I have a love-hate relationship with puzzles. I love the big picture and

puzzle men

seeing how the pieces connect, but the actual work of finding the right pieces and fitting them together is a bit frustrating for my personality type! Perhaps it is a question of patience, for when I do persevere to put each piece in its place to form the whole, I find tremendous satisfaction. Whether it is because I have been part of making the diverse parts whole, or because I can see the beauty and order of the end result, I am not sure. I just know that when it’s completed, I feel complete!

I wouldn’t be surprised if expats, newly arrived to their adopted city, felt a bit like the one who just laid out all the pieces of a puzzle before them. The problem, in their estimation, is not the fact that the pieces are in no recognizable order. The dilemma is the fact that there is no big picture to use as a reference point. It is like having the pieces without the accompanying box top and corresponding picture…you know, the one that attracted us to the puzzle in the first place.

Perhaps you find yourself before a jumble of pieces that you would like to fit together but you lack the big picture. You are not alone, and you don’t even have to be an expat to find yourself in this situation. The stuff of life is like the pieces of a puzzle. We need the big picture to put things together. A young man from North Africa wrote the following nearly two millennia ago: “Nos fecisti ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te.” (Latin added for puzzle lovers!). Translation: “O God, You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” (St. Augustine) In a word, I believe that is the ‘big picture’ which gives us the pattern for the pieces of our lives.

The vast majority of us intuitively understand that the pieces that make us what we are, are both physical and spiritual. For such people, finding a place to nurture the whole being is important, and that is why finding a place of worship is as well. The big question is: Will I find a place of worship in my new city where I’ll be able to understand what is said?!

Each year ‘Lyon A La Carte’ invites English speaking communities of faith as exhibitors. As a representative of one of those exhibits, and as the pastor of “The International Christian Community of Lyon”, I invite you to come and consider the possibilities. We look forward to meeting you!

Let me close with a final word about puzzles. On summer vacations at the beach house that my wife’s family would rent every year, there was inevitably a puzzle somewhere in the living room which everyone was invited to help complete. It was common to see a group here and there, at different times in the day, gathered around it, engaged in happy conversation and helping to make the right connections until the picture became apparent. That’s a good image for the Church: making the connections in order to see the ‘big picture’ of a God who turns our restlessness into completeness.