June 3, 2023
In this month’s Schuman Talk, Slovakian politician Jan Figel’ tells about the harsh reality of growing up under an atheistic communism in Czechoslovakia, and of the role his Christian faith played in bringing hope for freedom and peace. He was named after his uncle, who as a 26-year-old teacher was taken by Secret Service agents […]
May 27, 2023
(This was the ‘weekly word’ on Pentecost five years ago). Pentecost reminds us that the end goal of God’s purposes in human history is the ingathering of a multi-lingual global church ‘from every tribe, language, people and nation’, as John writes in his Revelation (5:9). Pentecost saw the birth of this ‘rainbow’ church with the […]
May 20, 2023
Ascension Day is a largely forgotten celebration. Surprisingly, in some of Europe’s most secular countries like France, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, it is a public holiday. Equally surprising is that in the United Kingdom – where the central role of the Anglican Church was evident in Charles’ recent coronation – it is not a […]
May 13, 2023
Whose is the story of the origins of Europe? …of the ‘European’ values of freedom and peace? …or of the process of European integration? At the first Swedish Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast in Stockholm last week, parliamentarians heard an alternative to the popular secular narrative on the origins of Europe which marginalises God. Then at the State […]
May 6, 2023
Maidan Square in the heart of Kyiv is these days a blaze of red, yellow and purple tulips. They are a gift from The Netherlands to show support and appreciation to a nation under attack. Alyona, who faithfully translates Weekly Word into Ukrainian and Russian, sent me the photos above, saying how much Ukrainians love […]
April 29, 2023
This week it was the Dutch. Next week it will be the Brits. Honouring their kings, that is. Last Thursday was the annual Koningsdag in Holland, Willem-Alexander’s birthday. The day was less about the king himself, whose popularity has waned some twenty per cent over the corona period. Koningsdag was more about celebrating a nation-wide […]
April 22, 2023
Last weekend the church Romkje and I attend, the Noorderkerk, celebrated 400 years of Christian presence in the city of Amsterdam, with concerts, tours, exhibits and a mayoral visit, among other activities. On Easter 1623, fifty-five years after the city chose to become Protestant, the doors of the Noorderkerk opened to its largely migrant neighbourhood. […]
April 14, 2023
What an intriguing city Stockholm is to explore! This week I began to discover one of the best-preserved medieval districts in Europe, the Gamla Stan or Old Town, with its cobbled pedestrian streets, picturesque alleys strangely reminiscent of Malta’s Valletta, and its famous royal palace, one of the largest castles in the world. Gamla Stan […]
April 8, 2023
Imagine a military cemetery with rows and rows of little white electric chairs marking the graves of the fallen. Or hospitals and pharmacies displaying neon-lit electric chairs to welcome those seeking medical relief and healing. Or first-aid stations and ambulances embellished with large emblems of electric chairs. Or bodies tattooed with electric chairs and necks […]
April 1, 2023
What are the roots of the freedoms and the rule of law that makes the European Union still so attractive to Ukrainians, Moldovans, Georgians and other neighbouring peoples to Russia? Why have so many Russians fled their own country, fleeing the prospect of being sent to the Ukrainian frontlines as cannon-fodder? They all want to […]
March 25, 2023
Exactly fifty years ago this week, a young Dutch woman registered a new organisation in the Netherlands aimed to launch youth into global mission. The Dutch name was Jeugd met een Opdracht, in English: Youth With A Mission. For some, mobilising untrained young people was irresponsible and unprofessional. Yet five decades and five generations later, […]
March 18, 2023
On a recent interview with a Christian radio station in England I was asked to choose a song to play. I chose a golden oldie, ‘The Servant King’, by popular English song-writer Graham Kendrick. For three reasons. Firstly, I was personally involved when the song was originally recorded in 1984 in the Netherlands. The vocal […]
