January 13, 2008
A Beautiful Day
Today was a good, no, a beautiful day.
First, we attended Holy Trinity Church Geneva where there was a baptism service. The children were so cute and none of them budged during the service. Furthermore, Micheal French did a great job of describing the purpose and place of rituals and symbols and in our world today. After the baptisms, we prayed this Profession of faith:
We believe in God the Father,
from whom every family
in heaven and on earth is named.
We believe in God the Son,
who lives in our hearts through faith,
and fills us with his love.
We believe in God the Holy Spirit,
who strengthens us
with power from on high.
We believe in one God;
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beautiful.
Then, Laura, David (brother-in-law) and Chelsea (sister-in-law) went to Shema, our community. It was a another rich experience. David and Chelsea played a few songs, and as a community we discussed the nature and place of the gospel in or lives. It was rich. One of the songs David and Chelsea played was Vito’s Ordination Song by Sufjan Stevens. Here are the lyrics:
I always knew you in your mother’s arms
I have called your name
I’ve an idea placed in your mind to be a better man
I’ve made a crown for you, put it in your room
And when bridegroom comes
There will be noise, there will be glad
And a perfect bed…
And when you write a poem
I know the words, I know the sounds
Before you write it down
When you wear your clothes I wear them too,
I wear your shoes, and your jacket too
I always knew you in your mother’s arms
I have called you son
I’ve made amends between father and son
Or if you haven’t one
Rest in my arms, sleep in my bed
There’s a design to all I did and said
Rest in my arms, sleep in my bed
There’s a design….
Finally, the four of us went up to the Saleve for a snow walk. It was so beautiful. Here are a few of the photos. It was so beautiful.
Notice the moon. It was as large as I could get it. I need a new lens I guess?
Again, a beautiful day...and we didn't let it get away.
Amen....
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 10:19 PM
June 03, 2007
Seriously good conversations...
Here are a couple of conversations that made me laugh or, that i enjoyed following this week. They are not all funny, just like me;) I did need a little bit of lighter stuff this week as we had two major fundraising events on Friday and Saturday. They were good, but there was quite a bit of busyness going into them.
Enjoy and reflect:
The Tall Skinny on 'Offensive language: I Think My Mother Taught Me'
Josh Brown's honest reflection at 'I'm Back'
Thinking Outside the Bunn's 'memorial tournament's fashion critic'. All I can say is LUCKY!!!!!
SmuloSpace's "Questioning the logic of not drinking'.
And last but certainly not least: PrezVid's 'More mouths, more babes'. Wisdom of youth?
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 11:26 AM | Comments (2)
May 27, 2007
A quick bike trip around lake Geneva
Over the course of the last few days, the team at Interyouth, put on a Bike ride around lake Geneva. Lammert was with us as one of the key bikers as was Sebastien and Aaron from Shema. It was good fun.
Over the course of the two days, four teams competed in a Road Rules type event which also enabled them to raise money for a good cause.
There was a blind-folded Kayak race, a giant slip-in' slide, riding in the rain, and a great bbq at the end before more rain set in. Watch this video for some fun photos that sum up the experience pretty well; well, apart from the rain, the broken down support vehicle, and the sunset on lake Geneva. It was a good time and many lessons were learned!
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 11:24 PM | Comments (1)
May 03, 2007
New Shema Series
Here is the flier for the new Shema series. Pretty excited about it. Wanted to post it here!
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 04:07 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2007
Visitors, friends, and photos oh my!
Over the next few days our friends Nicholas and Leslie are visiting us from the USA.
We met Nicholas and Leslie...well actually, I guess we met them through a few different internet communities we were a part of. Over time, we began ichatting and calling regularly. Now, after having spent New Year's Eve with them in Birmingham Alabama, they are visiting us here in Geneva.
It's great to have them here. The next few days they'll be getting quite an overview of Geneva and getting to spend some good time with us as we go about every day life. Tomorrow we'll spend lots of time with the Vrielings, and the Shema community.
Here are a couple of photos I took today while we were about:
Nicholas, Leslie, and Laura
Stay tuned for more stories, lots of laughter, and more photos of this adventure!
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2007
Choose Leslie Treece
If you can, choose Leslie Treece Photography. You will simply thank yourself.
She's got an artistic vision for the future, and gift to make it come to life.
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2006
More access than expected
A photo i took of two fences on the site of the City of Refuge. Really makes you ask, who is keeping who out...or in.
My colleague and I have made it. Well at least to Kishkumajsa Hungary.
We spent today looking around at the City of Refuge; a shelter for young women and children from all over Hungary who have been displaced or effected by abusive relationships. The amazing thing about this shelter is it is actually on the property of old Soviet military barracks. The place, like many other like it, is abandoned, run down, and owned by the government. In many ways, these run down, good for nothing buildings serve as something of a rememberance of the occupiers who were there; occupiers who in many ways were eventually forced out.
Our guide, Gabor, is the national director for YFC Hungary. He is an economist by trade. We've already had a couple of really great conversations on life in Hungary post-communism. In fact, even as we talked tonight, it was very interesting to discuss the places he felt communism had fialed the people and yet, the places where he felt some of the good of it was not necessarily bad for the people; particularly the church.
Paul and I will travel tomorrow to another part of Hungary to see another potential project.
In other news, we had a really great Shema gathering last night. Lammert facilitated the evening via input fromRodney Stark's book entitled The Rise Of Christianity. It was a great time of exploring Christian community that really is good news for our context and age.
Posted by joshuacase at 09:22 PM
To David Taylor
David Taylor taught me everything i need to know about Service Porject finding.
Today, my colleague and I will travel to Hungary and to Kosovo looking for development projects to join with in April with between 80-120 students from Geneva.
I may be blog slient till Saturday. We'll see..
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 08:23 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Geneva in spring
This photo was taken just last week from teh top of the Cahedral in Geneva. We were doing a mini tour with our team and discussing issues of reformation in our world today! Great times and greater conversation potential!
Posted by joshuacase at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
New toy...
So this is photo i took with a new toy from Christmas. As some of you will have experienced, i recently received a Nikon D50 digital camera. As my wife has heard, i think photography might be my last hobby for this season of life. Between golf, reading, writing, and several others, i think i am quite maxed out!
This is one of our friends bethany.
Posted by joshuacase at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)