Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Paris

Sunday, October 20 in Paris

I spoke with Lisa last night. She is the apartment owner's daughter who has lived in Paris for eight years with her husband and daughter. A few days ago, I mentioned to her that I would like to attend the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Paris while I'm visiting here. She was not sure she was going to go, but has now decided that she will accompany me to services. I was a bit relieved.

While I would have been fine going to this service and introducing myself, having someone else there is always more enjoyable. We talked a while; Lisa loves to talk and I'm glad of it. We agreed to meet this morning outside the apartment and take the Metro to the temple. (During our time together, I hinted at the fact that I would not mind company at all on my upcoming journey to my little town of Etrepy and left it open that Lisa might consider accompanying me. She was amazingly fluent in French, we got along well, laughed a lot, so I knew she would be fun company.)

Not long after, we found ourselves at the temple being warmly greeted by folks she had not seen for several years. All of these people were English-speaking ex-patriates from Germany, Italy, Scotland, Canada, and other countries. The temple was beautiful, though not as ornate as many I had already seen during my travels; the interior was in the process of being renovated so there were quite a few dusty corners and dropcloths to contend with once you left the main sanctuary. The pipe organ was grand and the music vibrated to our souls.

Rev. Gretchen Thomas of Australia, former of Paris and Knoxville, Tennessee, spoke in her sermon of the shootings in Knoxville last July and the way that Knoxville's congregation has risen to the tragedy in so many different ways.

Several attempts to get me to stay for the retreat they are having next week failed, but I've gotten an invitation to come next year when the retreat will be a three-day weekend in Spa, Germany. Always good to have unfinished business in Paris, I hear.