Easter in France

My Easter in France was special in two ways: (1) I played a large part in the worship service at the Reformed Church and (2) I benefited from a large party at the Griffons that included a barbecue and fellowship with friends and family of my host family. I felt blessed in both aspects of this truly beautiful Easter weekend.

At church, I was responsible for accompanying the hymns and songs for the Easter worship service. I did so with my violin. Realizing that I had a larger responsibility than I thought, I felt humbled to be able to share my violin music with the church. It gave me joy to play the hymns with the congregation. Since the church is a small room in a building, it made the worship seem even more "homely" or intimate. In addition to playing for the hymns, I also pulled out St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer to play following the message. It's such a beautiful piece to play and I enjoyed playing for the public. The message itself was encouraging and a good solid message for Easter. At the top of my head, I don't remember the exact scripture references, but the lay leader who preached focused on how the Lord took on the sin of the world even as an innocent person to cover the sins of the world. Through actively participating in the service, I felt I was giving a good part to the service. An elderly man came up to me at the end of the service and said that the violin greatly enhanced the music for the service.

When I returned from the service, the Griffons were getting ready to welcome many people for their Easter party. We took the aperitif and had lunch and then we went to the cemetery and jardin des souvenirs (memory garden), where we paid our respects to Nathy's mother (who passed away tragically in a car accident last year close to Easter). It was a solemn moment and everyone was rather sad and not many people had much to say about Nathy's mother. I honestly had no idea what to think. I didn't know if she knew Christ or not. I hoped that she did.

While at the party, I met two young women in their early thirties, one who has dual citizenship in the US and in the EU and an Asian girl. Both of them knew English so we spoke a little bit. I enjoyed eating and drinking with them during the party. Sometimes, I feel awkward in these social settings, not just because the French but because I usually don't know the people that I see. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy conversation with these women, who were nice to talk to.

Later in the day, we had our meal, which consisted of Andouillette sausage, the boudin, fruit salads, vegetables, bread, cheese, and excellent chocolate cake with custard. It was a marvelous meal and we have continued to benefit from the leftovers even today or two days later. Indeed, it was a blessed time both at the church and at home for my Easter this year.