“The curved woman”: the cult of Présence Protestante with Caroline Schrumpf to be found in replay

For 18 years, a woman has been living hunched over. His horizon is the ground, the tips of his feet. From the path, she sees only the stones. His future ? What future ? Where is he ? 

“She was bent over, and couldn't straighten up at all. - Gospel of Luke, chapter 13

Talk to God? Impossible ! What does He care about me anyway? Just think… Why should this Force, this Power which created the universe take care of me, of my worries? Who am I to talk to God?

" Pray " ? Do you imagine that I will pray? What's the point ? Anyway, I don't know how to do it. How do we pray? What language does God speak? Isn't it Latin, Aramaic, or some older language?

Preferably around a good meal, take the test. When we talk about God, for many, the existence of a single, personified, attainable God seems impossible. 
Then, when we take the discussion a little further in the evening, at cheese time, a large number of men and women believe that the universe was created by an “energy”, a vital force, a power.

And when coffee arrives, the circle of friends is split in two. Some see in the Supreme Being a force so powerful that it controls all destinies from a distance and crushes humanity and free will. It is, for example, the permanent struggle of the comic strip hero Thorgal and his odyssey, in which each life is a thread that the gods have fun stretching or breaking.

And on the other side of the table, there are those who believe that this vital "energy" which was at the origin of heaven and earth, does not even calculate us, us, poor humans, tiny ants of the universe. This is the case for most of the gods of Olympus or Thanos in the Avengers: God is a yawning spectator in front of human agitation. 

Finally, when the gourmet coffee arrives, whatever the position of each one, everyone will agree: how could such a powerful "energy", which created galaxies and black holes, be interested in my financial, sentimental or health problems? How could she have compassion on the torments of my soul, when men themselves ignore her?

To live happily, the very human Thorgal has chosen his side: he aspires to live hidden from the gods. On the other side of the cosmogonic balance, the artisans of mythology and pop culture from Olympus, Marvel or elsewhere, have fashioned creatures more or less connected with the afterlife, creatures that , by resembling us, bring us closer to the gods. Of course, there is Hercules or Thor, the gods with very… human malice. There's Flash, struck by the pure energy of a lightning bolt; Superman, the heir to the Kingdom of Heaven (and Jor-El); Spiderman contaminated by Mother Nature; Hulk, transformed by atomic science; Batman, galvanized with billions and determination, etc.

So many supermen, from over us, for whom an audience with Zeus, Gaia, Ouranos, Odin or Toutatis is possible without an appointment. They have the direct line of the gods. But one way or the other, in the end, the result is the same: God is far away. End of the night. We kiss each other and everyone goes home.

But the Gospel of Luke says something quite different. God is there with us. God's anointed (yes, that was easy) is man. Like any man or any woman. He is present, accessible, normal, he has two hands and two feet and no superpowers or tentacles, and he even works on Sundays. And to me who lives bent over my daily life, with no other horizon than the ground and the tips of my feet. To me, who only sees the way, the pebbles, he says “woman, you are delivered from your infirmity”. He recognizes me and instantly I straighten up and see him.

Find the program "Our worship with Pastor Caroline Schrumpf" in replay by clicking here.

A program directed by Elkana Randrianaivo and produced by France.tv Studio for France Télévisions

Christopher Zimmerlin, for Protestant Presence