland.  As usual, I took several hundred photos, so it's taken me awhile  ...

10 glorious days in Scotland ... I was surprised at the impact it had on me.

I had decided to go because I work in a Scottish church and so wanted to understand a bit more about the roots of the large number of Scots in our congregation.

Roots!  What was unanticipated was the stirring up of my own roots, of my own childhood, and of the significance of the large Scottish settlements in Eastern Canada.

I reintroduced myself to what is Scottish in me: my mother had roots in the Sinclair clan; the Craigs came from Aberdeen and were a prominent sept in a clan.

                                                 Sinclair Red Modern

Signs I looked at, tombstones I read, street names, storefronts, towns or cities I passed through or stayed in, all bore the names of children I had gone to school with in Lennoxville, or names of patients of my father or of neighbours, or of cities and towns familiar to me in Eastern Canada.  At first it was uncanny and then the feeling of being "at home" flooded me.  The roots of so much of my childhood were here in the ground of the Highlands.   Inverness, Murchison, Matheson, Murray, Grant, Brown, Allcorn, Burns, McGilvery, Campbell, Glengarry, Calgary, Banff, Gordon, Stewart ....

I was curious, then moved and troubled when I finally understood what the Highland Clearances were all about.  To see remains of crofters' stone houses, crumbling stone walls where once there had been a farm, sheep grazing by the hundreds, reminded me of the horror the ancestors of my friends and many Canadians lived through, as they were forced off their farms and made to leave, and the land was cleared for the raising of sheep.  So many emigrated to Eastern Canada and settled there.  Their culture, language and food colours much of Ontario on the Quebec border, and of the Eastern Townships, where I come from.

Another surprise was how I reacted to the hills, the open spaces and panoramas with few if any people in them.  It was like a breath of fresh air and I drank it in deeply.  I hadn't realized how much I missed this aspect of Canada, living as I do here in a city, and in a little country with one of the most dense populations in Europe.  The Scottish Highlands fed my thirsty soul.  Again, I felt "at home".

I got a fresh insight into the Scottish Reformation: heard lots about John Knox, saw monuments to Reformation martyrs, learned more of the Scottish story but also saw remains of cathedrals and churches that the newly Reformed people tore down.  So fascinating for me from Quebec to see that the majority of the churches in Scotland are Reformed/Presbyterian, coming as I do from a Roman Catholic province.

I had beautiful weather and I saw Scotland at its best  Stunning scenery, quiet forests, sparkling lochs, green fields where sheep grazed, heather-covered hillsides and solid Scottish architecture.

 

 

And my new friends - my hosts - became fast friends.  Isabella Burn took the time from her busy schedule to walk me around St. Andrew's; Brian and Karsee Parr in Dundee let me enter right into their family fun and daily schedule; Laura and Murray McCheyne in Inverness drove me to the North Sea and to Loch Ness, hiked me up a mountain and let me right into their family life too; James and Jyl Murray helped me better understand the story of the Clearances, drove me to Ullapool and shared their beautiful home hidden away amongst the hills and the sheep.

 

                                "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."

                                                           "Haste ye back"

                                                    ... and I WILL go back!