LaSalle in Paris

One of my main goals was to find a church home in Paris. I wanted to get involved with real Parisians, rather than only hanging out with UChicago students. I was expecting to be one of the few church-goers, but to my surprise several UChicago people asked me if I was going to church and if they could come. So we got a little church-buddy group going.

Church buddies

 Man, has my wish for a church been answered!! The American Church in Paris is a fantastic bunch of people. My mom and I went there the Sunday she was here and we liked it, so I decided to come back myself. Since neither of us speak good enough French to understand an entire sermon, we just Google-d English-speaking churches. ACP was one of the first hits, and now I'm hooked.


Not only have I been there the last couple Sundays, but I also went to a Bible study on Tuesday night and a "Theology on Tap" meeting last night, where we discussed deep theological questions over drinks. My church buddies didn't come to these outside events, although I'm sure I can convince them to come to upcoming ones.

The church draws a unique type of young adult. 20-somethings who are willing to spend an extended period of time in a foreign country have to have a certain amount of guts and personality. That makes the discussions far different than those I've had the United States. Also, the church draws people from all over the world--the only common factor is that we all speak English. At the Bible study on Tuesday, about 1/3 were African, 1/3 were American, and 1/3 were from France and other European countries. Thus everyone has unique a perspective, because everyone grew up in a different type of household. At the Theology on Tap meeting last night, we got into a long discussion of Nigerian voodoo and how people in Africa view spirits, and how that affects their views toward God.  The meeting had no formal structure; there were just various questions people had submitted printed on slips of paper, and we could pick which ones we wanted to talk about. I was amazed at how everyone always pulls out the same core tensions of Christianity, no matter what part of the world they are from--how can a good God let bad things happen, what about the righteous pagans, how should we interpret the Bible, and so on.

As for Tuesday night, I was a little worried about coming home by myself after Bible study, since I'm used to living in Hyde Park where you don't go out alone after 10:00 at night. My college counselor from high school used to advise us to find some "big-and-uglies" to take us home after dark. So Tuesday night, my "big-and-uglies" were a guy from Gabon and a guy from Germany. The German guy actually lives at Cite like me, although in a different dorm, and the guy from Gabon lives in an apartment nearby. In reality it is pretty safe in my neighborhood, but we were all going the same direction anyway. Mr. Gabon made us get off at a metro stop where we had to walk really far to get home, but it was so much fun talking with the two of them. Actually, it ended up being one of the best moments I've had since I've been here.

After Theology on Tap last night, six of us decided to walk all the way from near the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame to get cheaper food. That's a really long way, for those of you who don't know Paris. But this city is amazing to walk in at night--I feel like there is nowhere else like it. We walked along the Seine and passed many of the major highlights of Paris--the Eiffel Tour, the Grand Palais, the Louvre, Notre Dame. The night was lit up by the flashing Grand Palais combined with the sparkling Eiffel Tower, along with fireworks from Montmartre. That evening walk is also one of my favorite moments in Paris.

Grand Palais

Place de la Concorde

Despite all the great things I've seen in this beautiful city, it's my interactions with people that have been the most meaningful. Sure, ACP isn't LaSalle, but it has the same essence. It reminds me that even though people come from all over the world, we are all sisters and brothers in Christ.