Easter in Paris

This is the first time I’ve spent Easter outside of Canada and it was definitely an interesting experience. Earlier in the week I had heard of a massive gathering of Christians in Paris on the morning of Easter Sunday and so I planned to get myself out of bed and attend the early service. When I got to “la Défense”, the large open area where the assembly was being held, I was amazed at the amount of people that had come out to hear the message of Christ’s Resurrection. There, under cloudy skies and drizzling rain of Paris at 7:30 in the morning was a crowd of around 6,000 believers. They had come from all sorts of backgrounds and faith traditions; on the stage in front of the crowd stood representative pastors, priests, and laymen from just about every major Christian denomination.

Each took a turn to lead a certain part of the service: from songs, to creeds, to Scripture passages. And each leader wore their respective formal wear for the event, making for a very interesting and colourful stage presence. It was the most ecumenical of ecumenical events that I have ever attended and it gave me great encouragement to see so many Christians of diverging traditions come together to worship the Saviour. The event was simply called “Pâques 2010: Christ est ressuscité ” and it was a celebration in light of the rare occurrence when Easter falls on the same date for Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches.

On Easter Monday I eagerly stood in a long line of young men, all waiting to see the newest action film to hit the scene in Paris: “Le Choc des Titans”. I met up with some friends I met through church and after two hours we entered the giant opera theatre where the movie would be playing. For only 10 Euro we got a centre-balcony seat, right in the middle of the biggest big-screen I’ve ever seen (these ones largely out-do our normal Silvercity or Famous Players screens). When the movie started I was a bit surprised, I had mentally readied myself to follow a French film...but this was in English! I have to admit I was slightly relieved that I could pay more attention to the plot and less to the language. But it turns out there wasn’t much of a plot to follow after all, just action.

The movie itself was not bad and I really enjoyed spending an evening out with friends, away from being cooped up trying to heal my swollen ankle. Luckily that is on the mend and I hope that by the next time I post an update for you guys I will be a walking man!