Jesus is fast asleep

We went to church in Divonne this morning and it was very restorative, truly good for the soul. Madeleine, a lay preacher, had prepared a very thoughtful service and a good sermon about the calming of the storm and Jesus being fast asleep in the seemingly out of control boat that is the church! As she saw us arrive closely followed by the professor of systematic theology of Geneva university she laughed and told us we had better sign up next time the minister is on holiday.
I had not been back to the Temple in Divonne since new heating was fitted and I realised that it was the very first time I had been to a Sunday service there taken entirely by someone else (i.e not me). It was of course not perfect but I was deeply moved simply to be there, to hear the words to have time to think, pray and sing, and to enjoy the thoughtful links between the liturgical texts and the Bible readings.
Janet wrote about going to church the other day and I realised just how different my experience was to hers. I was not at all the youngest person present, we ranged in age from around 5 to 85, so at 45 I was in the mid range. Of the 26 people there I reckon possibly only two were purely French.
I realised this morning that singing in French speaks to a very deep part of my soul. It was simply one of those ordinary moments when everything fitted together and I felt I was in the right place at the right time. If going to church can give you that then it's a very special thing, it helped me into the week ahead and helped me relativise some of my panicked angst about nothing very concrete. The sleeping saviour in the boat woke up and calmed my inner storms. Perhaps rather I was woken up to learning to trust a bit more and let go a little more.
All this and beautiful sunny day with views of snow-clad mountians and time with my beloved. Reasons to be thankful.