World Communion of Reformed Churches - An Inspiring Trip to Geneva

I am blogging from Geneva.  The birthplace of the Presbyterian Church.  It has been a privilege to have toured this city and seen where Calvin taught and preached.  It has done me well to fix my gaze upon the very streets where those first Christians who wanted to express their faith in new ways gathered to pray about the church they wanted to build.

St. Pierre's - the church where Calvin preached and taught.  It is at the top of the hill in old town Geneva.  I went to services there on Sunday in French, German, and English.

The view from the top of the bell tower at St. Pierre's, looking across Geneva onto Lake Geneva/Lake Leman. 

One other thing happened while I was here.  I learned more about the Reformed church around the world -- more than I had ever known and more than I had ever expected to know.  I have met with South Africans, Hungarians, Ghanians, Cubans, and Canadians.  This was not just a trip into the past.  It was a tour  of the present.

Frans (South Africa), Martin (South Africa), Jerry Pillay, President of the World Communion Reformed Churches (South Africa), Setri Nyomi, General Secretary World Communion Reformed Churches (Ghana), Steve (USA), and Tom Taylor, President of the Presbyterian Foundation (USA).

I often say that grace abounds, and grace abounds around the world through the churches I learned and heard about.  The big global perspective is that there are 80 million people in our tradition, working hard, preaching grace, teaching faith, and working for justice.  Some of them where it is illegal to gather a church.  Some of them in communities where there are people who are starving.  Some of them in cathedrals.  Some of them on street corners.  The tour through the present was revealing and beautiful.

Take time to learn a little more about the World Communion of Reformed Churches (www.wcrc.ch/) and the Presbyterian Foundation (www.presbyterianfoundation.org).  They are partnering together to give us, in North America, and in North Carolina a view into how the church is moving and growing in the world.  

God caught my attention in a new way this week.  It was view into the past.  It was a view into the present.  And in them perhaps there is a formulation for the future?

God caught my attention this week with stories I had never heard.  I plan on paying better attention and listening a little more closely.

Last thing...I was told Switzerland was beautiful.  Yep, it really is.