Geneva for the Day

11.09.05

In the morning I caught the train from Aigle to Geneva, which follows a beautiful route around the lake (about 1.5 hours). From there I went to the “Evangelical Baptist Church of Geneva” in Chapelle de l’Oratoire, which is the old town district.

The church was very welcoming, I filled in a visitor card and placed it in the offering plate, and later in the service they read off the names and asked us each to stand. The service was on God’s faithfulness, a good topic for someone who just left his job and is travelling alone.

After church I went for lunch at a nearby sandwich shop with some of those friendly people. I also shared a ice cream dessert with a girl named Katie. Discussion mostly surrounded the differences between British and American English, with some people being teachers. There are also a fair number of language translators that go to this church. I saw Susan from a few days ago, but she didn’t come with along with us.

Then I just went off exploring on my own, I saw the Jet d’eau (Monumental Jet of Water), tried to avoid some people selling french marijuana, and visited Saint-Pierre site archéologique sous la cathédrale. There were many upgrades to the cathedral, and showed progression of baptismal tanks becoming smaller and smaller.

In the evening the rain was pouring down as I looked at the photos “Earth from Above” by Yann Arthurs-Bertrand in the park. All the photos were taken from a helicopter, which made them very unique. The purpose and message of the photos was one of sustainable development (impoverished people, use of resources, etc.)

Shortly after, two men offered me a trac, but were happy to know that I’m a Christian and was on my way to church. I went to the Shema Gathering at the same church as in the morning. People were seated at tables, and the sermon was very conversational, where a question would be brought up for discussion with those near you. The usual prayer and worship were there, along with snacks and tea. The sermon was in relation to stewardship of the earth, saying “something is wrong here, let’s make it better!”

I left a little before the end to catch my bus and the 1.5 hour train back to Aigle.