"O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O come to teach us the way of truth!"
I certainly don't know him well, but my first impressions of Jean-Paul are that he's one of the wisest, strongest, and gentlest members of the Lutheran Church of Senegal. He's a catechist, a librarian, and one of the elders of the Fatick parish--in many ways one of the un-elected, but universally recognized "sages" of the entire church. The French word for elder is "ancien," and this seems to suit him: he seems ancient, in a good way, in the sense that he has a wealth of wisdom, experience, and faithfulness upon which the whole church can rely.
There's a proverb in Senegal (maybe elsewhere in Africa) that says that when an elder dies, it is like a library has burned to the ground. I'd like to put that the other way 'round. The elders like Jean-Paul are a storehouse of wisdom and knowledge. We would do well to let them teach us in the ways of truth while they are among us.
Advent expectation,
Peter
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