This morning we went to the main Family Eucharist at Holy Trinity Church Geneva, and met even more people whom we haven't seen for years. HTC has a fine traditional robed choir, a childrens' choir and an 'informal' choir, which sings spiritual songs and choruses from a variety of european and african sources. It was this group's turn to contribute to the service, making it a joyous affair. After Communion, they sang a special song in a leave taking ceremony of blessing for the Kenyan ambassador and his wife, who'd joined the congregation at the start of their tour of duty seven years ago. It's a church whose life is punctuated by the comings and goings of workers in the international communities of the city.
After the service we met up with Irene and her fiancée Thomas, to whom we were introduced for the first time. They took us to Port Gitana, a restaurant on the lakeside in Genthod, a few miles out of town, for a long, leisurely 'catch up and get to know you' lunch in the shade overlooking the tiny harbour.
When they decided to marry, Irene had told him she wanted me to conduct the ceremony, only it took several years for her to get around to telling me this. In fact it was only last week over the phone that she sprung the surprise on me. Not that I minded. For her this is a new beginning in life, having brought up three daughters as a single parent holding down a diplomatic staff job in Geneva, thousands of miles from her family in East Africa, after her marriage turned abusive and died. She's always been a woman of prayer and radiant faith, so she's never been a victim or a survivor, but one who has plumbed the depths and risen to new life. It makes her amazing at encouraging others with difficulties.
Thomas is a German businessman she got to know in the course of her work providing telephone support and advice for him from Geneva during a visit he was making to her homeland during a period when the security situation there was fragile and threatening. Romance arrived later, and is giving them both great joy, and in the coming year, when the last of her girls leaves home for university the wedding will signify a fresh start for them both. We're thrilled to witness their joy and hope, having shared some of her suffering when it seemed her family life was in ruins fifteen years ago. They are obviously giving each other a new lease of life in their middle years, and having fun, both together and with the children.
Thomas told the story of how he'd taken Irene to meet his father with some haste as he was dying, and he wanted his father to share his happiness before he left this world. He spoke no English, she spoke no German, but typical of Irene, she took his hand and prayed with him, a long lapsed church-goer, who so appreciated this, he kept asking her to pray with him. He made enough of a recovery to leave hospital and live the best part of a year longer, and she was there to pray with him on his deathbed.
Irene's brother is a priest, her mother, now in her eighties is a lay preacher whose 'golden years' project is to complete the building of a church in the country visit where she lives, near Mbale. To work for your country's ambassador and be a natural ambassador for Christ in your own right is one of God's unusual surprises.
At tea time we made our way home using the country bus rather than wait for the fast train. It took us on quiet roads with spectacular views of the Jura and lake, which we recalled from pleasant summer cycling trips in times past. However busy it could get, this setting often gave an uplift to our lives - except when the clouds sat just above our heads and rained ice and hail on us, as it did most winters - just like Cardiff.
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