Chagall in Nice – Seeing the Invisible

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Lynne McNaughton admires "The Burning Bush"Never lose an opportunity of
seeing anything that is beautiful;
for beauty is God’s handwriting
– a wayside sacrament.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote set the tone for our visits to the the Temple Réformé and the Chagall Museum in Nice.

The Temple Réformée hosted the pilgrims today for worship and for our session about `Seeing the Invisible`. Their sanctuary was built by the American Anglicans in 1887 and the Réformed congregation bought the building when the original congregation could no longer afford the building. To be consistent with the reformed theology, modifications were made by removing the marble altar and pulpit, the marble decorations and memorials from the building and replacing them with a plain wooden table and pulpit. Pastor Christina Weinhold described their history and that the only reason that the stain glassed windows remain is that it is too expensive to have them removed.

This afternoon the pilgrims were awed by a visit to the Marc Chagall museum. Chagall had this museum built to house his series of paintings, `Biblical Message” in 1973. The canvases are huge depicting stories from Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Songs- We left the museum only when the manager locked the door at the end of the day. We reluctantly left, wishing to stay to see more of Chagall’s images, as Gerald Hobbs describes, as the work of a lover attempting to interpret the beloved.

From Nice

Hello from Nice, arrived safely last night  – weird to get election results from the captain  somewhere over the Atlantic!
Updates will arrive from us as we go.

Lynne

A Quote to put on the website:
Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys. Richard  Niebuhr

 

Preview 2011 Study Guide

One feature of our pilgrimage trips is that Lynne McNaughton and Gerald Hobbs produce a study guide for each trip. These guides touch on history, geography, religion and many other areas of interest.

We are offering the Preface & Introduction (click on hyperlink for download, PDF) for the 2011 guide as a preview of things to come. We hope this whets the appetite for SEEING THE INVISIBLE: A Spring Journey in Provence, Burgundy and Savoy.

Two questions lie at the heart of our pilgrimage in 2011.  Is the Holy One visible to the human eye?   And if so, are mortals allowed to depict something of that vision, in drawing, carving or sculpture, or some other form that communicates this appearance of the divine?

Fred Kaan’s Stone

On March 15th, the stone honouring Fred Kaan and marking the resting
place of part his ashes, will be dedicated by United Reformed and
Anglican clergy in the cemetery of St.Patrick on the shore of Ullswater,
near his last home in the English Lake District. His wife Anthea will
host a reception for those present. We are sending a word of greetings
from the Canadian pilgrims.

We remind ourselves that the other half of Fred’s ashes was buried by
Anthea in November 2009 at the base of an oak tree on the lawn of
Vancouver School of Theology. That tree was planted there by Fred in
2004, on the occasion of Fred’s lectures at VST, on “The Only Earth we
know”.

Gerald Hobbs & Lynne McNaughton have sent this message for the dedication:

“Fred is close to the hearts of the many Canadians who had the privilege of meeting him in person. In particular, the pilgrims whom he addressed in 2002 and again in 2007, treasure the memory of each of those occasions. He remains living with us in our Sunday worship through the text of so many of the hymns with which he gifted us.  Thanks be to God.”

Australian Friends

Bob, Lynne, Nola and Gerald

This photo is of Australians Nola and Bob Warrick who have travelled on several pilgrimages with us.

They were passing through Vancouver and had dinner with Gerald, Lynne, Jens and Linda Lee.

Workshops in Ontario

Lynne and Gerald will be leading three workshops in various parts of Ontario during mid-February, under the auspices of the Continuing Education department of Emmanuel College, Toronto.

On this trip, from February 10th to 19th, they hope to have opportunities to connect with a number of pilgrims from years past.

  • On Saturday, February 12th, from 9:30am to 3:30pm, at St. Peter’s United Church, York Street, Sudbury:  “Pilgrims Through Life and Leadership”,  Pilgrimage as a lived metaphor for faith and leadership.
  • On Friday, February 18th, from 10am to 5pm. at Emmanuel College, Queen’s Park Crescent, Toronto:  “A Joyful Noise: the Psalms as Proclamation, Prayer and Praise.”
  • On Saturday, February 19th, from 9:30am to 3pm, in Woodstock (precise location by email to betsy.anderson@utoronto.ca. )  The “Joyful Noise: Psalms” workshop, as the previous day.

Persons wishing to register for any of these should contact Betsy Anderson at the above email address.

More Nice – Scouting trip

Christina Weinhold & Lynne in Nice

This morning we met Christina Weinhold, one of the pastors of the Reformed Church (Eglise Réformée) here in Nice. A lovely visit to this church, which was until 1973, the American Church in Nice. A great organ (says Gerald) and a splendid, hospitable reception for our first two days here in May.

Russian Cathedral, Nice

Walking along the area north of the train station, the Russian Orthodox cathedral appears suddenly, like a glimpse into the magic of Old Russia.  Inside, we were dazzled and a bit over-awed by the golden splendour of the Holy.  We will likewise be welcomed here, on Saturday May 7th.

Early tomorrow our eight-day scouting comes to a close as we board Air France here in Nice for the journey home. We are glad to have met our programme objectives, and are pleased with the hotel arrangements we have been able to firm up.   See you May 5th!”