Lot to say!

Goodness gracious – it has been a very long time since I have blogged! I have two weeks worth to write about … I apologize in advance for the length of this update – including pictures as soon as I can update them!

Hmmm … two weeks ago we talked about the Hebrew Bible with Dr. Jan Jaynes Quesada. The lesson itself was fun and interesting but it did not dazzle me because a lot of it was review for this Hebrew Bible dork but the dinner discussion sparked about God and religion (perhaps sparked by the lesson, perhaps sparked by a Rachel who was experiencing a God-conversation drought) was wonderful. The professor, Jim, said that it was the best that he had experienced in ten years of teaching. He even invited us to breakfast the next morning to continue the conversation. To my own patchy memory, I think we were all too exhausted early that next morning (probably still digesting an amazing meal prepared by one of the students who was considering dropping out of UNC to attend culinary school – Spanish seafood paella and other assorted delights such as Arborio rice, Spanish omelette, and almond crescents) to have a very deep conversation (I think that we deepest we got right then was military – psh! – not deep at all). What I do remember about that breakfast is that it was my introduction to my obsession with a slightly sweet, wheat-ish bread with fruit and nuts in it … as much as I have been enjoying the croissants and pains au chocolat it has been lovely to taste some whole wheat again. If I had some Weaver Street home-ground peanut butter I think that the amazingness would make the universe implode upon itself. So it is probably a good thing to keep the two items of amazingness on different continents.

I’ve been working long and late on an application to a fellowship for people who are considering ministry as a vocation. I’ve written between 3 and 5 drafts for the personal statement, but I think it is finally done. The rewriting and wrestling has been a big part of my life for the past little bit and it has been interesting to see how the content of the drafts has developed during my time in France – all the quiet and alone time seems to have made me more certain of my sense of vocation, which is a good thing. We’ll see what happens. I mention it now because I was working on it that week so I could complete it before my parents arrived.

They came in on a Thursday night and the first thing we did after hugging each other was to eat, of course. We really didn’t do terribly much else around Dijon besides eat and walk around to see the city because they were rather tired by some intense days in Paris, so if you are bored by my descriptions of food please skip to the next bit. Mother detests the smell of smoke so I was slightly panicked about trying to find enough (scratch that – any!) smoke-free restaurants during their time here, but the hotel (which was smoke-free amazingly enough) had a guide to restaurants in the area – including a list of which ones were smoke-free (there are about 5 reasonably priced ones – meaning one person could eat for less than $30 per meal – out of the hundreds that are in Dijon, in case you were wondering). I showed them some of the places that I really liked, including a tea house with amazing hot chocolate (I think that was Anna’s favorite consumable item of the whole trip) and a bakery with delicious pains au chocolat et almond croissants (which Mom really enjoyed). They got to meet my host mom Nathalie and I played at translator. I showed them the market and the local art museum. I got to sleep at their hotel because they were given a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite and it was nice to hang out with Anna in the evenings. One of the only things that I miss from middle/high school are sleepovers so it is fun when I get to have one again. Before we left we got matching hats – she got a stylish brown one and I got an unstylish but colorful red one. The visit was too short of course but it was wonderful to show them around. After they left they stayed in Northwood, England, where we used to live. Apparently our house and church and school are all still in existence and in similar condition, which is good to hear. Maybe I’ll be able to wander over to England some time this semester? We’ll see.

The next week we focused on the church and the middle ages – mostly monastic life. Hurrah for another religious studies topic! We actually were able to see some of what we discussed in person when we had a couple of field trips around Bourgogne on Thursday and Friday. We saw the Cistercian communities of Fontenay Abbey and Vezelay the first day – these were simple, natural, and simply bathed with light. There was little decoration – clean and simple lines were the beauty of choice. I only took photos of Fontenay as there was a funeral at Vezelay and I felt uncomfortable taking pictures, but you can see for yourself. The Cistercian revolution of humility, simplicity, and asceticism was a revolution against the worldly Cluny, of which we saw only the ruins on Friday. What we could see was immensely majestic – the exterior and the museum were so-so but when we walked into the one remaining tower I was absolutely spell-bound – I really believe that I walked into some sort of fairy tale. There are no words to describe the beauty. My heart broke to think of what we were missing out on – the church was destroyed shortly after the French revolution so the rock could be used in construction of new buildings. In our readings for this week, I was intrigued to learn that even while the leaders of the two groups, the Cluniacs and the Cistercians, disagreed and went in different directions, they were in agreement that each movement had validity and something to contribute to the overall Christian dialogue of the day. After observing and being in both settings, I can understand how both the simplicity and the majesty are portals into the divine and pray that the different poles of the Christian movement today (now split more on political/social issues rather than on appropriate construction of holy places) can respect each other and each others differences. We need to realize that we are worshipping the same God and stop screeching about our differences. Sermon concluded (for today at least).

I’ll have a lot of time to pray next week – I’ll be spending time in a monastery! Taize is only about a two hour journey away and that is where I am headed starting tomorrow. I am excited – people from my worship community at school traveled there for their spring break last year and loved it. They led a worship service Taize style for a program last year – lots of light and darkness and singing and silence. I’m looking forward to it. As much as I’ve been enjoying the individual people in our group, the group dynamics and politics wear after a while and the break is coming at a good time for all of us I think. I regret that I won’t be able to stay the whole week – the programming runs Sunday to Sunday – but I hope that I’ll be able to return for a weekend or something later on. I’m fairly convinced that everyone in the group thinks that I’m crazy to spend my spring break praying – they’re off to Italy and Copenhagen and Berlin and Normandy – but I think it’ll be a good time. And I’ll probably go touring for our long break in late April. Again, we’ll see what happens – God will provide.

I miss you guys! With love for everyone,

Rachel

PS: Gotta brag on my little cousin Christina – she and her team just won an enormous statewide tournament. Congrats Christina!