Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 18 June 2023 by Major Michael Ramsay
Mont Saint-Michel
Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Most of you know that we spent a couple of
weeks this May in France. I spoke to you here last week about some of the
things the Lord taught me in Lourdes, France. Today I am going to chat about
some of the things He showed me through some of the other places we visited. We
visited a lot of places!
One place we visited
was Mont Saint-Michel. This was an amazing place to visit. This is a city on a
tidal island in Normandy that for years and years, if you did not know your
tides well, you took your life in your hands to visit; if the tides came in
while you were walking out, you would be swept away to sea; they come in so
fast and so powerfully!! The city fills the entire island. Walls are around the
outside. The city then goes straight up a hill – door to door – small roads, no
spaces between the buildings up to a giant church, an Abbey.
Mont Saint-Michel was
one of the few places to remain unconquered in the 100 Years War. Louis XI of
France founded the Order of Saint Michael in1469 and he intended that
the abbey church of Mont-Saint-Michel would become the chapel for the order.
During the French Revolution, revolutionaries attacked Church and State;
robbing, pillaging, and guillotining as much as they pleased, the island was
even turned into a prison because just like assailants could be easily drowned,
so could escapees. The prison is gone and the monks returned and they are still
there today and it was quite something to see this amazing church and we were
there as well as they were leading Mass.
What struck me was the
unassailable nature of the rock that Mont Saint-Michel is built upon. The rock
protected people for 100 years and more. It is a perfect analogy for Jesus who
is our rock, our salvation – and the one who really protected the abbey and the
Island. If we remain on The Rock (Jesus and His teaching) we can survive
anything, though the tides of life come in sweeping all away who are not on the
rock if we remain on the Rock of our Salvation, we will stand. This is my
encouragement today – let us never leave the Rock of our Salvation. Let us stay
secure in His teaching by reading our Bibles. Let us stay secure in our
relationship by praying and mediating on the Word regularly, and let us invite
everyone we know to the safety and security that is life with our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
La Rochelle
Exodus
12:24-28:24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your
descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he
promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does
this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to
the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our
homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and
worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
We visited La Rochelle
on France. La Rochelle had a very nice harbour. We walked around the downtown.
Their city hall was a castle in the middle of town – we thought about talking
to Mayor Sharie Minions about maybe making something like that here! It would
be great for tourism! La Rochelle: Do you know what the significance of La
Rochelle is from a Canadian point-of-view? It the city from which Canada was
founded! The Chamber of Commerce in La Rochelle funded the voyages of Cartier
and Champlain.
Cartier was the first
person to map the St. Lawrence, including what would become Montreal and Quebec
and he is the one who named Canada, Canada. We actually saw his house (from the
outside) when we were in Saint-Malo in Brittany. It was neat because you could
actually see Britain just across the water – I went swimming there – it was not
swimming weather! But it was nice.
Back to La Rochelle who
funded Cartier and Champlain; we know who Champlain was? He established Quebec
City in 1608, three years after he helped to establish the first European
settlement in North America at Port Royal in 1605. La Rochelle was so involved
in Canada that when France surrendered New France (Quebec) to the British after
the Seven Years War, their Chamber of Commerce protested the French surrender,
encouraging France to fight for 100 years to keep Canada!
It was interesting to
see the roots of Canada and specifically the French in Canada. There, of
course, are lots of bad things about colonization that our country is coming to
terms with today. It is also important to remember that without Cartier,
Champlain, and La Rochelle that none of us might even be here today and Canada
probably would not exist – for good or bad, it is important to know and
remember our history.
The Bible is very big
on remembrances – I am specifically reminded of the Passover where there was an
elaborate ceremony so that the Hebrews would never forget how the Lord delivered
them out of Egypt and of course tied to that is the Christian ceremony of
communion where we are to “do this in remembrance of Him” and never forget Jesus
and how his death and resurrection have provided salvation for the whole world.
Sad moments such as Israel in slavery and the death of Christ are not to be
forgotten; they are to be remembered and they are to be remembered in the
context of the victory of delivery from slavery and then delivery from death to
life! …Eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Carcasson and Saint
Emilion
Genesis
17:15-19: God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer
to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely
give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of
nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will
a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age
of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your
blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son,
and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an
everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
We walked around Carcassone. This was an
amazing city in wine country. You can see the vineyards. It was beautiful. It
was massive; It seemed impregnable. We also stopped in Saint Emilion, Bordeaux
for lunch. It was a great lunch! There was wine sold everywhere in many of the
shops. We obviously didn’t try any but we tried lots of great food. I believe I
had shrimp here. I had lots of duck while we were visiting France.
The exciting thing
about Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, for me was the church there. Like many places it
had been a pilgrimage stop. Like many places it had been attached by the
revolutionaries during the French revolution – the French revolutionaries
robbed, looted, destroyed, vandalized, attacked many churches. In this amazing
church that was very old there were many remarkable things. One was a chair. We
were all invited into the church and we gathered in a room and someone stood in
front of this ancient chair. I don’t think anyone was sitting in it while we
where there. Which is good. You wouldn’t want to sit in this chair by accident:
our guide announced that this was a fertility chair! People come from all over
just to sit in this chair so that they (or their partner; it works for either)
can become pregnant. The person standing next to the chair moved away quickly
when this was announced and Susan did not sit in it and I did not go anywhere
near it. Apparently people send the those who run the building lots of letters
and postcards with birth announcements every year as testimonies to the
miracles of God – If God can give an 80 year old Sarah, a baby – look out –
don’t sit in the chair! (Unless of course you want a baby)
Nimes
Luke
2:1-2: In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be
taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place
while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town
to register.
Nimes – we found The Salvation Army right next
to the Roman Arena and near the Temple to Augustus. I wish it was open when we
went there. It would be great to see the kind of outreach that The Army does
there. It did certainly strike me that the large cities we have seen in France,
England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden do not have the same in-your-face
homelessness and addiction that we have in Canada. I have my ideas why that is
the case but we won’t go into that here today.
Nimes is an ancient
city. In Nimes we saw a temple dedicated to the sons of Caesar Augustus. Do we
remember who he was in the Bible? Yes – he was the Roman Emperor when Jesus was
born – ruler of Rome; Nimes, Gaul; Jerusalem, Judea; and many other places. We
also read references to Herod who was responsible for Caesar’s navy. We know
who that was? Herod the Great was ‘King of the Jews’ when Jesus was born. That
was neat to see and read.
Further we saw a Roman
arena. A Roman arena is like what we think of when we think of the Colosseum.
We read about the evolution of the gladiator and the myths and realities of
Christians being thrown to the lions and so much more. Seeing places like these
brings scriptures and history to life!
We saw a Roman aqueduct
built to supply Nimes – at Point Au Guard– these things are amazing. You know
what they are for. They are for carrying water great distances for people to
drink and use – they are for carrying life saving water to places it wouldn’t
otherwise reach.
This
reminds me of the church at Laodicea in Revelation. Revelation 3:15-16: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I
wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither
hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Laodicea was rich in
material wealth but Laodicea lacked the good water that her neighbouring cities
had: Nearby Hieropolis had great hot mineral springs and there was also the
clear cold waters of Colossae but Laodicea, had poor water so water was piped
to the city through crusty aqueducts. Laodicea was rich in money but poor in
the water it needed to survive. Likewise, Laodicea was rich in temporal wealth
but was poor in living water, which we all need to survive. If only Laodicea
was spiritually as hot as the waters of Hieropolis or as cool and refreshing as
the waters of Colossae that needed to be piped in to Laodicea!
Roman aqueducts, like
this one outside Nimes, are amazing for carrying water great distances for
people to drink and use – they carry life saving water to places it wouldn’t
otherwise reach. This is a great metaphor for the great commission. You and I
are to be aqueducts bringing Jesus’ living water to people who have not yet
drunk of it; and letting those be refreshed who already have!
This is the final
encouragement that I want to leave us with today. Last week we spoke about
Jesus as the Living Water. We all need the living water that is Jesus. He can
help us get through everything and anything for now and forever! He can help us
and He can help our neighbours, our family, and our loved ones. He can do it in
ways that none of us ever can. What we do is share the news of Jesus’ love,
salvation, and living water; the same way the aqueducts were able to share the
life-giving water in Nimes, Laodicea, and throughout the Roman world.
Let us pray.
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