Away From Home For the Holidays Part 3: Christmas Eve and Other Stories

Montreux Market
Though a great deal of the Christmas season this year was somewhat surreal, one of the things that did seem quite traditionally Christmas-y was the Montreux Christmas market. Certainly not as big as some of Europe’s more prominent Christmas displays (particularly those in Germany), this one was still nice. Christmas lights abounded through the city and the lakefront was lined with plenty of vendors selling hot wine, snacks, and homemade goods. Sure, the hedge carvings of characters from Ice Age 2: The Meltdown may have been a little out of place, but for the most part, it was good fun.






This booth was selling what I think were manger displays in different sizes and complexities. This one pretty much includes the entire village. Pretty neat.

Christmas in Geneva
Christmas Eve includes the only major family tradition that easily springs to mind. As a family, we’ve always opened presents that night rather than the following morning because we often traveled to relatives’ places on Christmas Day. What started out as something practical has now become the norm, and I really enjoy spending time at church and then coming home to spend time with family. I’m sure my parents have also enjoyed the extra hours of sleep on Christmas morning this has afforded them over the years.

Of course, this year was going to be different. And though I didn’t have presents, a tree, or family I did have friends which was the next best thing. I even somehow managed to enjoy three out of three of my favorite desserts over the course of two days.


This is me in front of my apartment window. There was a big Christmas tree visible from our place which I liked to think of as “my” tree since we didn’t have one at home

I spent the majority of Christmas Eve day baking a Pumpkin Pie (one of my three faves) to contribute to a small potluck at Julia’s. Despite not being able to find a proper pie pan (shallow tarts being the preferred regional pastry…) it turned out really good. Along with Patty and Patience, we had a nice little get-together before heading to the Anglican Church for worship (one of the only places in town with an 11pm service).

Me, Patty, Julia and Patience


Patty prepares to enjoy some tasty pumpkin pie


On Christmas Day the Vrieling’s hosted a brunch for the Shema folks in town which was quite nice, especially Conny’s chocolate mousse (that would be the second of the favorite desserts). Lammert read us the Christmas story and we then ended up watching last year’s Nativity Story film. And after all that, we worked on the used bike I bought a couple months back and finally got it road-ready. Now once I have enough money to buy a helmet, I’ll be able to get around even more conveniently.

Christmas brunch


Max clearly recognizes the true meaning of Christmas: Legos!


Nuno “carves” the “traditional” Christmas sausage


Lammert tells us what Christmas is all about

That evening I was able to join my Hash friends Jon and Philippa for an evening of games at one of their mates’ flats (this is apparently what Brits do on Christmas). We enjoyed some homemade tiramisu (the final favourite dessert) and a whiskey tasting whilst playing a quite addictive German board game that’s a bit like Monopoly meets Colonization.

Though it may not have been quite what I was used to, I really enjoyed my time here and am quite thankful that so many people were around Geneva this year.

preparing to engaGE

On Sunday Shema will kick-off a weeklong service initiative called engaGE with the aim of making an impact in our community. Over 100 volunteers will team up with various non-profits and organizations throughout the city to work with kids, elderly folks, the homeless and a variety of other people. We are looking at this as not just a one-time event but the start to building meaningful lasting relationships.

If you’re in Geneva, you can sign up by visiting the website. I’m sure I’ll be posting some photos and thoughts on the week in the future. In the meantime, you can check out the playlist to in the sidebar for some music I’ve compiled that our team has found inspiring in the weeks leading up to the event.

Richard Rohr

On Tuesday evening, FI hosted internationally renowned contemplative, speaker, and Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr for a talk on “Spirituality and Politics.” As you may remember, I had the chance to visit Richard’s Center For Action and Contemplation back in November, though Richard wasn’t there at the time. It was nice to finally have the chance to meet him. Richard’s main thing (to put it incredibly simply) is to return to the mystic traditions of early Christianity (and other spirituality) which have been lost in rational Western thought. He seeks to connect people with their inner ‘contemplative’ selves as a means of connecting to God. Pretty heady and incredible stuff.

During the day he met with the staff and gave us a nice introduction to the 6 “Stages of Consciousness” before his public talk that night. I was surprised and pleased to hear him ‘rep’ the Emerging Church which he thinks favorably of due to its open nature (the contemplative mind rejects rational black-or-white dualism). (Of course, I don’t mean to imply that other religious movements are anything less, because that would be dualistic itself.)

Anyway, as I am a designer, I did the posters and flyers for the event — my not-so subtle play on the title:




The event was very nice and I was able to take everything in despite being on photography duty.



Lammert blogged about it over at Shema and Melissa posted a nice article on our website (all photos also by me) so I won’t go into a major recap. It was just nice to be involved in the festivities and have a chance to chat with friends afterwords (here, Richard talks with Julia and Lammert).

Beautiful Lady

Tonight I led a Shema movie night and discussion about M. Night Shyamalan’s most recent film, Lady In The Water, which went pretty well. It prompted me to go back and re-read what I had written about it after I watched it opening day last year. This was in my personal journal pre-dating this blog, but I feel it’s appropriate to publish here since so few people have seen this movie.
Here were my first impressions:

July 21, 2006
“I have a confession to make. I really liked M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie Lady in the Water. I really really liked it. And from the looks of critical consensus, I may be the only one. It’s a different movie (yet still includes his signature themes of dark and light, the supernatural, and spirituality). Some will claim it’s entirely ego-driven. Maybe so. But it moved me.
The movie is about so much: realizing your true potential/discovering who you are meant to be, the importance of community, and redemption among them. It’s also a fairytale or bedtime story. It doesn’t purport to be anything more. And yet critics seem to think it is much more than that and are drubbing it hard.

And I wonder if I saw the same thing. I found myself glued to the screen in rapt attention. I wanted to hear the story. I wanted to be touched. And I was. I had chills during some scenes and even cried at one point (during Cleveland’s prayer to his family).

So I just wanted to put that down. I am unlikely to be backed up by many, but I’m glad Night had the conviction to make this film and I hope enough people aren’t put off by the critics that it has a chance to make an impact.”

Twenty-Four

I shared this last night Shema, but it seemed like an appopriate entry for today.
“Twenty-Four” was written by Jon Foreman on the eve of his birthday and here’s some of what he’s had to say about it:

Sometimes I feel like my soul is polluted with politicians, each with a different point of view. With all 24 of them in disagreement, each voice is yelling to be heard. And so I am divided against myself… “Twenty-Four” is about wanting to be united into one person. It talks about that. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one!” Love the Lord with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, all of who you are - that’s integrity!…
I feel that I am a hypocrite until I am one—when all of the yelling inside of me dies down. I've heard that the truth will set you free. That‘s what I'm living for: freedom of spirit. I find unity and peace in none of the diversions that this world offers. But I‘ve seen glimpses of truth and that‘s where I want to run.

I too have felt divided against myself, especially over the past two months, seeing conflicts and paradoxes in situations and my reactions to things. I am happy, yet I feel unfulfilled. I have problems, yet they are completely insignificant when compared with what others are going through. I am trying to live my life to the fullest, yet I feel it’s already passing me by. I have now lived approximately a quarter of my life, yet I don’t feel that old. I am nothing special, yet I know that I am special because everyone is a unique creation. Today is completely insignificant, yet it also means a lot.

So this will be my prayer for this day, this week, this whole year; that I may be centered and better become the person I am meant to be.

“Twenty-Four” by Switchfoot

Twenty-four oceans
Twenty-four skies
Twenty-four failures
And twenty-four tries
Twenty-four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
With twenty-four drop outs
At the end of the day

Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty-four hours ago
Still I'm singing ‘Spirit,
take me up in arms with You’
And I’m not who I thought I was
Twenty-four hours ago
Still I'm singing ‘Spirit,
take me up in arms with You’

There’s twenty-four reasons
To admit that I’m wrong
With all my excuses
Still twenty-four strong

See, I’m not copping out
Not copping out
Not copping out
When you’re raising the dead in me

Oh, oh
I am the second man
Oh, oh
I am the second man now
Oh, I am the second man now
And you’re raising these...

Twenty-four voices
With twenty-four hearts
All of my symphonies
In twenty-four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true
I'm singing ‘Spirit take me up in arms with You’
You’re raising the dead in me

Oh, oh
I am the second man
Oh, oh
I am the second man now
Oh
I am the second man now
And you’re raising the dead in me
Yeah

I wanna see miracles
To see the world change
Wrestled the angel for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing ‘Spirit, take me up in arms with You’
And you’re raising these

Twenty-four oceans
With twenty-four hearts
All of my symphonies
In twenty-four parts

Retreat(s)!

At the risk of seeming like some sort of religious zealot, I figured I’d update this thing with some info of what I’ve spent half the weekends in February doing: that is, retreats with a couple of the church communities I’m part of here.

A couple weeks ago we had a planning retreat for Shema across the border into France in a town called Peillonnex. It was a nice time that allowed us to gather and not only come up with some goals for the “missional community” within the next year, but also just enjoy each other’s company. It was fun to be around kids for the weekend as well, since three of our families on the core team have them.

Here’s a picture of the crew from the retreat:

l to r, Row 1: Byung-Soo, Chris Vrieling, Julia Henke, Laura Case, Yannick (with Cody) Ries; Row 2: Josh Case (with Jacob Ries), Lammert Vrieling, Max Vrieling, Conny Vrieling, me, Sébastien Heiniger, and Andy Ries. Not pictured are Todd Dellanegra and his family and Antje.

Here are the posters I’ve done for the various series’ so far:







Next up: a logo overhaul…


This past weekend I went on the YAGS (the young adults group from the Baptist Church) winter retreat which was a lot of fun. A bit like being back in youth group. But still fun.

We headed to a town near Montreux called Les Mosses and had a pastor (who is currently based in Monaco) lead us through the book of Daniel in between meals, board games, skiing, and poker.
The weather was pretty dismal on Saturday morning, so despite our attempts at two different locations, skiing looked out of the question. After lunch we headed back to one of them and conditions had improved a bit so we were able to pay for a half day and get a few hours in. It’s been about 6 years since I last skiied, so I was moderately impressed at how (reasonably) well I did, only falling a handful of times and getting back into it without many problems.

Here are some pictures from the weekend (only the ones on the slopes are mine; the others are “borrowed” from Nathan and Filippa):


The place we stayed

Low visibility kept us from skiing Saturday morning

Jeanette, myself, and Frank, all dressed up and nowhere to ski

What to do next but play Scrabble? With Mary, Tyler, and Jim Beerley (who led our sessions for the weekend)

The weather got a bit better for the afternoon

On the slopes: Me, Austin Beerley, Tyler (in the background), and Jeanette

All that clearance stuff I got at Target over Christmas came in handy

Jeanette, Darryl, and me stirring the fondue for Saturday evening’s dinner. Mmm…

Evening poker. I was first out. Not a good night for me.

Filippa, Jeanette, and me waiting around for something to happen

Natalie (trying to pretend she’s not being photographed) and me at lunch on Sunday

Life Updates

Life in Geneva continues to roll on.

I’m part of the core team for Shema which has been a nice way to get connected to people in the city with similar passions for community, Christ, and social justice. It’s also been a good creative outlet to get to do design for their flyers and such. I’ve also been attending the baptist church’s young adults group (YAGS) which is a good way to meet more English-speakers around my age outside of the office. Plus, the Hash continues to be an excellent mid-week release and having been here 5 months already, I feel like I have a good group of friends there.

Work has been busy but good since I’ve returned. This past week we celebrated the beginning of a new partnership with the Christian and Presentation Brothers which are two Ireland-based groups working on behalf of children around the world. As part of that, Nicki and I got to work up some logos for their org which will be called Edmund Rice International (after both groups’ founder). I’ve also been working on materials for FI’s campaign centering around St. Elizabeth of Hungary’s 800th anniversary, amdist other more mundane projects.

My two New Year’s resolutions are 1) to run the full Geneva Marathon on May 6th (coincidentally the same day as Cincinnati’s Flying Pig) and 2) to try and regularly complete the New York Times crossword puzzle. Marathon training has been nice so far due to the temperatures, but I’m sure they can’t hold out for the whole winter. Still, by the time I get to my major distance runs leading up to the race, it’ll be spring so everything will work out.
Inspired by finally seeing the documentary Wordplay, I thought the crossword might be a nice way to challenge myself on a daily basis. After all, I used to be kind of smart, so I could probably stand the stimuli. So far I’m pretty much a Monday-Wednesday level, but maybe by the end of the year I’ll be able to take a crack at the weekend edition.

I also hope to put my portfolio online at some point this year, which I’ve been saying for awhile, but I actually have all my work gathered together now so it shouldn’t be too long before I do something with it.

In the coming months I will be traveling to Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, and potentially Amsterdam. If you’ve been to any of these cities and have suggestions of places to visit, eat at, or anything else please feel free to let me know.