“Mam, you really need to empty your hard drive before your laptop really throws a fit,” Rich, a robust, intelligent Apple employee commented.
“Oh dear,” I smiled. “I had no idea it was so full. No wonder it is dragging.”
So, I trotted home to begin the “emptying” onto my external hard drive.
When I did, I found several little videos taken while on my 30-day-whirlwind-adventure-to-Europe with my husband in 2009.
Oh, the gentle, sweet reminder of the Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland church bells. Never in my life have I seen or been anywhere so idyllic. So charming. It moved both Rob and I to tears. As we drove into the Jungfrau region,
noted as “the Top of Europe,” or “the throne of God,” we both new life as we knew it would be altered. Breathing in such grandeur gives new meaning
to, “Rock of Ages.”
Today, as I revisited the moment(s) of filming this short video, I couldn’t help but consider the community of faith. Church bells sound to call us to worship.
“Before mass communication they were the only way to gather a village together, so they also served secular functions” (wikipedia.com). The new church
my husband and I attend sound their church bells hourly. They make me stop and consider. The past couple of days, we’ve initiated a global conversation on
the power of spiritual unity and the travesty of spiritual disunity among women in the community of faith. May these grand church bells serve as a herald cry.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:
“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. With great yearning the imprisoned
apostle Paul calls his ‘beloved son in the faith,’ Timothy, to come to him in prison in the last days of his life. He wants to see him again and have him near. Paul has
not forgotten the tears Timothy shed during their final parting (2 Timothy 1:4). A human being is created as a body; the Son of God appeared on earth in the body for
our sake and was raised in the body. If there is so much happiness and joy even in a single encounter of one Christian with another, what inexhaustible riches must
invariably open up for those who by God’s will are privileged to live in daily community life with other Christians! It is easily forgotten that the community of Christians
is a gift of grace from the kingdom of God, a gift that can be taken from us any day.”
So, as you consider sharing your story with women from around the world, let the resounding of these Swiss church bells call you to a moment of worship. A moment of prayer for the women of God. May we lay aside all our differences, all our unhealthy patterns of communication, and embrace the call as the bride of Christ. Oh, I can just smell the fragrance of spiritual unity. Take a deep breath! It is lovely to behold (Psalm 33).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTiKC_Tr6sw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]
Trackbacks/Pingbacks