Whodunit Wednesday: Smurfs

This past weekend Brussels was q a-flutter with excitement over a movie premiere and a vist from Rihanna. That Rihanna would make an appearance in the capital of Belgium had everything to do with the movie premiere and her part in it. The 4th movie of the Smurfs will soon be in the theaters with a song written for it from Rihanna and her voice as one of the title roles. Everything in Brussels was "surfed", even Manneken Pis. 

What are “Smurfs”, you say? And how did they get to Belgium? Belgium has a rich comic book history. Lucky Luke, Tin-Tin (called “Kuifje” in the Flemish version) and many more all come fro Belgium. There is even a tourist walk around Brussels where visitors can discover various walls decorated with well-known comic book characters from Belgium. 

The Smurfs, the little blue characters with white hats, are loved all over the world, although they are not always called “Smurfs”. In Germany they are the Schlümpfe, in Italy the Puft and in Spain the Pitufos. They were created as a side character by Belgian artist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford) in 1958 and were first known by their French name - Les Schtroumpfs. “Smurf” is the Dutch translation. 

These days you can find Smurfs in advertising, tv, the ice Capades, video games, theme parks, toys and - now 4 times - in film. In the film which hit theaters in 2011, Katy Perry played the voice of Smurfette. In the animated film from 2017, Smurfette was voiced by Demi Lovato. In this most recent version the tradition of voicing Smurfette by a leading pop singer has been fulfilled by Rihanna. 

In the US most kids from the 80’s will remember The Smurfs from the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon. In all of the different media - comic book, tv series, cartoon, film - the word “smurf” is used generously throughout and can mean all sorts of things. It can be used as a verb (“Don’t smurf it up”) or a noun. What it might actually mean to say “I’m surfing to the smurf”, however, is up to the speaker and the listener. 

Giving Sunday

We often talk in our congregation about what the first Christians looked like. We aren’t interested in what they wore or anything like that. We want to know how they acted, what they found important, what moved them. And as we examine these things (most recently in our Wednesday night Bible studies together) we are continually struck by how they cared for one another. Even from afar, congregations saw the needs of other brothers and sisters and wanted to help in some way. 

This has been the example for our congregations’ 5th Sunday Special Giving Sunday. We knew that we could give out of our budget for various needs, but we had members who knew of special needs which they brought to the congregation. We then decided to have an opportunity, every 5th Sunday, to give specially, above and beyond our normal giving. We choose various needs (at least 1 and up to 3) and all the members have the opportunity to give as they see fit to these needs. 

It has been exciting to see how the love of God moves us to help others in so many different places and ways. Often these opportunities teach us that we have brothers and sisters in so many different places. We are one big family. We have helped after natural disasters, like in Myanmar, Laos and Sint Maarten. We have helped churches reaching out to the needy in their area, like Bibles and wells in Uganda, deaf orphans in Kenya, and a center in Ukraine that helps those escaping addiction in their lives and starting anew. 

We have also had opportunities to help locally, like paying for a wheelchair, financial assistance for visitors, travel costs for us when we wanted to visit family (and Shirley wanted to visit her dying sister), and helping kids go to a week of Bible camp.  Yesterday we gave for two children in Uganda with special needs as well as a water purification system at the facility we have helped before in Ukraine. 

These opportunities remind us that we are blessed and that all we have comes from God. We are blessed so that we can bless others. That is some of what we are seeing in the studies we have on the first church and it is working out in the lives of the members every day. We are so thankful for God’s grace that can work through all of us. 

Where oh Where Wednesday: Kerkrade

We live down near the boot heel of the Netherlands (although we are across the river in Belgium). The city of Maastricht is on the west corner. The city of Kerkrade is on the eastern corner, nestled up against Germany. As a matter of fact, there is a street in Kerkrade which is the border itself - one side is the Netherlands, the other side is the town of Herzogenrath in Germany. 

In the Middle Ages Kerkrade was famous for its abby, Rolduc. In the 20th century it was a mining center. After the mines closed it had to re-invent itself and has since become quite a tourist area. Mondo Verde is a social kind of zoo showing off architecture, sculpture and animals. The football (soccer) team Roda JC has its home and stadium here. And Pinkpop, a yearly music festival, is held just around the corner in neighboring Landgraaf. 

For us the most interesting for a time was that an electronics store was to be found in Herzogenrath (the little German town just across the border). Before the EU brought in the euro, electronic goods were cheaper in Germany. Taking a short ride to Kerkrade meant being able to buy electronics at a much better price. We could also visit the German Aldi, which had different things than we had in Belgium or the Netherlands. 

Now we visit the city because one of our families in the church lives there. They moved down from the north (Haarlem, the Netherlands) a few years back and have settled here in the south. The wife loves the hills and landscapes which remind her of her home country of Ecuador. The husband struggles with some culture shock, being a man from Amsterdam who is used to biking everywhere and easy public transportation. 

Either way, we are thankful not only that they are here, but that we get to visit them in Kerkrade. Most recently we were any their house to see their son give his life to Christ and be baptized. Soon we hope to visit them again as they have recently added a dog to their family. We are looking forward to meeting him. 

(Picture is of the Rolduc Abby)