Jeûne genevois 2018

IMG_0044-2bJEÛNE GENEVOIS – Thursday 6th September 2018
This year’s theme:
“Moving in the Spirit: Called to Transforming Discipleship

Videos from the day are being placed below as they are edited and uploaded. Photos by Silvia Rossi and George Arende.

 

Prayer 3 voices using Psalm 51: 2:40 . . . Hymn: 5:41
Prière d’illumination: 7:00 . . . Reading Luke1: 7:27
Interlude1 Jonas: 9:30 . . . Reading Galations 5: 11:47
Sermon 3 voices: 12:30 . . . Reading of Luke together: 27:00
Interlude2 Jonas: 29:00 . . . Prayer of intercession: 31:20
Our Father in all languages: 32:37 . . . Brazilian group: 33:29
Blessing: 37:16 . . . Postlude and credits: 38:48

Significance of the ‘jeûne genevois’:

HISTORY:

In 1567 a Geneva-wide fast in the beginning of October was held as a sign of friendship with Protestants undergoing persecution in Lyon, France. This was most likely the first Jeûne genevois (Genevan fast). Five years later, news of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre and the slaughter of several thousand Huguenots beginning on 24 August 1572 triggered a fast throughout Geneva on the following 3 September, which could be why the date of later yearly fasts was shifted back by almost a month.

THE GENEVESE FAST, A SECULAR HERITAGE

It was customary with each serious event (plague, war, famine etc.) that a special day be devoted to fasting and prayer. This act drew its roots from Old Testament tradition. By making penitence the population testified its humility to God and sought his leniency. The first fast in Geneva goes back to October 1567 at the time of a repression against the Protestants at Lyon.

With the news of the massacre of thousands of Huguenots on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24th, 1572, the Genevese population observed a special fast September 3rd, 1572.

The law of January 8th, 1966 declared the Genevese Fast an official holiday. Faced with the massacres and misfortunes related to the war, the best Genevese answer is not the use of weapons or calls for revenge, but a humble, spiritual practice of solidarity: the Fast.