I lived for a while in the south of France, and a little piece of my heart will always belong to that country. Paris is the city of my dreams, I hope to live there some day, and I wish I could be there now, doing something, anything to help, to soothe the broken, to ease the pain, to bring light and hope into the darkness and fear.

But I’m not there, I’m here. And while I may feel ineffectual, I believe in One who is bigger than the powers of darkness, stronger than the mightiest army and more loving than anyone could imagine. It is Him who brings comfort and hope, and I trust Him to be working in how we respond to the darkness we see.

And it is true, that we live in dark times, times of fear and anger and pain. Times of uncertainty – how to react in the face of such atrocities, how to protect those we love and show compassion to those in need. The attacks in Paris this weekend have brought the reality of the situation in the Middle East so much closer to home for us and have given us just a brief glimpse of the horror that millions are living through, dying in, fleeing from.

In these times, I believe we need two things: compassion, and hope.

We need compassion to share the sufferings of those who are hurting, and not just the people like us. We need to recognise that we are part of a global community (whether we like it or not) and we need to work together – to feed the hungry, house the homeless, rescue the captives.

And we need to have hope – that good will conquer evil (even if it takes a while), that love is stronger than hate, that light always dispels darkness.

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L’Eternel est mon berger

Je ne manquerai de rien

Il me fait reposer dans des verts pâturages

Il me dirige près des eaux paisibles

Il restaure mon âme

Il me conduit dans les sentiers de la justice

A cause de son nom

Quand je marche dans la vallée de l’ombre de la mort

Je ne crains aucun mal

Car tu es avec moi

Ta houlette et ton bâton me rassurent

Tu dresses devant mou une table

En face de mes adversaires

Tu oins d’huile ma tête

Et ma coupe déborde

Oui, le bonheur et la grâce m’accompagneront

Tous les jours de ma vie

Et j’habiterai dans la maison de l’Eternel

Jusqu’à la fin de mes jours