The Seine

Iconic… romantic… strategic… inspiring…

The Seine is all the above and more as it flows through Paris, the City of Lights. UNESCO World Heritage sites line her banks from the Louvre Museum and the Grand Palais, to the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame Cathedral rising from the ashes. The river flows through the center of this great city creating districts on the left and right bank for culture and commerce. Thirty-seven bridges crisscross Paris to create pathways over the waters. Writers like Hemmingway and Joyce found their inspiration as they sat along the Seine. Voltaire and Rousseau contemplated the meaning of life along her banks. And artists like Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh tried to capture her magic and mystery on canvas, yet even their talent struggled to reveal the ethereal essence of the Seine. This river has been the site of Roman conquest and Viking raids, Medieval kingdoms and emperors, rebellions and World Wars.

She is iconic… romantic… strategic… inspiring… and…

The designers of the Paris Summer Olympics recognized the central importance of the Seine as they created their plan for this year’s Olympic experience. The Opening Ceremonies were unlike any other in the 128-year history of the modern Olympiad. Instead of parading inside a stadium, 10,000+ athletes sailed in a 3.5-mile flotilla of 94 boats down the Seine, while Paris displayed her rather eclectic culture along the banks of the river. For two weeks, the Seine played prominently in the Olympic scenery as events happened on either side of her banks. For most, the Seine provided an idyllic backdrop to the gathering of nations. But for those who had to compete on or in her waters, they discovered that those waters are also dangerous. It has been 100 years since Paris hosted the world for an Olympics competition. In 1900 and 1924, the Seine was the site of swimming and rowing events that thrilled spectators along her banks. But for the last 100 years, swimming has been banned in the Seine because her waters are dangerously polluted. In 2015, Paris began a program to clean up the Seine, but even after 9 years and 1.5 billion dollars, the 2024 Olympic water events to take place on or in the Seine remained questionable until the sound of the gun at the start.

She is iconic… romantic… strategic… inspiring… and dirty…

The waters of the Seine originate from a spring 30 miles southeast of Paris in Source-Seine. When the Romans captured Burgundy in the 1st century BCE, they built a shrine around the spring, naming the river that flows from that point the Seine after the Roman goddess of healing- Sequana. At her origin, the waters of the Seine bubble up from the ground, fresh and pure. You can scoop it up with your hands and drink without concern. The cool waters are refreshing on a hot summer’s day. But 30 miles northwest, where the river begins to weave through Paris, those same waters have become the dumping ground for items large and small. For each of the last 9 years, over 350 tons of garbage has been hauled out of the Seine- TVs, motorcycles, furniture, soda cans. The dedicated effort to clean up the trash along the Seine’s Parisian shores has made her more visually pleasing. But it is the microscopic invaders that make her waters so dangerous. Paris has a combined sewer system where the city’s wastewater and stormwater flow through the same pipes. With heavy or prolonged periods of rain, the pipes’ capacity is reached, with the overflow pouring into the Seine, raising the presence of E. coli bacteria to dangerous levels. Imagine swimming in those waters! To put it more graphically than my more sensitive readers will want to hear, as the rain fell on Paris during the Olympics, the athletes were swimming in Parisian poop. I cringed when I watched the triathletes dive into those waters. One had to hope that they would keep their mouths closed when they swam. Unfortunately, the reports after the race described such strong currents and large waves that the swimmers gulped in large quantities of water and...

The Seine is a parable in the making…

The spring that feeds the Seine makes me think of a vivacious little guy at church. When we sing, he dances, arms raised, an expression of joy on his face. When he comes up for the Children’s Moment, he is quick to answer, giving those of us of more advanced age the best sermon of the morning. Last Sunday, his kernel of wisdom reminded us that “Jesus will never leave us.” His faith is fresh and pure, yet untouched by the world. His sweet faith is like cool waters that refresh on a hot day. We were like him years ago. What happened? Most of us have a combined sewer system like Paris… God’s fresh rainwater full of blessings mixes with all the dirt of the world, leaving it all a bit tainted. Sometimes we put in the effort to clean up the trash, making us look more presentable. But the sewage still pours in… anger, division, selfishness, arrogance… sometimes the pollution flows like huge waves and I find myself gulping in (forgive my crassness) American poop. In the Revelation letter to the Ephesians, Jesus calls out to us as we swim in polluted waters… “You have forgotten your first love… repent and do the things you did at first.” (Rev. 2:5) What a simple call… go back to the beginning… to the spring… to where the water is clean and pure… sit with God’s Word… listen quietly in prayer… dance to music that sings His praise. Remember your first love… the One whose love is pure and life-giving.

With you, yearning to be a child in the arms of Jesus…
Anita